Feel free to disagree, politely.

I just read an op-ed in the NY Times about Gen Y and their "complacency." You're going to have to go read it to understand this rant.

They based their findings on, get this, the number of teens applying for drivers' licenses.  Yep.

Buchholz and Buchholz postulate, 
"Perhaps young people are too happy at home checking Facebook. In a study of 15 countries, Michael Sivak, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (who also contributed to the D.M.V. research), found that when young people spent more time on the Internet, they delayed getting their driver’s licenses. “More time on Facebook probably means less time on the road,” he said. That may mean safer roads, but it also means a bumpier, less vibrant economy."


I willingly admit that computer/tech addiction isn't a great thing and DOES lead to general worthlessness and deadbeat-ness for many.  However, DRIVERS' LICENSES?  They actually bash kids who stay in their hometowns and ride bikes.  No joke.  Because that means they're willing to "settle."  And settling is un-American.  (Even though we mourn the drain of youth out of rural areas, small towns, and northern cities, and champion the good old days of family values and local cohesion.)  Because we must all be heroes a la the Joads of Steinbeck fame - who are not real, I'd like to note, and who were lucky to not starve to death like many of their fellow Okies.  And if we really cared about being Americans, we would pack our bags and go to North Dakota to work in the oil fields.  (Does anyone else see a move from Oklahoma to Cali by the Joads to find work as rather different from moving from, say, Georgia to North Dakota to find work?)  Because struggle is what makes us Americans, and if we're not struggling for something better, we'll rot as a nation.


I'm pretty sure this is a reworking of Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis - a hero-creating, imperialism-affirming, we-must-struggle-against-nature-by-finding-new-frontiers-or-we-will-become-lame-Europeans piece of work written in 1893 to reaffirm a belief in Manifest Destiny.  And IMHO, FJT's ideas were politically convenient proofs of founding myths swirling around in the late 19th century - and wrong.


And while we're at it, the Buchholzes have more to impart.
"But Generation Y has become Generation Why Bother. The Great Recession and the still weak economy make the trend toward risk aversion worse. Children raised during recessions ultimately take fewer risks with their investments and their jobs. Even when the recession passes, they don’t strive as hard to find new jobs, and they hang on to lousy jobs longer. Research by the economist Lisa B. Kahn of the Yale School of Management shows that those who graduated from college during a poor economy experienced a relative wage loss even 15 years after entering the work force."

Friends and twenty-somethings, is anyone else tired of hearing that we play it too safe?  Because I am.  I'm really tired of being told I don't try hard enough and am un-American because I don't care if I'm part of the next mythical Greatest Generation.  As someone who is currently playing it "safe" working two part-time jobs for low wages and no health insurance while my husband does the same at his one job, I'm a bit resentful.  I DID decide to stay in school so I would be eligible for these two jobs.  I AM playing it safe.  I'm not sure what the hurry to go out and struggle really is because, friends, my friends out there struggling right now are not doing well.  They have college degrees.  They are hard workers.  They are TRYING.  But many of them have had to move back to their parents' homes at some point.  Several have had to apply for food stamps because they can't find full-time work.  Many are chronically un- or underemployed despite constant job searching all over this country for ANY job.  Even fast food places aren't really hiring much.  So, I do feel really, really lucky to have my "crappy" job.  And after a year of unemployment for Mr. Wonderful, we are thankful he has one at all.  And I will be milking these jobs for a while longer.  As far as I can see, there's not much "out there" for me to do.  I've already moved across the country and am willing to do it again for the right job.  I know I wouldn't be a good entrepreneur, and I DON'T HAVE ANY START-UP CAPITAL with which to do it.  I barely have enough money for rent every month.

So I'm tired of old people telling me that my generation is a bad egg.  And really, blaming the youth is an old and dirty move.  Sometimes I look at younger kids and wonder what will become of me in my old age, but really, they'll grow up.  And my friends ARE grown up, and we are all struggling to support ourselves despite a pretty grim economic climate ANY WAY we can short of the black market and prostitution.

So who the heck cares whether there are fewer kids getting their drivers' licenses?!  They can't afford cars without jobs, no matter how much pep and American spirit they have.  And if they tried, the Buchholzes of the world would decry their irresponsible spending on credit.