Identifying a Social Problem Related to Education and Careers

Identifying a Social Problem Related to Education and Careers
In this week's module, you have learned about some social problems that are connected to education and our career paths. Education often sets us up well for our careers, and the workplace and economy impact our career choices. This is what sociologists mean by a structural effect.
But what about the individual and agency? Often students are told to “follow their hearts” into a career, meaning choose a major and career based on your personal interests. But, structurally some industries do much better than others.
Due Thursday evening by Midnight (5pts): Post a picture of your intended major/career and comment on both a structural and individual characteristic that lead you to this decision.
Due Sunday evening by Midnight (5pts): Reply to 2 of your fellow students- choose one student who has a similar reason for choosing the major/career and one that has a different reason. Note, the career/major may be different but the reasons for choosing it should be similar. Then discuss how these patterns may or may not be connected to a social problem and if you think society (government, corporations, consumers?) should be responsible for making sure there are enough jobs (or better-paid jobs) in the economy to match people’s interests? Think about this a bit before you answer because there are several industries right now (farming, mining, auto, etc.) that are experiencing this situation.
Requirements of the Reply
A well constructed reply will include at least four grammatically correct and thoughtful sentences (with proper citations as needed) that do not include summaries but rather contribute original thought to the discussion and learning. If you reference sources (it is recommended when appropriate but not mandatory to include a reference in your post) or include any information from sources such as the textbook, videos, or websites, please cite using the ASA short citation format or you will face point deductions: http://www(dot)asanet(dot)org/documents/teaching/pdfs/Quick_Tips_for_ASA_Style.pdf Links to an external site.
If you are unsure if you have properly cited the resource, you can email me 48 hours before the assignment is due and I will give you feedback. You can also check TurnIt In for flagged context. Here is an example of how to cite properly (Note ASA is slightly different from APA):
In my opinion, poverty rates are high because of limited employment opportunities. “Poverty in the United States is measured based on relative living rather than absolute conditions (Gibbons, and Jones)” (Open Stax 2015, p. 25). According to Open Stax (2015), there are different ways to measure poverty, and the most popular measurement is relative poverty. I believe subjective poverty might give us an unrealistic measurement of poverty and this seems to also be supported by Open Stax (2015) in that relative poverty is a more valid measurement in the United States.
As you can see by the above example, an ASA citation includes the author(s) of the source (Open Stax), the copyright year (2015), and if it is a direct quotation, the page number which information can be found by the reader. If you are summarizing the thought in your own words you do not have to list the page number. Also note that one period is always placed after the citation parenthesis and not before (e.g. “.). When copying word for word from a source, you are required to place information in “quotation marks” otherwise not doing so is defined as plagiarism.