The average American worker will change jobs nearly every seven years, either by choice or circumstance. While many workers might simply say they seek higher wages, many tirade off money for more meaningful work or better working conditions. They seek jobs that allow them to "have a life"; they reject jobs that are "dead ends," having no future.

Employers and employees see job requirements quite differently. Employers, according to Robert Reich in "The Future of Work" (Harper's, April 1989), say that the jobs of the future will require "an ability to define problems, quickly assimilate relevant data, conceptualize and reorganize the information, make deductive and inductive leaps with it, ask hard questions about it, discuss findings with colleagues, work collaboratively to find solutions, and then convince others." However, in The Electronic Sweatshop (1988), Barbara Garson quotes a McDonald's worker who describes his work this way: "Don't worry, you don't have to understand. You follow the beepers, you follow the buzzers and you turn your meat as fast as you can. It's like I told you, to work at McDonald's you don't need a f ace, you don't need a brain. You need to have two hands and two legs and move them as fast as you can. That's the whole system."

The materials provided for this exam focus on different views of the working world. Read them carefully, discuss them with others, and draw your own conclusions. Better essays will build on concepts derived from the readings. In addition, the following activities may help you develop your thinking on this topic:

1. Freewrite for five or ten minutes about the best or worst job you have ever held. What made the job good or bad? Brainstorm with others about the best or worst jobs you can think of. What features make a job good or bad?

2. Talk to people who have changed jobs during their lives. Find out what they thought was good or bad about the jobs they held in the past. Ask older people how work has changed over their lif etime. What were their first jobs like? Find someone who is in charge of hiring for a business; what qualifications are important in hiring prospective employees?

3. Read the classified section of the newspaper. (Why do you suppose they're called classifieds?) What kinds of jobs are advertised? Go to the career center on campus and look up the descriptions of several jobs. Which jobs seem to have futures and which don't?

4. If you need additional information or want to read at greater depth about these issues, we have placed the full text of articles we have excerpted here on reserve in the library, along with some books on work. Sometimes skimming additional materials will help to expand and intensify your interest in the topic. Consult lnfotrak, Newsbank, or the pamphlet file. Watch television news programs on the workforce. Share what you find with other members of your class.

In English 101 this semester, you thought and wrote about topics in at least four ways. You investigated the causes or effects leading to or following from certain actions; you grouped similar things into categories or divided a single thing into its parts; you looked at similarities or diff erences between two things; and you advanced a thesis, supporting it with examples or reasons. In addition, some students defined terms, explained a process, described an object or situation, or argued a position. All of these ways of thinking will help in preparing f or this final exam.

We strongly encourage you to prepare for this common final. You may biring into the exam one 3" x 5" file card containing outlines or notes; in addition, you may bring this test packet. In past exams, students who planned their essays ahead of time invariably did a better job on the final. You may bring a dictionary and a thesaurus; computerized sections of English 101 may write their essays on computers.

During the final exam period, you will be assigned two of the following topics and be allowed to choose one of the two. Write a well-developed, multiple paragraph essay in response to the topic. Make sure that your essay addresses the issue raised and follows the organizational pattern that is specified.

1. Illustrate the differences between a job, a career, and a calling using analysis and specific examples. [Thesis developed by example]

2. What conditions (for instance, social, economic, environmental, or political) might cause employers to adopt flex-time arrangements? [Thesis developed by causes]

3. What similarities of employment are shared by early 20th century miners (see Digging Our Own Graves by Barbara Ellen Smith) and contemporary data-entry clerks (see "New Technology in the American Workplace" by Jeanne Steliman and Mary Sue Henefin). [Thesis developed by comparison]

4. Using a "collar" system of classifying jobs (either from the readings or of your own design), categorize at least twelve jobs. You can include ones you have held or expect to hold. [Thesis developed by classification]