This article explores intergenerational perspectives on the link between secondary schooling and employment held by students, parents, and teachers in Ndola, Zambia. The author argues that the differentiated meanings of schooling must be understood in light of the economic effects of the shift away from a state-controlled economy during the post-independence years to Zambia's acceptance of structural adjustment policies (SAPs) beginning in the late 1980s and the current promotion of foreign capital investment as a means to economic development. In this once middle-income country, 64 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line, and HIV infects 15 percent of the adult population, further compounding the economic hardships faced by Zambians. The author examines Zambia's labor and economic policies as a backdrop against which to understand the unforeseen consequences that macro-level policy has had on the beliefs held by youth, parents, and teachers regarding the value of secondary schooling. (Contains 1 table and 13 footnotes.)