Work attire

10 | Career Expo Guide 2020 Dress to match your internship, career

VICTORIA SCROGGINS Staff Reporter @vrms12591

Interviews for internships and jobs can be stressful. However, Missouri State University’s Career Center provides guidance on how to dress for the occasion and day-to-day work attire. Some colleges require more formal dress attire during interviews than others, such as the College of Business. The COB requires traditional or business formal attire.

Students should wear dark or neutral clothing with small or no pattern, along with a light colored shirt, according to the Career Center website. They should wear coordinating, closed-toe shoes, dark socks and a belt.

For other colleges, business casual is required. Business casual is less strict on attire but still requires a professional look.

“Twill, khakis, or dress pants; jeans with a blazer may be acceptable in the workplace but not in an interview, and necktie and pantyhose are optional,” the Career Center Website states. “There is more variety with shirts, blouses, and collars: knit shirt with collar; button-down shirt with band collars or button collars; solid or patterned shirt.”

The website said sweaters are also considered to be business casual. uSee DRESS, page 36

Degree inflation can financially burden students

ZOE BROWN Lifestyle Editor @zoe_zoebrown

I am a college journalist. There was once a time when journalists did not need any sort of college education to get a job working at a paper. This is no longer the case. Now, job security in the field of journalism is achieved through more education rather than more experience. The same is true for many fields in which there are no certifications, bar exams or formal titles. The shift from experience to education can be harmful to nearly everyone except higher education administrators.

Going to any university for any length of time is expensive, but education is an investment. For most of history, getting a college degree would secure a place for graduates in the middle class and nearly always guarantee a job. This is no longer the case. A bachelor’s degree is not enough anymore to guarantee anything.

Despite the increasing number of high school graduates attending college, the cost of a degree has gone up, according to a 2012 report by Richard Vedder for the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. The cost of tuition has doubled, adjusting for the rate of inflation from 1978 to 2010. Wages, though, have not risen proportionately.

As the cost of a degree has increased and the wages stagnated, more students take out more money in stuZoe Brown

dent loans. The university class of 2011 graduated with a bachelor’s degree and $26,000 of debt, on average, according to the Economist. Debt has gone up but the quality of education has not. Grade inflation has increased; 43% of final grades are A’s. In 1960, only 15% of grades were A’s. The average course grade at this time was between a B- and a C. Today it is between a B and a B+, according to Vedder. More emphasis is placed on professors to research than to teach which can result in less rigorous grading. This system of inflation devalues the bachelor’s degree and makes it harder for students to distinguish themselves.

Grade and degree inflation both serve to benefit the privileged. Able students may choose to pursue extracurricular leadership opportunities to gain credentials. Otherwise, students should consider further education. Both of these paths to distinguishment benefit students whose parents can support them. These paths are not always possible for first-generation college students, students who must work full time to support themselves or nontraditional students who have families to support.

Essentially, there are two options to combat degree inflation. Making college more accessible for all or making it more exclusive. Currently, college entrance rates are high, at about 69% of high school graduates pursuing some sort of post-high school degree, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Making college more accessible is, of course, better for society because in theory, it would create a more educated population. uSee BROWN, page 14

BROWN Continued from page 12

But this discounts the reality that school just isn’t for everyone. The way our education system is constructed plays to the advantage of the privileged and well-supported class. The system wrongly encourages students to go to college who would be better suited in the workforce. College simply isn’t for everyone, nor should it be. It is simply far too expensive and not structured in an inclusive enough manner. Undoubtedly, going to college can be a financial mistake because students who don’t complete the degree are hugely at a loss and laden with debt.

The solution to this problem on a grand scale is an overhaul of the U.S. education system. On a smaller scale, however, the general public should work to destigmatize the idea of wait

ing to go to college and encourage vocational training, job shadowing and internships. Teachers in middle and high school should take it upon themselves to instill the most knowledge possible within their students. Teachers should resist the preparatory mentality which wrongly assumes knowledge can wait until the next step in a student’s life. Employers can play a crucial role in this shift by waiving arbitrary educational requirements to open job opportunities to those without a bachelor’s degree. As jobs become available, less emphasis will be placed on colleges to act as job training facilities. This would lead to a decreasing student population, less debt and a higher value placed on a bachelor’s degree.