<p>The percentage of the population going to college today is bigger. If you assume that the percentage of entitled kids is the same, then the numbers would have to be significantly larger.</p>
<p>I actually don’t recall the tradition of Spring Break referring to going to the Southeast or the islands or Mexico. It seemed to become much more prevalent in the later 80s and 90s. I was on a bus with other students near my daughters school and a bunch of students were talking about where they were going for spring break. This is a school that costs $250/credit hour so it’s fairly cheap. It has one campus in an urban setting and one in a suburban setting. This was the suburban setting - in the urban setting, you wouldn’t have kids talking about where they were going for spring break - they couldn’t afford it. So entitled? Yes - I see it regularly. I have lots of other examples. Spend some time on college campuses today - you might see it too.</p>
<p>Also, if you look at the chart at the top of the page, you will see that the economic downturn in the 80’s is barely noticable compared to right now. Regardless of the romantic memories from the past.</p>
<p>I find the inter-generation back and forth on this thread very interesting. I am the youngest month of baby boomer, but I identify myself as a Gen Xer. I am curiously envious of my parents’ generation. They are getting full SS and Medicare, their home equity quadrupled before they downsized, and they (assuming okay health) enjoy 25 year retirements. Many have wonderful defined benefit pensions with health care (I am green with envy over my inlaws’ GM retirement). I don’t think any of us middle aged folks will be able to enjoy any of those perks. We (middle aged) think we have it harder than our parents. The students on the thread think they have it harder than we do. And so on…
To be fair, the whole student loan issue is worse for the current students, but - full disclosure - I don’t understand how families could have thought that six digit debt was wise under any circumstance. However, for our parents, as other have pointed out, rates were higher, women had less professional opportunity, home prices were inflated, few families took vacations, people had one old car and one TV, etc.<br>
There is no right or wrong here. I would encourage the students on this thread to shed the negativity if possible. Thinking the whole economy is against you and that everyone else had it better is going to be a self fulfilling prophecy. I will probably have to retire later than I would like (for health care access), will never see SS (it will most certainly be means tested at some point), and be lucky to get out of my house flat. So be it. Regardless, I enjoy a great quality of life. The students on this thread may have to have a less appealing first job, live in shared older housing, and drive a beater car. Not fun and probably disappointing versus expectations, but be patient and positive.</p>
<p>I do teach classes on a couple of college campuses, and I see plenty of kids hustling just the way I did, and very few kids talking about ‘spring break.’</p>
<p>I have nothing but admiration for the kids, today, and, quite frankly, this is probably why they bring me their hopes and dreams and let me assist them in working out a plan. I don’t see these entitled kids, though I do see some kids who have watched too much MTV, which I very easily joke them out of.</p>
<p>Never once have I had a kid tell me they wouldn’t “take a job” because it wasn’t this, that or the other thing. The only time I have heard this is when they simply, realistically, could not afford the living situation, with roommates, under those circumstances with that pay. </p>
<p>tenisghs–for the first 5 years of my working career I WALKED to work, all of 4 blocks. It wasn’t in NYC, it was in a rural town in the Midwest. Probably close to 90% of the people that worked at that company, 9000+ people, walked to work because the town was small enough to do that. You don’t NEED a huge public transportation system, you need to live close to where you work if you can’t afford a car. It’s really not that hard of a concept.</p>
<p>“tenisghs–for the first 5 years of my working career I WALKED to work, all of 4 blocks. It wasn’t in NYC, it was in a rural town in the Midwest. Probably close to 90% of the people that worked at that company, 9000+ people, walked to work because the town was small enough to do that. You don’t NEED a huge public transportation system, you need to live close to where you work if you can’t afford a car. It’s really not that hard of a concept.”</p>
