Although most college students do not know what their future occupation is going to be, I feel that they are still greatly motivated by the prestige of the possible occupations.  I personally have no idea what I want to do with my declared major, but I know that it will help me get a job with a hopefully high amount of prestige.  This same opinion is sure to be held by other college students who have not even declared a major.  They don’t even have a field decided on, but they are still attending college because they know an education will help them get a better job.  When we were younger and in preschool or kindergarten, no one ever said “I want to be a waiter/waitress when I grow up,” and janitors were never role models, not to put these careers down.  The prestige for these jobs is much lower than that of the usual kindergartener’s answer of firefighter or doctor.  Everyone is driven by the American dream to have a good, well-paying job and to have wealth, so it is easy to see that a future occupations’ prestige can be a part of that drive.

          One thing that I thought of while looking at Figure 27-1 was that I want to be in the same quintile, if not a higher quintile, as my parents.  After reading this question though, I realize that the pattern of the income distribution is going to shrink the middle class and push the distribution more towards the extremes.  This is somewhat of a concern to me, because of the current job market, it is anyone’s guess as to which quintile a college graduate will end up in.  I feel that I might start off at a modest income, but hopefully will move up and be able to live a more comfortable lifestyle.