The Generational Problem Part II
The 18th birthday comes, the graduation ceremony is right around the corner and we as parents are happy. The memories of ourselves launching into young adulthood are fond and we project this onto our children. Eighteen the age of majority, high school graduation, the symbol of departing youth and the beginning of adulthood flood our minds, however, how quick we are to dismiss that these were past markers for our generation. The reality fails to connect in our minds, much of today’s high school graduates have been prepared for nothing. Despite their grade point average, despite their SAT/ACT scores, they are ignorant in how the world works – the dynamics of money, the influence of corporations and the corrupt nature of politics. This is the world that they must engage, this is the world in which they must live, a world that lacks immediate gratification, a world that holds them accountability, a world split between highly advanced careers, or the experience found within the trades.
Again, seeking for our children to follow the ideal path that we established in our minds, we push our children towards higher education. While many of our youth are resistant to continuing education, they lack the competence of performing hands on trades. Moreover, even despite their ignorance into careers like welding, electrical, plumbing, or mechanics – they lack the training and the desire needed to learn these crafts. Most of our youth look upon these skills as beneath them, that they are superior to the blue-collar trades that bind our world together. No surprise, the elimination of classes such as home economics, shop class, and continuing education programs have long been sacrificed to pave the way for classes that systemically reprogram the mind. Classes such as Critical Race Theory, Gender Studies, and Equality programs have replaced the education that informed our children that hands on labor can stimulate the mind and enrich the soul.
As parents to this new society of young adults, we often stand back and wonder why little Billy or Rebecca is resistant to obtaining a job, resistant to understanding that we start at the bottom and work our ways up. Online social culture such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram reinforce the ideology that education or traditional training programs are the ways of the past, that today, money, wealth and influence can be found behind a keyboard or camera lens. However, our blogging/vlogging icons rarely disclose the amount of work and dedication that it takes to reach the levels needed to self-support on these platforms. Rarely do they talk about the investment capital needed to start these operations, to find sponsors, to find and create the content needed to captivate an audience. Rather, they fall victim to entirely new set of predators – the self-help ideology that reinforces the false façade that they are worthy, they are enough, that they too contain the knowledge needed to make themselves a success.
Personally, I enjoy reading self-help books, I like reading blogs, I indulge in YouTube videos. However, I am Generation X, I have used and continue to use my mind and my hands to create value to myself in this world. I have no misconception that people such as Joe Rogan and Tony Robbins have worked extensively in building their value, I have no ideology that millions of dollars and thousands of hours have been poured into making them the sensation they are today. Additionally, while you may read this on my personal blog, do not mistake for one moment that I simply quit my career, lack technical education, or have ignored the need for higher education – I have no disillusion that my blog can at this moment support me in the capacity that I would like. Unfortunately, many are unable to see the learning process I continue to endure, they fail to see the hundreds of hours learning how to work a camera, how to format a website, how to handle the finances and the taxes that come as a result of running my infinitesimally small website.
All cumulating in the question of repair. How to we change the new generations mind to one that embraces change and seeks gratification as a reward rather than expectation? The answer however is not appealing and most likely will be mocked and critiqued – we leave them alone. We remain steadfast in our “no’s”, we allow the generation to slowly begin to self-evaluate, self-discover, and self-conclude that there is a glory in being denied our hearts whims, that the pride of self-achievement is only found after failure has beset them. Failure is the learning curve that we have for decades attempted to eliminate from our youth. Meanwhile, failure has been the methodology capable in instructing where parents and teachers have failed. Humiliation, self-doubt and struggle are the tools used within failure. However, as much as we attempt steer our children away from the use of these tools, they remain the only ones available that are capable of providing self-esteem, pride, long lasting endurance and the ability to smile when they succeed.
-Adam Scott
Original Publish: 02/2022
