The Need to Redefine Ourselves:

An article in the New York Times reported that in the past, Kettering University has "honed its reputation as the West Point of the automobile industry, offering valuable work experience for its students at car companies and parts suppliers, and then virtually assuring them lucrative jobs upon graduation." Now, however, the school's students "are finding this fast track to a career shut down because of the crisis in Detroit," with some being "laid off from their student jobs at places like General Motors." Other students "are quickly switching their minors to fields like medicine, the environment and aerospace," and "even those who are clinging to their dream of an automotive career find the atmosphere to be grim at employers, where they alternate six months of work with six months of studies." The school itself is working "with a broader range of employers," including the United Parcel Service, museums, and the US Central Intelligence Agency. Bob has been advising us that if the US workforce intends to survive we will need to reinvent who we are. This article clearly shows that changes in the global economy have affected our young students currently enrolled in programs at US universities.