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Alpha Stage
Jobs
February 27, 2007





MSNBC is running an article entitled, "Americans Hate Jobs More
Than Ever." The subtitle states, "Satisfaction Level Hits New Low,
Especially Among Young Workers."

The article explains that a survey indicated that while, "Money rarely
buys happiness..it can buy job satisfaction—people making under
$15,000 per year reported the lowest satisfaction while those making
more than $50,000 per year said they were the most satisfied."

Interestingly, the survey found that despite high levels of
dissatisfaction, "the majority of workers polled found their work and
co- workers interesting and their commute satisfying."
Read the Article!!


Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

  • Ask your students what their favorite thing to do is. What do
    they like about doing this thing?
  • Consider inviting students to develop skits in which they
    demonstrate what they like to do best.

  • Do your students have to do anything that they really don't like
    to do? What? Why do they do this?
  • Students could draw pictures of something that they
    don't like to do, demonstrating within the picture why
    it's important to do this thing.

  • Ask your students if they'd prefer to be the boss who gets to
    tell other people what to do when they get older or somebody
    who works for the boss and gets told what to do? Why do they
    prefer one over the other?
  • Using a T-Chart, students could make a list of the
    characteristics of both types of jobs, listing one on each
    side. The class could develop this chart together.

  • Do your students think it's important to learn how to write
    well. Why do they think this way? Ask your students who they
    think can get better jobs, people who read and write well or
    people who don't read and write well. Why do they think this
    way?
  • Consider asking students to write several sentences
    explaining the relationship between getting a good job
    and reading/writing. After discussing this relationship,
    simply ask them to write a few sentences explaining the
    importance of reading and writing.

Discussion-Starters for Older Students

  • Vocabulary terms to discuss: Satisfaction; Trend; Breadth; and,
    Echoes.

  • What do your students think it means to be happy? Do your
    students think that it's possible for somebody to be happy if she
    does not like her job? Why/why not?
  • Consider asking students to define the word "happy" in
    groups of three or four.

  • Ask your students to select three things that they love to do and
    would like to be part of their job when they are older. What are
    the three things? Why do they like to do these things?
  • These questions make useful prompts for reflective
    essays.

  • According to the article, "people making under $15,000 per
    year reported the lowest satisfaction while those making more
    than $50,000 per year said they were the most satisfied." Why
    do your students think this is the case? What kinds of
    knowledge and skills do your students think somebody has to
    have to make more than $50,000 a year?
  • Consider debating the most important characteristics for
    obtaining a high paying job, in the class. First, have
    students develops lists of characteristics, in small
    groups or individually. Then aggregate the lists as a
    whole class. Now tell students that they have to winnow
    the lists down to four through a class discussion.

  • Is it simply a matter of the money or do higher paying jobs
    likely have other characteristics that also make them more
    enjoyable? What kinds of characteristics might they have?
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