About two months ago, I wrote a story for my campus newspaper on Haiti earthquake relief at UC Davis. When I interviewed a graduate who was organizing relief efforts, he told me he hoped a campus-wide relief effort would help prove that ours is not an apathetic generation. The idea of my generation being remembered as apathetic does not sit well with me. Who drew these conclusions about our generation? Are we apathetic? And if we are apathetic, why?
The accusations come from mine and my parents' generations alike. In 2007, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote that he was "baffled" that people of my generation are so much less radical and politically engaged than we need to be. I admit I too have found myself baffled by my peers' apparent disinterest in politics and worldly affairs, yet I don't think radicalism and political engagement define an active generation. Cameron Russell, author of "Your Generation of Hypocrisy Begat my Apathetic (!?) One," writes that our generation is baffled instead by the world we have inherited, what he calls a "world of hypocrisy and crisis; a world on the brink of collapse yet at the height of human civilization." True, our generation has inherited something wicked from our predecessors, but apathy as a result of a collapsing civilization doesn't seem to match up. Veronica Hefner agreed with Friedman's sentiment in a University of Tulsa opinion piece, "Few people seem to get passionate about anything. If you show more than an average, nonchalant interest in something - you're labeled a fanatic fruit loop." I believe my last blog on the March 4th protests, and the wave of news coverage that followed the protests more than negate the issue of my generation being passionate about anything. What Friedman, Russell, and Hefner have not mentioned is the tremendous pressure facing students today.
On April 4th, the Daily Beast ranked America's 50 Most Stressful Colleges based on five criteria: the cost, competitiveness, acceptance rate, engineering, and crime on campus. What is most significant about this post is not the criteria, but that such a ranking even exists. College is romanticized as the best years of our lives, but what is the quality of those years if they are spent under tremendous pressure?
While our predecessor's are unimpressed by our lack of political affinity, they fail to see that many members of our generation are driven by a different force. We are the generation that faces immense pressure, a pressure that begins in elementary school. Anyone remember the rolling backpacks that became to popular about 10 years ago? The rolling backpack wasn't so much a fashion statement as a chiropractor's prescription. School children's books were so heavy that they couldn't carry the books on their backs. When high school came students, at least at my school and I assume at many others, were placed in a hierarchy. The so-called A-level students at my high school ended up in the AP and honors classes while the B, and C level students (did these categories also signify grade expectations?), were placed in less advanced classes. And so went the hierarchy and the competition. In high school students are over saturated with what the universities like to see, extra-curricular activities, because no one likes to see an apathetic college applicant.
In college, we're told to get 'real life' experience. This 'real life' experience is usually unpaid, and usually means forgoing a paid job. And what are internships for? Experience of course, because we're expected to be out of college in four years, and expected to get jobs out of the gate. In four years we have to 1) get a degree, 2) gain as much 'real-life' experience as possible via internships, 3) get the grades to get into grad school if we so choose, and 4) try to have a social life.
Is it any wonder we seem apathetic toward politics? When we aren't in class, in an internship, or studying, how can we be expected to kick back and turn on C-SPAN? Our time is spent in a competitive mode, where we are constantly trying to get ahead. While we may seem apathetic toward politics, we surely are not apathetic about our futures. From those who deem us apathetic, we have not only inherited a country up to its neck in debt, but a society and lifestyle in which we are constantly expected to outperform each other. For students generally uninterested in politics, an intense course load combined with little free time leaves little room for political inquiry or investigation.
For all the accusations of apathy, fewer seem to recognize the weight college students carry on their backs. If these truly are the best years of our lives, should universities moderate competition, and place less pressure on students?
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We see the world leadership as a vast swarm of hypocrisy and lies, with the sole purpose of turning a profit. We see the leaders of the world gather together to ignore scientific evidence that the world is headed for disaster because multinational corporations complained about their bottom lines. We see our country's leaders lie directly to our faces and tell us that our friends are risking their lives for the sake of our freedom, when we know it's because no politician can win an election after "losing" a war. And we see preceding generations sitting in front of their TVs, accepting it.
If our generation is one of Apathy, then all the rest are of Greed.
My kind have been discussing this for decades. I'm glad to see a new discussion; fomenting possibilities.
