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THE BATTALION
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AFTER TI IV.WI VT.*
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Our Managfin^ Kditor Blames Capitalism for the Plijfht of the College (iraduate
^The bitter cry of the college graduate that a fair
opportunity in industry and commerce is denied is cer
tainly justified. In all respects, academic, intellectual,
anti personal, he may have an excellent reconi, but
there is no certainty, or even probability, that he will
obtain a job or even retain it after securement. This
country, so long heralded as a land of golden opportu
nity, evidently considers this class of its social make
up non-ex istant.
The annual recruitment, of graduates is upward
of 125,000. Of this number how many will la* engaged
in their cht»sen professions, the things which they have
devoted four years of their lives to? If so engaged,
will they receive the just fruits of their efforts? An*
they now expending their efforts on something which
they will later find to la* sn illusion. Will they ever
l>e able to discharge their duties to society so as to
benefit humanity ami yet realize their desires for 4elf-
expression ?
Many technically trained men with high-grade
professional knowledge and of proved accomplishments
are among the ranks of the unemployed. Many profes
sions are represented, the teaching profession heading
the list with somewhat over Kngineerx consti
tute the next highest group with nearly three thousand
unemployed, la*ing for Ihe most part electrical, mech
anical, and civil engineers. Graduates from business
schools are in alsmt e<|ual numbers. Groups which fur
ther sw^ll the unemployment rolls include architects,
agriculturalists, bankers, chemists, educational admin
istrators, journalists, social workers, salesmen, lalM>f-
atory technicians, and many others too numerous to
mention. This survey demonstrates the fact that col
lege trained individuals are certainly mrt in demand.
College students are, for the most part, optimists.
Why? Simply because they have l>een sheltered from
the brutalities of life by their over-indulgent parents
and have never experienced nor observed the greed,
deception, corruption, and lack of ethics which per
meate and ^encompass our entire political aq^indus-
trial system. Many do not realize that they are acting
the part of the trained monkey dancing to the tune of
the capitalistic organgrinder, and that this college
education, as prescribed, is nothing more than a four
year training process designed to feed more material
into the industrial melting pot finally to be thrown out
as sludge. Does the avera H student realize these
things? No, but when he does, the disillusionment will
Ik* complete and terrifying.
Life, it has lH*cn said, should Ik* self-expression
and each individual is entitled, as a natural right, to
the career that best suits him. If this is a natural
right, ami natural rights eminate from the fundamen
tal desires of human !>eings, then it has been malicious
ly maltreated by those who hold the political as well as I
the industrial purse strings. It is true that the indivi
dual can never realize the fullest expression of his own
personality simply l>ecaus<* occupations must Ik* ad
justed to the needs and demands of society. But under
the present economic system, who or what determines
the needs and demands of society? The needs and de
mands of society are regulated by prices, wages, an4
hours of labor, and these in turn are regulated by the
men who control and manipulate the industrial and
capitalistic organization. Our desires are fulfilled only
in so far as it pleases these moguls of high finance,
who, by insidious devices, dedicate their employees to
profit motives. College graduates as well as laborers
are merely pawns on the capitalistic chess-board of
competitive anarchy. •
Although the engineer, the chemist, the l>acteriol-
ogist, the agriculturalist, and the technician constitute
the backbone of production, these trained professional
workers have not received and will not receive thei*-
just portion of the fruits of production. The construc
tion of the railroads, the building of bridges and sky
scrapers, the improvement of food products, the ag
grandizement of the chemical industry, and the devel
opment of new agricultural methods are all accom
plishments of this neglected group. Few possess evi
dence oY material wealth. *
Notwithstanding the fact that college graduates
are ground out in appalling numl>ers, quality in the
training of technician* as well as quantity is empha-
sized. The country is furnished with an aristocracy(
based not on wealth or caste, but on the disearnable
merits of the mind. No country has ever developed a
finer mate.rial for scientific and constructive citizen
ship. No country has ever ignored such valuable ma
terial with such scornful contempt. And people wonder
why youth is insurgent! This insurgency of youth emi-
nated from the demand that the capacities of youth be
dedicated to purposes and principles worthy of this
and future generations. The old ideal of personal suc
cess is l>eing su!>ordinated to the new ideal of social
responsibility and service. These ideals, however, are
often shattered upon making contact with the indu.*^
trial world because of the incompatability with th»*
doctrines propounded and disseminated by our capital
istic ringmasters.
Yes, there are many who will Ik* disillusioned and
many who will not find jobs. But do not let that dis- i
courage you—the government is still maintaining the
relief rolls.