In the past five years, the entry-level job market has completely nosedived, causing a dramatic drop in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s post-graduation employment rate, with what used to be near 90% falling to just 57%.
Moreover, when discluding jobs obtained through ‘my dad knowing a guy,’ that rate plummets to a measly 18%. To combat this, the chancellor’s office has made the bold decision to add a brand-new gen-ed requirement: Burger Flipping 109.
Burger Flipping 109 seeks to prepare UW-Madison students for the job they will statistically work for a majority of their life; a fast-food employee. The main contents of the course will feature operating grills, fryers, cash registers; mediocre customer service, taking 20 minute bathroom breaks and discreetly vaping in the back freezer.
In addition to the standard classroom curriculum, Burger Flipping 109 will give students the opportunity to shadow real fast food employees.
Manager Brian Jingle of the East Madison Burger King thinks this will give students valuable experience. “Yea stay in school all you want, but you ain’t never seen nothin’ if you ain’t worked drive-thru and got a gun pulled on you over a $2 order. I been in the shit 26 years, and you gon’ be here real soon,” Jingle told The Beet.
Although the program will certainly give students a more well-rounded education, there may already be a few unforeseen downsides for the new gen-ed. Multiple Madison fast food chains are now requiring all new applicants to have at least two years of fast food experience and an internship in order to get an interview, claiming their industry’s job market is too saturated.
Even with the restaurants’ requirements, UW-Madison Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots is optimistic about the impact of the class. When asked if he thinks Burger Flipping 109 will help students' careers, he told The Beet, “I’m just the temporary guy, so I couldn’t care less as long as the board stays off my back.” When reminded that he was speaking on the record, Wilcots replied, “Oh, shit! Well, now that I think about it, I’m very confident that this course will make a huge difference in our students' post-graduate lives.”
Wisconsin’s board of directors told The Beet if Burger Flipping 109 proves successful, the university is ready to roll out even more career-based classes. Potential additions include Dropshipping, Doordashing, running Cash App scams and selling fake carts to highschoolers.
It’s tough to tell whether this bold move will pay off for Wisconsin, but good or bad, one thing is certain, this will be a decision for the ages.
