Letters to the Editor
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Could've been better... could've been worse
By that I mean this interview with the author. From the Slate.com article, I half expected her to be a simpering, pampered idiot. But she wasn't. She was actually fairly well-versed in what she was talking about.
I really don't think the problem has anything to do with generational differences though. I think it has to do with certain parts of the economy that are floundering and certain parts of the economy that are thriving and the inability of colleges to wake up already to the fact that a liberal arts education simply does not cover the bases.
I'm doing fairly well, and so are my friends. But that's because 1. we're all doing something that we're interested in building a career in, and that makes all the difference, and 2. we live in an area where people scratch their heads and go, "Is there a recession? No way!"
We simply don't feel it here in my neck of the woods. The pharmaceutical and tech industries here are positively booming. Everyday I read about new subdivisions or a new global company that's coming to town.
So I have been insulated from a lot of what this author is talking about. But then I also think that many members of this generation are floundering because of their sense of entitlement. Not graduating from college within six years? Loading up a bunch of debt for an ENGLISH major? Charging tens of thousands on their credit?
Who are these people?! They're certainly not lower-middle class, like my friend who got zero support from her parents, babysat her way through college and now am earning in the mid- to high- five figures. My guess is that they're middle class and have never actually felt the sting of poverty. They buy into the lie that you could throw money away at an English major and expect to emerge unscathed, with a plum job waiting for you upon graduation. I blame this partially on naivete, but probably more so on colleges lying to students and making them believe that you can "do whatever you want" with an English major.
So I guess I would've liked more in-depth socio-economic analysis from this author apart from interviewing a bunch of people and using anecdotes to form a conclusion. Check out how Gen Xers are doing in different parts of the country. Talk to Gen Xers who actually went to school for a trade. My guess is that she'd come up with different results. It almost sounds like she did all her interviews in New York, which is not the best cross-section of my generation, not by a stretch.