Title. Every career should be able to afford the bare minimum ffs
If everyone in a “low paying” field just suddenly quit, society would collapse. “You should’ve done your research beforehand”. Well no shit Sherlock, I did. No one goes into teaching or social work or mental health for the money. But goddammit we still need enough to feed ourselves. Not everyone can be a STEM major, otherwise that market would be inundated with more jobseekers than positions.
I’m sick of people who are 30+ years older than me telling me “I struggled too” as justification dismissing how hard it is to make it nowadays. The cost of living has skyrocketed, college degrees are almost as mandatory as high school degrees are, and there is an undeniable growth in inequality to the point where it feels like the 1920s again. 100 years and nothing has changed.
Stop shaming people for the career choices when the actual problem is everyone’s being stiffed by those who has amassed large amounts of wealth.
And no Patricia, you probably didn’t struggle as much as we do now. Because Patricia could pay off her loans with a summer job and could afford to buy herself some food and shelter with just her salary. You lived in a different time, that’s fine. I’m glad you didn’t have all the cards against you. But then don’t go turning around and blaming the current workers for having the cards against us.