As graduation season descends upon us, the traditional celebratory atmosphere has given way to a chorus of boos. Students are increasingly jeering commencement speakers who tout artificial intelligence as the key to their future success, while staring down the harsh realities of debt and a shaky job market.
Molly Jong-Fast, in a recent opinion piece for The New York Times, argues that this isn’t a case of students being overly sensitive or “woke.” Instead, she says, the issue lies in the fact that the long-standing promise of college-to-middle-class security is crumbling beneath their feet.
The AI Hype is at Odds with the Reality of Student Debt
The reality is that the average student debt burden in the US is now over **$31,300**. This is a staggering number, and it’s one that graduates are all too aware of as they step off the stage and into the unknown. Meanwhile, the job market is still reeling from the effects of automation and AI. It’s no wonder that students are skeptical of commencement speeches that promise AI as the solution to their problems.
What this means for graduates
What Jong-Fast’s piece highlights is that the traditional route to middle-class security – a college degree and a steady job – is no longer tenable for many students. This means that graduates need to think carefully about their skills and their future prospects. They need to ask themselves: what skills will be in demand in the coming years, and how can I acquire them? They need to consider alternative paths to employment, such as vocational training or entrepreneurship. And they need to be prepared to adapt and pivot as the job market continues to evolve.
Jong-Fast is right to say that the issue isn’t that graduates are “fragile” or unwilling to accept the challenges of the modern workforce. Rather, it’s that they’re facing a harsh reality, and they deserve better from their commencement speakers. They deserve a vision for a future that includes more than just hype and promises of AI.
