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I think the younger generation needs to get out and get a job at 18 like many of the seniors did, even those who later went on to university, for which they paid themselves.
And all that binge-drinking we see the younger generation do? Spring break? Really? Ridiculous waste of money and brains.
Where?
These days who is going to hire a HS graduate?
If you are talking professional track, I am not aware of too many internships (especially the paid variety) where you don't need at least Freshman year of college. Big change from my day, where I went to work as a contractor for a tech firm the week after HS graduation. We don't see that sort of thing these days.
If you are talking basic labor track, in the services / food arena, at least in my region most of the workers are well into their 20s or older from the vast pool of recent immigrants. Very difficult for a local yokel HS grad to get into that game unless very bilingual. In what's left of the blue collar arena, a few lucky people are taken under various wings. The best case for this is in the trades, but even here, the cheap more experienced immigrant pool tends to take most of the openings. And I am strictly referring to legit enterprises here, some places will only hire this sort of labor under the table and they are not going to hire Johnny down the street for that type of deal.
I noticed as I get older, (I'm 39) I tend to pass judgment on younger folks for some of the very same things I did when I was their age. Though now, I know better, I realize that the knowledge I have now derived only through wisdom and age.
I also find myself subconsciously dismissing younger peoples opinions because they're so young, even though I specifically remember being frustrated with not being taken seriously by older generations when I was that age.
That said, I notice a lot of folks in the retirement community do not want their tax dollars spent on various educational or social programs even though they and their children benefited from the same sort of programs growing up....
OK folks--we've gotten off track--let's get back on....
My observation is that the older generation--doesn't matter WHICH generation (I heard the same spiel from my "Greatest Generation" parents)--begin to think, operate and formulate opinions out of fear. Their opinions reflect more about what's going on with THEMSELVES and less about the younger generation.
Face it folks--we're no longer relevant. We're on our way out.
I came to that conclusion when I was 55 (I'm now 64) We are no longer the target demographic of big business and that bruises our collective ego. We have been de-throned.
Let's get back to fear....many people in my age bracket are retired. Some of us didn't plan so well and/or select to live more frugally on limited resources. Some of us have fallen on hard times. We get bitter that life is passing us by and we're envious of the younger generation who seem to "have it all." Own it. That is your predicament and/or your choice. This is not a Millienial or Gen X or Y issue--it's a Boomer issue. Remember--we once "had it all" too and were the envy of our own parents' generation.
Another fear stems from the bureaucracy surrounding senior healthcare and support services. I will be the first one to admit that our modern American society does not make growing older easy and this is sheer travesty. We are at the point in our lives when our faculties begin to slow down but yet day-to-day living becomes more complicated, and we wonder what will become of us. This became abundantly clear to me as I saw my own parent's health decline. This is what we're pissed off about, but again OWN IT. It's a monster of our own making by the way of our own short-sightedness, narrow minded attitudes and political choices. Need I remind you that we were the generation that wailed, "I hope I die before I get old...."
Little history....
When I was in high school (65-69) I was not allowed to work even though I desperately wanted to. My dad was of the mind to "get your education first." Even when I was in college he frowned on me having a part time student labor job. He provided my brother and me with everything. He paid for all of my college expenses and even purchase my first THREE NEW (you read that right) cars (in cash) We were not rich. My dad was a crane operator in a steel mill and my mom was a stay-at-home mom. When I was in high school the local steel mill closed and for a while my dad had to work in a town 3 hours away to keep us afloat.
Fast forward 35 years....
My husband and I had great jobs and easily cleared $100+/year, however we had the misfortune of living in one of the most high-cost-of-living states in the union. Believe me, we did NOT live "high on the hog." I work at a state university and got tuition benefits for my kids (tuition only--does not include room/board or fees) With the money that my dad left me i furnished each kid with a (used) car for their high school graduation. This, and staying at my job for the tuition benefit (even though it has devolved into a political nightmare), was my version of "paying it forward." Because of circumstances beyond her control, kid #2 is currently living in her own apartment and works as a pizza delivery person while she finishes up her senior year. Kid #1 is away in a 2 year grad program at $52,000/yr. She'll be working off that debt for the rest of her life. Thank God her undergrad was take care of.
Those who think that the younger generation has it made in the shade are deluding themselves. The point of this rambling is to acknowledge that in today's world it's tough for all of us--young and old alike.
Kid #2 is ascerbic and demanding and feels that the world owes her a living. Yeah--the poster child for the kind of youth that the older generation complains about. Behind that exasperating persona is a 21 year old embarking on adulthood who is scared out of her mind. The sad fact is that that no one can "teach" you to be an adult. Our society does a crap job of preparing its youth to "take on the torch." What we're good at is pandering and marketing--not guiding and facilitating. And we're equally adept at blaming them for it.
I told my daughter that her 20s will be the most challenging decade of her life. Society will expect a lot from her and she will feel ill-prepared, but I assured here that she will get through it and be OK.
It's one of the few times in my life I got a, "Thanks Mom--I needed to hear that...."
Last edited by Daisy Grey; 09-09-2015 at 08:01 PM..
The plumber that I hired to complete my bathrooms this week BILLS $80 per hour is a HS graduate. He is also booked for the next four weeks at a minimum. My electrician also bills in that vicinity.
The MIG-TIG welders that I employed were making $30+/hr plus a great benefits package.
The last year one of my relatives worked at a Ford dealership as a senior mechanic, he made $75k.
