Gordon Gekko: “What’s worth doing is worth doing for money.”

Sentences like that are littered throughout Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, a film that makes a strong case for money being the most important thing for those entering the workforce. Someone should let Mr. Gekko know that the tides appear to be changing. Another Wall Street, The Wall Street Journal, has noticed a shift in young folks post-college career decisions. Instead of looking for the most lucrative career, they are opting for more altruistic endeavors. Ranging from Teach for America and working for organizations abroad, today’s college graduates are moving towards jobs that make a difference.

One of the first reasons for this is a practical one, the job market is weak. Most employers are not hiring tons of college graduates, but service organizations it seems always need help. The other main reason for the shift? Young people today want to use their time doing something to make the world better:

There is a significant segment of this population that really wants to make a difference,” says Philip D. Gardner, research director at the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University.

Together, the weak economy and increasing civic mindedness are driving grads to work for social causes. Teach for America, the nonprofit organization that sends college graduates to work in low-income public schools, saw applications jump 36% to 24,718 from 18,172 a year ago. Of those, about 3,700 are selected to teach in more than 100 school districts next fall, up more than one-fourth over the year before.’ [WSJ]

Some students see service work and teaching as immediate post-college training to enter the job market later on. Some say that going abroad to Africa or South America for work makes their resume more impressive and in the tight job race every little bit helps. And whether it’s to make a difference or pad their resume young people are flocking to new jobs, so much so that Barack Obama has proposed expanding both the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps if elected. It’s a pretty great to think that the best young minds of our country are competing not for jobs that only further the greed of country but for jobs that give back, jobs that help those who need it most.

Yes Mr. Gekko, the times they are a changing…

takepart to learn more about Teach For America, a national group that looks to address educational inequity and recruit recent college graduates of all majors and career interests to commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools.

And read on:

• Plenty of Praise for Teach for America
• ELECTION 2008 | EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Michelle Obama shares dreams
• Obama’s Remarks on Service