As a twenty-something, I am disappointed in the life that was left to us by you, our parents. Yes, the great generation and the baby boomers gave us the world’s greatest market economy. You have convinced us that higher education is the way to be upwardly mobile and that is not inherently bad. However, you have taught us the value of education by introducing debt as a matter of life. Further, you preach that college leads to a job. This is an unrealistic view, given the state of the economy and the rules that you created.
Our generation, known as Gen Y, received trophies for participating. Psychologists and organizational culture experts (whatever the heck that is) tell us that this has created a whiny, entitled generation. And in some respects, I agree with this. But I don’t believe that our demands are unrealistic. My boss posed a hypothetical to my co-workers and me (who range from early twenties to thirties), if you were told putting in 10 extra hours of work would get you early promoted at the end of a year, would you put in the extra work? Only one of the five of us would. I am told by my sixty-something father, who read this over my shoulder, that this is exactly what is wrong with our generation- but I could not disagree more. I take issue with the generalization of us as being lazy and entitled. You are talking about the generation that created Facebook, Tap Zoo, and CarZen. We are willing to work for ourselves and willing to work for you too, as long as we have time to save the whales after work. Us Gen Yers are more environmentally conscious, computer literate, and better connected with our peers (yes! We’re actually close with people that we don’t speak with – preferring as a generation to use Facebook or text message) than anyone more aged than us. We don’t think it rude to “present” ourselves behind a computer screen.
We have more media and more ways to access it, both as a content producer (Yahoo!’s Content Contributor Network – which you are reading from now, iTunes- which has a ton of independent artists, and Amazon – which allows you to self-publish a book) and as a content receiver (currently on an iPad? Android cell phone? Dell computer?). This is a function of our generation, our ability to break down walls and listen to someone like Sam Tsui or J Rice on youtube. In general, my friends are looking for jobs or have some sort of income but still live at home, though we are fast approaching our mid-twenties. Some of us have significant others, some of us have had significant others and a significant portion of us are virgins at dating.
It is taking Gen Y longer to find ourselves, because everything in our lives is assumed. Once you graduate from high school, you go to college. You are either really lucky to have rich parents or you take out a loan to pay for it. When you graduate, four years later, you confidently step into the job market. At least that’s the theory. As a liberal arts student at a mid-tier state school, you see your engineering and accounting friends interview with firms in their field. You, as a historian, speak with Avis and Aramark – which actually both treat their employees pretty well, according to friends of mine – but as a history major, working for a Car Rental company does not sound like your cup of tea. Even chemistry (and other science) majors feel at a loss, mine went on to become teachers, doctors and PhD students. Of course, this all involves more schooling and generally more loans.
We desire college so strongly as a society, that the University of Phoenix, Capella University, Corinthian Colleges, Walden University, ITT Tech, DeVry, Kaplan, Argosy, et al. exist. While I have actually taken a worthwhile class and some people swear by their degrees, the idea of for-profit education turns me off. Profit concerns may outweigh the value of your education and the for-profits have been accused of and sued for admitting students who might not be college ready and are under investigation for having high rates of student loan defaults. Also, these schools tend to be more expensive than your local 4-year college and certainly your state run community colleges. Heck, even Harvard, yes HARVARD, has an extension school to get more tuition money. Such things exist because a market for student debt exists. There are currently more lawyers graduating and more law schools than ever before. It turns out that law school employment statistics are grossly overstated or lies, in case, after case, after case. There are dozens of lawsuits (ain’t that the problem with teaching lawyers?) against law schools, charging fraud or deceptive marketing practices. Still, us Gen Yers continues to apply with great enthusiasm.
The increase in law school and college applicants is because of mom and dad. You are the business leaders that tell us that upward mobility requires a college degree. You are diametrically opposed to us becoming refrigerator repairmen, automotive technicians, or any number of other engineering positions that require only an associate’s degree or specialized vocational learning. No, it’s much better that we have an expensive degree in Sociology. You are the ones that push us to “name” schools, like Tufts and UCLA. These schools charge exorbitant prices for something that requires little more than a professor and a classroom. Of course, the 300-person lectures and general education requirements help us to really understand worldly concepts and apply knowledge. Also- parents- some of you are in management- once we have that degree in sociology, you’d be more than happy to hire us for your company, no?
We don’t necessarily want to live at home after we graduate from college, (though admittedly some of us do- seriously, thanks for doing our laundry and goodness, you cook about three thousand times better than we do.) We just have to. Your debt-filled desire to purchase housing and “owning property as an investment vehicle” has priced us out of this market. As a gainfully employed young person, I take home (net) approximately $3,000/month, which isn’t too bad. Or at least it doesn’t sound too bad – unless I have to live with four of my friends, with a fake wall separating our 35 square-foot rooms, decimating one of my two paychecks. It’s not that I cannot live that way, I just should not have to. As one of those in the “have dated” category mentioned above, I’m told that dating while renting an apartment is a death knell for savings. I’ll take that on faith, though I haven’t experienced that yet.
It’s your rules – your generation – that made Gen Y who we are today. Okay, I grant you, we are entitled little brats. But we are also well-educated, well-read, socially oriented brats that can help your organization. We know that having us live at home is stopping the next phase of your life. But do you really think we want to be twenty-five and suckling you for your money? We’re just not that lazy. It’s easy to stick around with you – but we do plan to grow up someday, if someone would hire us. You fill us with dreams of going to college, and moving into our own place. But we pay more for college and rent than we can afford; compounded by the fact that you won’t hire us – we (20-24 year olds) have a 14.8% unemployment rate according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (compare that to 9.5% for the 25-34 bracket)- and then you complain about us being entitled?
It’s not entitlement that’s keeping Gen Y down. We’re partially inhibited by circumstances of the economy and by your unreasonable expectations of us. Those folks that study such things tell us that we’re less likely to take on debt (after college,) we also believe in multiculturalism intrinsically (young people have more interracial relationships and believe in gay marriage at a much higher rate than older folks do,) and we’re worried about the environment. I think we’re poised to bring about the freest, most caring society in generations, nonetheless, while you’re still in charge- please hire us.