Kent State University - Chestnut Burr Yearbook (Kent, OH)

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What' diploma 2 . iw, college worth? .1-Q, , 99 O99 These days it ain't no ticket to Easy Street RADUATION. GETTING a degree that leads to better skills, better jobs, better pay. At least, that's what many of us believe. But for a great number of Kent graduates that dream has not yet become reality. Jobs in their chosen field of study have been impossible to find or unsuitable once found. And so the graduate wanders into a different job, one that's available or more desirable, and leaves his training and degree behind him. Why the job shift? Sometimes it's necessity, sometimes disillusionment. sometimes opportunity. John Fischer graduated cum laude from KSU in 1971 with a BA. in anthropology and is currently a Volkswagen mechanic at European Car Service in Akron. Story by Laura Nagy and David Shaffer I had wanted to be an archaeologist ever since I could spell the word. It always fascinated me. When I started school in the '60s, whatever field you went into there was no doubt about your getting ajobf' But there were no jobs for anthropologists without post-graduate work, and though John was admitted to the graduate schools to which he applied, no financial aid was available. So he got a job pumping gas. It was on his first journey into the mechanic's world that he learned to work on VWs, and his specialized skills kept the bills paid for a time. It turned into a way I could make a buck. It was something I could learn to do and I could do it fairly well. lSee next page.l

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what if used to be.' birthday. Isn't it pretty? Retiring to her rocking chair, Mrs. Kerr, in her sing-song lilt, tells why she thinks she's lived so long. I never went to dances or shows or went gallavantin, here, there and yon. I've always tried to live a good life. I always tried to read something that would edify me. Good clean readini. Vitamins? Ooooooh nooo, she says with shock and amazement, her eyes widening. I don't take vitamins to keep me alive! I hate medicine. I'm jest gettin' my prayers paid back now for my good life. God has been good to me. I have to give Him all the praise. He'll keep me all the way til he takes me home. She rocks in her chair, smiles and repeats, He'll keep me all the way til he comes to take me home. F ANYONE has seen Kent change over the years, it's Clarence V. Skaggs, a retired trackman of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Skaggs has been in Kent for 67 of his 70 years. Yep,,' he remembers, Kent ain't what it used to be. I remember when Water Street was all-l-ll mud and dirt. Skaggs is known as a regular at Walter's Cafe on Water Street. He's been retired for about 6 years and visits the bar every morning around 10:30. He's often there in the after- noon, too, but not at night. I used to come here at night, but no-o-o-0 more. Jesus Christ! They turn that damn jukebox upuso you can hear it from the next block because of all the students in here. Although Skaggs thinks some of the students are all right and some of 'em no goodf, he's most verbal on the latter. Average people are afraid to come down here at night, he scolds as he sips his can of Rolling Rock, 'fwith all those motorcycle gangs and hippies that raise a ruckus and break windows. It's that dope that,s doing it. With shaky hands, Skaggs lights another cigarette and shakes his head. I see things changin, all the time for the worse. Yep, there's more trouble all the time. Students tear up the restrooms and always breakin' the windows. 'Course not all students do it, some of 'em do and some of 'em don't. Yeah, I'd like to see it go back to what it used to be. It used to be a lot better. In the next tive years, itill be even worse than it is now. Anybody who's been around here can see that. Skaggs strokes his unshaven face, gives me a toothless grin and adds, But I like it here at Walter's. I eat here. It's home. Mary Kerr, opposite, delights visitors with her shamrocks and other plants Skaggs, above, makes his daily visit to Walter's Bar on Water Street.

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