One of today’s society issues which gets me fired up is this growing environment where today’s college graduates are shell shocked by getting a job and moving on with their life after they graduate. It seems that I see these types of stories on CNN during the day and now the New York Times is reporting on it. What is there to be confused or aggravated about?! You go to college, you graduate, and you either get a job or go back to school. Where’s the room for being shell shocked? Alright, if you want to feel sad that you’re moving on with your life after four years of a presumably good time, that’s fine. Take a week and get over it. But make sure you DO get over it!
Today’s society has infantilized this graduating class (and the last one or two graduating classes) since the time they were born. These are the kids that played in tee ball leagues where every team won because no one could be a loser. The same kids who played for CYO basketball teams where everyone had an opportunity to play even if they were the dumb kid who didn’t know how to dribble a ball. These are the kids whose parents harangued 30-year veteran elementary school teachers because their dear, sweet, brilliant child failed a test. Obviously if their angel failed a test, then the teacher has no idea what she’s doing and she needs to be fired (this situation actually occurred at my old grammar school a few years after I graduated eighth grade – ridiculous).
And now society is reporting on the fact that these young adults – who have been coddled through high school and college by overprotective parents, scared teachers, and miserable on-campus administrators – are having issues adjusting to life after college? Well what the F did they expect?!? You can’t raise a fish in a bowl for 22 years and then drop it in the ocean and expect it to survive! In that situation, the very best you can hope for is that the fish finds a little place to hide and survives without really becoming a part of the large ecosystem.
That’s what we’re making in America today – scared fish.
I’m not saying that parents shouldn’t be protective of their kids or that teachers shouldn’t acknowledge and help students who need extra help, but if we don’t start putting some self-sufficiency back into America’s youth, then the future of this country is in trouble. Hell, on the very face of it we can all look forward to paying some 40% – 50% in income taxes because we’ll be a society that needs our government to take care of us! Seriously, though, we need to get back to business in this country, but it doesn’t need to be all or nothing…
For example, if you’ve got a kid in college who keeps coming home so you can do his laundry then it might be time to teach him how to do it on his own. Yes, I know that parents get great pleasure out of seeing their kids come home and the truth is that many kids love going back home to see their families. But if they’re coming home so their parents can perform basic tasks (laundry, grocery shopping, calling professors for class scheduling or asking questions about a test, etc), then the parents are actually hurting their kids. Cut the cord. Let the kids handle their own business, but teach them how to do it so they can be a fully functioning adult when they graduate. Don’t worry – you’re not alienating your kids. They’ll keep coming home because they like you!
Of course my commentary, as always, goes beyond the scope of the New York Times article linked above. However, this is a growing issue that I see with the guys I advise all over the state for the fraternity (hello GGL and Walnuts). Thankfully, these guys aren’t from the type of backgrounds that I talk about above, but the lack of proper preparation for post-collegiate life for today’s graduates is frightening and something that we need to reverse as soon as possible.
I did not realize this was an issue or rather a non-issue. I moved out at 18 and worked my way through college. These kids are coddled way too much.
It’s disgusting. These kids get to college with an “I have arrived!” attitude because they’ve been babied all of their lives and when they are met with the cold indifference of higher education they literally get lost in themselves. They’re shocked that no one gives a shit about them.
It’s that same, immature mentality that gives us the type of graduate that the New York Times is reporting on: the graduate who is amazed that s/he actually has to get up and earn a living.
Makes me sick.