I do not think there is an apathetic generation. I do think there are manipulated generations. The way I see it, the generations since the 80's have been filled with mass media, political propagandized and marketing trash.
The whiney, "nobody understands how tough young people have it today." sounds so familiar. We all sang that song. Chances are you live in heated and air conditioned rooms and have indoor plumbing with decent water. When you get hungry, you eat. Just on those points alone, you have it better then 99.9% of the planet. I don't believe you have it any tougher then I did 35/40 years ago. You didn't describe anything new except for computers and the internet which, I do believe, have made college easier. At least you don't have a draft. (College deferments ended in '69.) Our spring break consisted of no classes on Good Friday. Talk about apathy, for those reasons, I just don't care. You are feeling sorry for yourself. Admit it and join the club. We all do. Ten years after having left college most people understand they really were the years of lowest expectations and highest personal freedom.
I think you show a chip on your shoulder and are letting bias of some kind lead your response.
And all your whining won't change the fact that you can't make a dumb, lazy kid into a physicist. If you knew anything about science as opposed to over-used talking points, you would be aware of the role that heredity plays in intelligence. And I hate to break it to you, but most other industrialized countries do put high school students into "hierarchies" only theirs are much less fluid, and students are tracked into trade schools quite early instead of just being separated into "regular" and "AP" groups, as is the case in most American public schools. The reason those kids from other countries have better scores than U.S kids is basically because of the tracking system that most other countries use- it weeds out people who shouldn't go to college.
And they don't have to. The economic securities in the West makes it perfectly acceptable for most of us to go about our business not knowing who stands for what exactly. At the end of the day, most of us will have a bed to rest our heads on and ample food to satisfy our bellies.
In the so-called developing parts of the world - where the "basics" we take for granted is not guaranteed - everyone follows politics no matter how pressured they are in their daily routines. They have to. Their very existence depends on it.
I think the natural inclination for us, as human beings, is not politics. As I have noted on my own blog at its inception - http://www.thoughtiswack.com/home.html - "in the age of abundance and post abundance, we have proven ourselves to be anything but political."
We are "social animals" at our core, I believe, and hence the triumph of Hollywood over news. Young folks are very passionate, contrary to what Veronica Hefner states. They are passionate about celebrities, sports and music. They have an opinion on Tiger, the Jolie-Pitts, Madonna etc.
~Addis
www.thoughtiswack.com
I am the father of a 19 year old son who is a freshman at college. As all parents would be, I am concerned about his future. I have tried over the years not to have this concern transfer into pressure on him. Unfortunately. this MO is not the norm for my generation. More often then not, we place our kids on never ending treadmills...all with the hope of helping them live a better life.
I am greatly saddened that my generation leaves you with a nation that will not provide you with the opportunities we enjoyed and for that I apologize.
lots of young adults live at home AFTER college
"well your still 21 and your mother makes your bed, and thats too long"
Billy Joel was way right. DON'T GO HOME TO MOM AND DAD(they may do whatever they can to encourage it) .. and DON'T LET YOUR FRIENDS DO IT EITHER Do what is necessary.....
SO
1)room with friends and
2) live in the part of town you can afford (maybe not so nice eh)
if that doesn't work and the money still is short then...
3) room with more friends and live in the worst part of town
it is only in this way that you will see what life is really like... you will see the value of your degree... what it can get you in material things, and, most importantly, what it can get you out of life
Buon viaggio Mike
In politics, there is a difference between being apathetic and unengaged. Young Americans traditionally are not engaged by political candidates, organizations, or campaigns. In some circumstances young voters are actively dissuaded from political participation by interests that would lose influence if youth were to participate.
The hectic lifestyle most likely keeps many young Americans from getting involved in the civic realm on their own volition without any outreach, but these same people can be engaged with effort from others.
Diligence without direction is a deadly combination, and often times does lead to college burnout, particularly at the elite schools. As a student at MIT, I see this pretty frequently--students who have been pushed to the max, to be "successful," in one sense, but who end up hating their lives and hating MIT as a result. Of course, I am not advocating that people not be driven by success, but that there is a larger picture at play. There will always be competition, but we shouldn't let this competition get to us, or to be the motivating factor behind what we do.