Ezra Klein
The Washington Post
Graduates of elite colleges gravitate to Wall Street jobs mostly because their liberal arts educations “are failing them,” said Ezra Klein. Sure, finance pays well and promises a high-status city life. But Wall Street’s real attraction is that it offers an easy destination for smart, hard-working kids who haven’t been provided with “any better ideas about where to go.” Many students at prestigious schools are encouraged to study English literature or political science; only when senior year rolls around do they realize that they have no marketable skills. “The finance industry takes advantage of that confusion,” promising to give them “the skills their university education didn’t.” Wall Street firms have made applying for a job just like applying for college, and they sell themselves as a “low-risk opportunity” for landing a high salary. All the deans deploring finance’s irresistible pull should wake up to their own responsibility to better prepare their students for employment. Graduates don’t choose Wall Street over making another contribution to society. “They go to Wall Street because they’re not sure what other contribution they can make.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