<p>And these same rural towns are experiencing a brain drain because local graduates must uproot to larger cities for better employment opportunities. I have relatives who grew up in the countryside and had to move away because the local towns (where manufacturing or correctional facilities once dominated the area) are not there anymore. Yes, some rural towns offer decent employment if they happen to land a good employer but for the majority of college graduates like myself (my background is educational services), I had to live near a metropolitan area.</p>
<p>tenisghs–actually, these were jobs that required college degrees, many in finance, accounting, as well as engineering. There were some manufacturing jobs but this was for a multbillion dollar international company. There were also several other employers in town that had jobs requiring college degrees. Most of the people that worked there were not from the area actually. Also, in this particular town, the regional educational cooperative was located in that town. You could have easily found a job with them or one of the schools in the area…again, think outside the box.</p>
<p>SteveMA, I think our definitions of rural towns are not the same. I think of a rural town as a place where the closest metropolitan region is over 90 miles away. Think farmland, one or two main streets that are state highways, and populations under 2,000. I don’t consider small towns that have turned into exurban suburbs due to suburban sprawl rural anymore.</p>
<p>There is also a demographic factor to consider with regard to the future lives and prosperity of the people in college and graduating now. There aren’t enough of them to support the older generation. That is going to be really, really tough down the pike. Which also explains why they are so cherished and protected. We are all in trouble, folks. The national debt, student debt, the rolling ball of flame is coming for all of us.</p>
<p>I agree that my generation feels more entitled, that’s just a symptom though. We were taught that if we get great grades that good things will happen - in reality, you need good grades AND put effort in outside of just schoolwork to have good things happen. It’s not arrogance so much as ignorance. I think I was more anxious than my friends when I was revising their resumes/cover letters and pressuring them to go to networking events, start up dialogues with recruiters, etc. At one point I was afraid I was ruining my friendships because of how much I pestered them about it. And they’re harder workers on the whole than I am - they just had no conception that kind of stuff is necessary.</p>
<p>tenisghs-this is a town of 10,000 people, the next closest “big” town was 90 miles away and 150,000 people. The closest major metro area is 3 hours away. It’s rural and it got to 10,000 people because of this one employer and their efforts to bring other things to town. The rest of the towns around there are 2000 or less, many being 200 people.</p>
<p>I agree with poetgirl. The kids I meet are (overwhelmingly) hardworking, ambitious, and caring. </p>
<p>I have been shaking my head in wonder over some of the things parents on this thread seem to think of the younger generation. It seems obvious to me (OK, I’m younger than the boomers) that economically the boomers had it a lot easier than these kids will when they graduate.</p>
I’m an x-er and I don’t see the millennials as entitled either. I think they’ve been handed a raw deal, but I still don’t think their lives are over at 22. Now I actually do think the boomers are a more entitled group, but you get into the end of life and cost of healthcare issues, as well.</p>
<p>as an aside, it will be fascinating to watch how the newly minted grads vote this fall – if they vote. As college students, they overwhelmingly supported the current Prez, something like 2:1, and with a large turnout. Now that only ~half are in job market, while the other half is looking hard for anything…</p>
<p>“I forgot about sharing bath water. We did that!”</p>
<p>The worst thing about it that the rule was, the youngest goes last. Yuk!</p>
<p>I don’t think there are many people on here saying that this generation is lazy and entitled. I think the point that many of us have tried to make is that there is no denying that people’s living standards have gone way up over the years. It is expensive to live in today’s current standards, but it would be cheap to live as earlier generations did. I certainly wouldn’t want or expect my kids to do it, but I would point them the way, should they ask, to avoid crushing debt. It’s hard to live low when everyone around you isn’t. But my parents lived in a far tougher world than I did, as did their parents. Shoot, I’m glad the communists fed my Grandpa’s family, otherwise he would have starved to death. </p>
<p>Some seniors have it pretty good now, with their houses paid off, money saved, no debt, SS and Medicare. But many of them suffered and struggled for decades of their lives. And some are just getting by. It doesn’t seem reasonable to have the, “This is your fault, no it’s yours argument.” What zoosermom said, “We are all in trouble, folks. The national debt, student debt, the rolling ball of flame is coming for all of us,” is so true.</p>
