The speaker argues that instead of focusing on finding more lucrative fields of study, educational institutions should offer courses that prepare students for the jobs of the future. Though it seems logical that students should pursue degrees that will leave them with the greatest number of employment opportunities, this viewpoint is flawed. Firstly, focusing on the job market may be only a temporary fix, in that as technology advances, the jobs that were once readily obtainable may no longer be as commonplace in the future. Secondly, there are inherent problems with the idea of encouraging students to pursue fields with mass employment, in that these fields may lack sufficient employment opportunities for students. For these reasons, educational institutions should encourage students to pursue a variety of courses, instead. Firstly, no matter how fast technology advances, there will always be a demand for human labor. The inventors of technology sometimes work for years or even decades to develop a product. The research and development period is often long, and there is only a limited market for the product once it is completed. Students should be encouraged to pursue degrees that allow them to work in these fields. Secondly, though it is true that there is a finite amount of available jobs, this does not mean that students should pursue degrees that will lead to jobs with competitive salaries. Instead, students should be counseled to pursue fields that might lead them to jobs that pay well, but which have a high rate of unemployment. A student may choose to pursue a nursing degree, for example, which pays well and is in high demand. However, if the student plans to stay in the nursing field and work in a large hospital, he or she may find that he or she must work long hours for little pay. In this event, the student should consider other options, such as becoming a teacher, which will require less time and will offer more pay

Finally, encouraging students to pursue fields that will make them employable is only a temporary fix. In the past, most jobs were filled by people who knew what they did. As technology advances and machines take over some of the more routine tasks, people will need to be retrained. If a student pursues a degree in a particular field, such as engineering, and then, throughout his or her career, technology overtakes some of the fields in which engineers work, he or she may need to complete additional coursework in order to stay employable. Additionally, as societies change and the needs of citizens change, new fields of study will emerge. Students should be encouraged to pursue these disciplines as well, as they may lead to viable career options in the future.