The depressing thing is that I have a pretty good idea of how our parents are going to retire. I think we’ll see the size of our social safety nets increase by an order of magnitude (at least) and we’ll be paying for the sins of our fathers. I’m not heartless enough to be totally against this idea, actually, but it does strike me as more than a little unfair. And I don’t have any good solutions.

College right after high school is great for people that know exactly what they want. It’s the unsures in the middle that our society is doing a great disservice to by encouraging them to find themselves in college. An expensive holding tank, as you point out. It’s the unsures that we should be sending abroad or pushing into the service of society. We already keep kids virtually locked up for 18 years of their lives, what’s one more?

Compulsory military service, like Israel, South Korea, etc. probably isn’t the exact answer we’re looking for, but I bet we could stand to learn a few things from that model.

Thanks.

Snuffleupugus agrees

PS – I actually have a fried who majored in philosophy. He went on to law school and is now a successful lawyer, probably making good money.

I really liked your blog entry…a couple of things I have had stirring in the back of my mind that came out in your article:

– Our generation has generally lost touch with the fact that you can’t just make a career out of anything you want. Understanding that my peers are generally well educated folks from above average incomes, I would agree that the reigning ideology coming out of college is “what do I want to do with my life” as opposed to our parents’ ideology coming out of college, which I believe was something like “what would I like to do, and can I make a living out of it”

–Many of us grew up in this crazy bubble where money was not a dominating issue in households. The question that comes up is – why not? In every culture around the world (with perhaps exceptions in Europe), money (or if not money, then food, shelter, basic needs) is probably the biggest thing going on – parents take crazy jobs because it means they can build up some income. And yet – Gen Y grew up where money played second fiddle to being happy and intellectual. The mentality that each child is a special flower.

–Following the point above, I actually agreed with Shannon in the article that Gen Y needs to be put in its place to some extent, whereas Emily the author disagreed with Shannon. I definitely see this economic downturn as a healthy reality check for the US, not for our parent’s generation, but for our generation. Our parent’s grew up being taught that you must do something productive and economically meaningful, and the world didn’t owe you anything, which, like it or not, is economic reality. You have to work hard in life to make a good living – Gen Y has been living off the hard work of previous generations. Think how hard our parents and grandparents worked to get what they got – and how much they saved instead of spent. At some point, it was bound to catch up with our generation..so yes, I think its healthy as Shannon opined. I think the numbers show this – the Obama administration has said that they will try to help the US out of this, but ultimately its up to us to change our ways, because you can’t have an economically sustainable society as we have been living.

– I also agree, that while a harsh reality, a masters degree in English is going to make it difficult to find a job. Especially when there are thousands of people with masters degrees in English. We can’t all be successful writers and professors – so this ties in to my first point of agreement.

–Regarding grad school – I totally agree with your points, especially after having worked for a few years. Grad school is kind of useless in the professional (i.e. – money making) world. And yet – when you leave undergrad – you have this crazy philosophy that grad school will open up lots more doors for you. Perhaps universities foster this philosophy for their own benefit? Not all grad school is bad – it just might not be worth it unless you have a vision of where you’re going (your points exactly)

–As far as life after high school – I’ve often thought the same thing you wrote – maybe kids shouldn’t go to college right after high school. And here its a balancing act I think – one on hand, college is expensive and increasingly valuable with maturity. I wish I was more mature when I was in college – I would have learned more and probably been better off in terms of my career. On the other hand, waiting to go to college might derail a young adult from the standard social train – they might be lost after high school and feel too mature while in undergrad. Maybe this isn’t true, but food for thought. Part of our social norms were formed in our young years in college.

Great post and I hope you got a thoughtful response from “Emily”