<p>I live in VERY rural America. The closet city is 90 miles away from me. The closest large town - with a mall is over 30 miles away. I drive over 20 miles to get to the closest Wal-Mart and McDonalds.</p>
<p>We’re experiencing a brain drain - partially because of a limited number of jobs for certain specialties, but more because graduating teens just don’t want to live there anymore - after growing up where your high school has an annual ‘drive your tractor to school’ day, the bright lights of the big city look more attractive.</p>
<p>If those kids DID go off to college and return home, we are near a large military base that employs a lot of college grads - there are a lot of employees with science or engineering backgrounds, but with 3000 employees, there are also positions for people of many other backgrounds.</p>
<p>But outside of the base, in my town with 2 stop lights… If “our” kids went off to college and decided to come back, we have several law offices, a couple accounting offices, several banks, a couple real estate offices, a school, a medical clinic, a couple small manufacturing facilities… in our town of 2500 we employ lawyers/paralegals, teachers/school administrators, doctors/nurses, pharmacists, CPAs, and numerous other college grads</p>
<p>There are opportunities in small towns if you look for them, if I took the time to look, I bet I could find postings for close to 100 jobs at a variety of experience levels within 50 miles of my house</p>
<p>I don’t know that entitled is how I would describe the millennials but I do see them has having unrealistic expectations of the entry level job market. I also see them as wanting it all now because that is what they have with their parents but didn’t see their parents eating pancakes when the food budget was shot for the month…</p>
<p>Also, as far as the boomers go, people act like the boomers had all of that handed to them, they don’t realize that the boomers lived in 900 sq foot houses for 10 years and drove one car, maybe, and drove that car until it died and didn’t go on expensive vacations every year, etc., etc. It was a totally different mindset back then and you saved your pennies before you did anything else, a holdover from their Depression generation parents. How many of us got brand new cars when they got their first driver’s license? Did you have $3000/month sports lessons/leagues when you were growing up? Did your parents pay for stuff like that for you? No.</p>
<p>“Maybe the boomers are just getting to the “when I was your age, I walked ten miles to school, in the snow, up hill BOTH ways,” stage”</p>
<p>I don’t think I could make such a sweeping generalization from a few posts. The reality is, that we all come from different backgrounds. Perhaps the people who don’t have memories of how different their lives were growing up, and certainly how much harder those before them struggled, were brought up in a wealthier family. Or their parents didn’t tell them stories of struggles and lifestyles that impressed them. I am sure that few of my friends have stories as bizarre as I do (and mostly because my parents were kind of nuts). Though I know you have some stories, poegrl! I don’t feel I suffered at all, but when I compare my lifestyle growing up to my kids? Wow, what a difference. They don’t get stories from me, except for entertainment value.</p>
<p>The troubles that face this generation are different. They are not starving, they are not suffering in many of the physical ways that other generations did, thankfully. But they have high pressures and expectations put upon them. Looming debt, both personal and public. I don’t think anyone is going to take the necessary action to fix these problems, whatever it may be. So all I can do is try to make sure my kids have their ducks in a row, to protect them, guide them, give them advice and encourage them to have marketable skills, save their money and carry no debt.</p>
<p>“I live in VERY rural America. The closet city is 90 miles away from me. The closest large town - with a mall is over 30 miles away. I drive over 20 miles to get to the closest Wal-Mart and McDonalds.”</p>
<p>I am very familiar with this rural America. Whenever I visit the countryside, it is typical to drive 20+ miles to the nearest Wal-Mart. The scenery is mostly woods, lakes, two-lane highways, and farmland.</p>
<p>Military bases are the exception because they can literally spur economic development in small towns. My original post didn’t include them because not all rural towns offer those kind of opportunities. I’ve seen too many rural towns devastated economically by the closure of a major employer, such as a manufacturing facility or correctional facility.</p>