There are jobs out there for people with a high school diploma, a couple years of technical school, and the willingness to get their hands dirty.
The plumber that I hired to complete my bathrooms this week BILLS $80 per hour is a HS graduate. He is also booked for the next four weeks at a minimum. My electrician also bills in that vicinity.
The MIG-TIG welders that I employed were making $30+/hr plus a great benefits package.
The last year one of my relatives worked at a Ford dealership as a senior mechanic, he made $75k.
There are jobs out there for people with a high school diploma, a couple years of technical school, and the willingness to get their hands dirty.
Right, I mentioned that there a few lucky folks who can get those types of jobs in the trades.
However, don't know what part of the country you live in ... around here, more and more of those trades gigs go to recent immigrants and I'm not talking about H1Bs. To be honest many of them are undocumented and work under the table. And even when a kid straight out of high school gets such a gig, because of the wage depression, it ain't what it was back in the day.
It's the evolution of becoming cantankerous !
Wait until you get to the point of when you drive and you see nothing but morons and idiots behind the sterring wheel of other cars on the road.
Go ahead and inflation-adjust the tuition you paid. My first degree was in English Literature (a respectable degree then because companies cared more that you had a degree than they cared what it was actually IN, with the exception of specialty employment like engineering). It cost the inflation-adjusted sum of $2,400 for a 4 year degree. My last graduate degree, which I went back for in the late 90s, was closer to $28,000 and that was because I had teaching stipends. If I went back now that degree would be almost $45,000.
When I was 18 or so, I never lacked for a job because they were EASY to get. Although I had no technical training, computers were just coming in to the workplace and I found them relatively easy to decipher. So I'd take a job, spend a month or so learning the (usually completely unique) system, spend 6 months or so getting really good at it and then leave at around a year or so later because I was bored stiff. I don't think I spent more than a week or so looking for new jobs.
That is not an option now. Finding a job with relatively few qualifications is tough and any job you do get is likely to be part-time and not pay a wage that afford you the same (admittedly tiny) solo apartment my jobs paid for. The part-time, lousy pay thing for what was full-time clerical and and semi-blue-collar is relatively recent, as is the "on-demand" scheduling, where you don't necessarily even work hours for a week, you are simply told that you must be available certain hours in case your employer needs you and calls you to come in.
The "spring break" thing started long ago - as early as the 1940s or 1950s in Florida and was in full swing by the late 70s/early 80s.
Pull off those "get off my lawn" spectacles and actually LOOK at what the latest generation is going through, preferably with a bit more sympathy and empathy. I would pay money NOT to be 18 again, mostly because of the world that older generations (myself included) created.
Amen!!! The really sad part about this thread is that the OP is already old and cranky in his attitude and he's just a "boy" of 39! What's he going to be like in another 30 years when he's a bonafide "senior"?
IMO, dumping on young people is no different than dumping on poor people or immigrants ... it's just scapegoating. People scapegoat others primarily for 2 major reasons: because it's easier than looking at the much more complex reasons for why things are the way they are; and because they view the past through the warped prism of memory and/or myth.
My dad -- a rock-ribbed Republican all his life -- shocked me to the core when he said just before he died "I would have put my ballot in for Ralph Nader if I didn't think it would split the Democratic vote." As he got older he became MORE aware of the social programs that benefited him -- like having health insurance for the first time in his life. Whether that's representative of the larger group I couldn't tell you.
Right, I mentioned that there a few lucky folks who can get those types of jobs in the trades.
However, don't know what part of the country you live in ... around here, more and more of those trades gigs go to recent immigrants and I'm not talking about H1Bs. To be honest many of them are undocumented and work under the table. And even when a kid straight out of high school gets such a gig, because of the wage depression, it ain't what it was back in the day.
I used to hear that stuff all the time. Yes, my manufacturing staff was large Hispanic. They all held a US passport or a green card that allowed them to work in the United States as we hired NO illegals. At a minimum fine of $10,000 per violation, why do I want to bear the risk?
We sponsored welder training classes at the local community college. Is it OUR FAULT that 90% of the people who signed up and paid for the training were Hispanic? We certainly did NOT discourage Anglos or African Americans from taking the training.
We can teach people nearly any of the technical training. However, what we cannot do is to train people to show up for work, or to show up to work sober.
The plumber that I hired to complete my bathrooms this week BILLS $80 per hour is a HS graduate. He is also booked for the next four weeks at a minimum. My electrician also bills in that vicinity.
The MIG-TIG welders that I employed were making $30+/hr plus a great benefits package.
The last year one of my relatives worked at a Ford dealership as a senior mechanic, he made $75k.
There are jobs out there for people with a high school diploma, a couple years of technical school, and the willingness to get their hands dirty.
This is largely a myth, and like most myths, if it's repeated enough, a lot of people fall for it. "A couple of years of technical school", depending upon the school, can cost as much as 2 years at a state college. In fact, many people attend community colleges just for that reason: to learn a trade such as HVAC, welding, nursing, automobile technology, etc. Claiming these people are "just HS grads" is disingenuous at best.
For every HS grad making "$30+/hr plus a great benefits package", there are probably 95 making half that with minimal if any benefits. Out of 100 tech school grad/certificate holders making the $30/hour, probably 60 make significantly less because they lack experience or face stiff competition.
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The Soap Box
The really sad part about this thread is that the OP is already old and cranky in his attitude and he's just a "boy" of 39! What's he going to be like in another 30 years when he's a bonafide "senior"? 
