Dreams, Deferred

The recent downturn in the US economy has had a devastating impact on the financial services, telecommunications, and media industries in New York City. In a New York Times feature article, Erika Kinetz offers stories of recent graduates of Queens College who hail from around the globe, and who, in spite of enviable grades and technical skills, remain unemployed. For these graduates, jobs are taking longer to find and require compromises – not the least of which may be their understanding of the American Dream. After growing up believing that hard work and self-sufficiency pay off, many are dismayed by the roadblocks to an upwardly mobile career track. "Many hard-working new graduates, still damp with optimism, energy and a sense of entitlement, don't want to compromise, and their lackluster reception from the world has called into question some of their deepest assumptions about themselves and their world," Kinetz writes. Ultimately, however, the ability to adapt to unexpected changes in the economy may prove the best pre-requisite for success in uncertain times. – YaleGlobal