Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

[VanCitySportsGuy]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159...Fencoding=UTF8

Just finished reading this book and I found it to be very interesting. First off let me say the author hasn’t exactly struggled herself. Mommy and Daddy paid her tuition while she went to Yale to get her degree. Her fiancé is also an engineer for Google.

While I actually agree with a lot of her points, she doesn’t talk about personal reasonability. Is it right to blame the “system” and cry about how tuition is too high and they can’t afford it although these are the same people that have iPod’s, huge collection of DVD’s, HDTV’s, etc….?

Or how about blaming the system when you’re 19 years old with 3 kids? I believe we live in a generation where a lot of young adults have an inflated sense of entitlement. People fresh out of college expect to be paid high wages when they haven’t even paid their dues yet. Some feel like working a non-career related job is “beneath” them. I found it amusing when people with Liberal Art degrees complained about the lack of jobs. Did you really think that Philosophy degree was going to lead to prosperity?

If the college system is so broken than why do schools continue to raise tuitions? It obviously comes down to supply and demand. If tuition was too high and colleges couldn’t attract enough students, than tuition would be lowered or/and student loans increased.

She points out how College is mainly for the Middle and Upper Class now. I wasn’t alive 40 years ago, but wasn’t it the same back then too? The lower class never has and never will comprise the majority of the college student population.

It’s funny reading the comments on the Amazon page. You can see more of the younger people agreeing with the author while the older people think the younger generation are just mostly a bunch of complainers.

[DaHokieBird]

Re: Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

Didn't have time to read over what was said on Amazon, but wanted to chime in real quick. I agree my generation is a bunch of complainers. Too many of us had "everything" given or available. But, I have heard that our generation will be the first to make less money than our parents. There are a million causes of that, but I'm sure this is one of them.

Thanks,
DaHokieBird

[GBrushTWood]

Re: Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

This argument has been pervasive for eternity. Back in the 1950's and 1960's, the current middle aged people were chastised as having it too easy by the people who are currently old fart grandparents.
I don't think there is much to this argument, though I admit I haven't read the book or anything.

[PdiddyPop]

Re: Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

I think my generation is a bunch of complainers, but like DaHokiebird said "This will be the first generation to make less than their parents." Makes me glad I didn't take a Liberal Arts degree, and getting one in the Health Care field. Where I don't have to worry about money or a job.

[NYG_Meth]

Re: Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

Whether I agree with the main point here or not is irrelevant. I wish people from each and every generation would quit whining about how THIS generation has it so much easier than THAT generation, how kids today are doomed for eternity and whatnot lol. Personally, as a member of this current generation, I agree that I've had a lot of things handed to me, and that I've been greatly privileged. Ya know what though? The generation that succeeds US is probably going to have it easier than we do. This seems to be the natural progression. My main question I'm trying to pose, however, is why must we b*tch and moan about this fact, which seems somewhat inevitable, when we can use all of this energy to do something productive? Then maybe people wouldn't be so desperate to find jobs, and wouldn't be labeled as "complainers." Going crazy about this argument is only supporting that notion.

[Misfit]

Re: Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159...Fencoding=UTF8



While I actually agree with a lot of her points, she doesn’t talk about personal reasonability. Is it right to blame the “system” and cry about how tuition is too high and they can’t afford it although these are the same people that have iPod’s, huge collection of DVD’s, HDTV’s, etc….?

If the college system is so broken than why do schools continue to raise tuitions? It obviously comes down to supply and demand. If tuition was too high and colleges couldn’t attract enough students, than tuition would be lowered or/and student loans increased.

She points out how College is mainly for the Middle and Upper Class now. I wasn’t alive 40 years ago, but wasn’t it the same back then too? The lower class never has and never will comprise the majority of the college student population.

I don't know if many students have HDTV's, I'd think no, but I see your point. Young people do expect too much and as a whole are not as grateful as they probably should be. I dated a girl who was pissed about the car her parents gave her because it wasn't "cool" when she should have just been happy they went out and bought her a car (needless to say, I am not dating that woman anymore). I had friends in college who complained to me about money, and then went and blew their cash on entertainment, alcohol, weed, or junk food.

College is perceived by most as a necessity at this point. If you want to make a fair amount of money you have to go to college. It isn't always enough to just go for your Bachelor's like it was years ago, now most people need to go to grad school if they want to be guaranteed a job. That was not the case in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Colleges can raise tuitions because they know people will pay them. It is a very inelastic commodity. Student loans are a real pain in the ***, but my suggestion to people who know money will be an issue for college would be to live in a state with low or zero tuition for state schools or work extra hard in high school to get a scholarship. My background is of a middle class family with two parents who work who combine to make less than 100 thousand a year and I have one sibling. I picked a low tuition state school (when I could have easily gotten into bigger, more expensive schools) and was fortunate that my parents were determined to pay for it. Not everyone is going to have it easy, and not everyone is going to have it be overly difficult, that is just the way the world works.

[Jimplication]

Re: Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

That book's cover looks like a third grader's first photoshop attempt.

[DGetz]

Re: Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be Young

I think the points people are making do make perfectly good sense and this is an issue I've brought up in coversation with people I know many times (the sense of entitlement I mean). But I think its something which is seen throughout America; after all the average American household spends more than they make and carries debt and not all of these households are run by recent college graduates. This attitude is more prevalent amongst young people I believe and I think thats a large part of why you see so many illegally downloading music and/or movies (which I really hate, but thats a whole other issue really...)

Asianflow, I feel you are stereotyping to a large degree because that level of technology or consumer goods and not common amongst college student I know. In fact off the top of my head I can only think of one person I know at my University who has a tv larger than 19 inches and its almost 20 years old; no one I know has an HD TV. As for other things...I mean an iPod costs what 150-400 dollars depending of the quality of it? That's a barely a dent compared to $12,000+ each year to go to school.

I think the author does make a fair point - to be able to succeed today you really do pretty much need a bachelor's degree, thats not really a debate. But the system is such that the cost of being an employable is thousands of dollars and I can see the frustration in that and its for that reason I dont think its unreasonable for the government to be willing to pay for college. After all part of the reason they started paying for high school in the first place was because that level of education was what was needed to succeed professionally at the time; now it has changed so people need to go to college.