Hi, Mary - thanks for your kind words and thoughtful response.

I guess we never really escape life being what we make it to be, do we:)?

I really like the concept of "employability".  I remember fighting this battle for the first time a long time ago on a campus far, far away.  I introduced the idea of actually training residence hall staff to do more than guard the furniture in the student lounges, and was met with much the same attitude of "What if we train them and they leave?"   Fortunately, I had the concept of "transitional job" to help others understand that young professionals earning advanced degrees may not aspire to be a residence hall director all their lives, but that this is a stepping-stone position and a valuable learning experience for other others.  This helped some folks.

I am reminded, of course, of the old and well-know statement:   "What if we train them and they leave?" followed by "What if we don't and they stay?".   Still one of my favorite sayings, even though I wish we did not have to say it these days.

BTW, in researching to find out who said the above (Anonymous, as far as I can tell), I found this excellent quotation from Richard Branson:  "Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to."

Happy note to end on ...

John