Education Is Not a Magic Bullet

* Your Nov. 27 article “Boom Times Elude Workers with Modest Education, Skills” suggests that all skilled workers with a good education must be sharing in an economic nirvana.

Not true--unless the many people with whom I meet and talk in L.A. and Orange County are delusional.

As a contract technical writer I meet and talk with workers every week who, notwithstanding their strong education and technical skills, are displaced, disgruntled, poorly paid, or out of work.

In my own field I see opportunities diminishing, competition increasing, salaries declining and requirements mushrooming.

Twenty years ago, if I could have offered a client or employer one-third of the skills and knowledge I can offer today, they’d have dusted off my coat and carried my attache case.

In today’s economy, absent natural gifts, you had better be young, personable, connected, energetic and attractive, with up-to-the-minute information-based skills, or your probability of being a player can best be described in Las Vegas-type probabilities: slim to none.

Rarely have so many done so much for so little. If you don’t have the right stuff, you better be a longtime homeowner with a handsome portfolio and a well-vested pension, or you’re in trouble.

DAVID FREDERICKS

Huntington Beach