As part of the millennial generation, where even losers get trophies and praise is what sustains us, I feel that my uneasiness regarding the future is justified. WE ARE LAZY. The expansion of adolescence is to blame: our parents continue to coddle us well into adulthood, we've been told that "we're special" throughout our childhoods without having done anything, and we demand positive reinforcement despite the quality of work. We can't handle criticism or the ludicrous idea of sitting down to a 9-5 job where we're expected to do work. We weren't taught how to fall down and pick ourselves up again. I am certainly guilty of this; my parents have made it so easy to be dependent and have been proactive in the prevention of my judgmental mistakes that I haven't had many chances to learn from experience. While this is both a good and bad thing, there is no better teacher than experience. Employers are adapting to my generation as it begins to infiltrate the job markets by relaxing dress codes, de-formalizing the environment, etc. in order to cater to our resocialization transition. But our economy is suffering from the late-blooming work tendencies caused by the extension of our adolescence. Pre-Industrialism, children would work as soon as they could walk. Now we aren't getting our acts together until late-twenties/early-thirties! I read an interesting article in New York Magazine about college students feeling entitled to a high grade based on their efforts. Professors argue that it's not the amount of effort that determines the grade, it's the final product. I completely agree, however, perhaps our sense of entitlement stems from the cost of tuition? We're paying for it, so we want the reward in return. We see college as a business rather than educational investment. Anyway, that's my rant for the day.
I stumbled across this artist the other day. Aurel Schmidt, based in New York, is insanely talented and I am so impressed by her pieces. One of my new favorites, for sure.
