Graduates Cling to Optimism in Pessimistic Real World
By Ashley Collman
If you're a senior like me, chances are the "g-word" comes up a lot in conversations these days. My parents, professors, and fellow seniors want to know what I'll do after I graduate. As if there isn't enough pressure entering the job market in a recession, every time I open a paper there's another article reminding me just how unprepared my generation is for the task.
These articles, written mostly by Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, complain more about our generation than the actual jobs crisis. They throw around a lot of statistics and a few stories about college graduates moving back in with their parents and squandering their educations on bartending jobs.
Because these writers are so much older, they can't empathize with the college grads they interview. They call us the "Peter Pan" generation, but miss the biggest point.
We 20-somethings don't cling to adolescence—we're trapped in Neverland. The economic downturn is not our fault, and job placement is out of our control.
The treatment of real college graduates falls flat in these articles. If it's not the grads' fault that they're jobless, then why do these Gen X writers make their lives seem so sad? If they're continuing to do the best they can, it should be a testament to our generation's resilience.
One example of this trend is "Generation Limbo: Waiting it Out" by Jennifer Lee, published in The New York Times. The article essentially says that Millenials don't care enough about their futures, by showing how happy some college grads are with low-wage jobs. Stephanie Kelly, a class of '09 University of Florida graduate, couldn't find a career in advertising so she now balances two jobs unrelated to her major. Her outlook on life is optimistic: "I can cook and write at my own pace…I kind of like that about my life." Lee, however, took what was an admirable positive attitude and turned it into a condescending dissmissal. Lee writes "…[I]s Ms. Kelly stressed out about the lack of a career path she spent four years preparing for? Not at all." While Ms. Kelly isn't exactly working her dream job, she's hardly following a careerless path. She realizes the job market isn't in her favor, and instead of remaining idle, she's doing something. She's just on an alternative career trajectory.
Apparently this optimism worries the older generation. Judith Warner interviewed nine students in "The Why-Worry Generation" for The New York Times Magazine. She was surprised at the amount of positivity she found; "Many were jobless, others were dissatisfied with their work or graduate-school choices, yet they didn't blame themselves if life failed to meet their expectations." Warner seems to suggest that this is a flaw, but I don't see how pessimism would be constructive. Negativity doesn't solve problems.
I'm surprised that the Millennial job crisis is viewed through such a negative and melodramatic lens. Even if I don't get a job right out of college, that doesn't make me a failure. I'm still a part of the privileged 6.7 percent of the world with a college degree. I, like my peers, will persevere and find a place for myself in the adult world. Success isn't measured by how closely you follow the path plotted out on your diploma. In fact, I don't think real life success will have much to do with my career at all.