Failure to Launch: Millennials Struggling with Adulthood

[ThisNThat]

Yep... we are the same age... my alma mater is Houston, and the now a days is $75K/4 years. When I was there I applied and received a few scholarships, one I remember was the Daniel B. Hadad Memorial Scholarship. it was $1,500 for anything I needed to spend money on.... THAT was a fortune in 1986 when I got it, and it made a REAL difference for me... Today most kids wouldn't even bother applying for a $1,500 ship because that amount makes no difference.

I'm hoping my kids end up at LSU and I've managed to set aside half of what they need for 4 years, I should have the other half in 5 years when they start. But in 5 years, the cost might go up to $100K!

One thing is certain... they are going to study something that has value after graduation, or I'm just using their college fund to buy a boat.

Yeah, when I was in college, there were a lot of women majoring in Psychology...a pretty much easy degree to get A's and B's in, but couldn't get you squat jobwise.

 

[playa99]

The problem with my generation has many facets.

1 - My generation feels entitled to success regardless of putting in 'hard work'.

2 - We have it rammed down our throats from an early age that college is the route to go down for ANY successful career, which just isn't true.

3 - Houses prices keep on rising. It is tough for the average college graduate to buy their own property. By the time they have left college & saved for a deposit they can be pushing 30. To compound this, 1 person on a average wage could not afford to purchase a property.

4 - A lot of people I know went to uni because they wanted to put off adulthood, rather than study for a career.

5 - Education should focus on helping children prepare for adult life. Managing bills, emotional health etc. In this regard education fails miserably.

It is still the individuals responsibility to become successful. If you live day to day & focus on bettering yourself, it will happen eventually.

 

[ThisNThat]

As far as #3, most people have chosen the apartment life as purchasing property is something single people typically don't do, at least in their 20s.

 

[Building_and_Loan]

Colleges are just big business these days, taking advantage of a market of kids who have no real idea of what they want to do in life. I mean what percent of adults actually ended up in the field they imagined they would when they were 18? Maybe 20%?

I say this as a proud alum of my university, but so many kids have no need to go there. It's unreal all the different fees needed to pay before you even set foot on campus of a state school.

More kids need to see the value in learning a trade via apprenticeships. After 4 years of being an apprentice, you could amass roughly $80-$90 thousand total while accruing no student loans, while a 4 year college student will have saved virtually nothing while accruing well over $30,000 in debt, and likely not even having a linear career path once school is completed.

 

[bigneil]

The main problem with colleges is that now that we give free loans to everyone, the dumbest, most pathetic students (who no longer even have to meet academic standards) are being catered to (the customer is always right). Hence safe spaces and SJW hell on Earth.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

- Robotics, technology automation, and globalization have decreased the number of decent jobs

This right here is the biggest reason why. A lot of you forget that many of the jobs of your time is no longer there simply because of technology taking its spot.

Globalization was also another big factor as well. All of you guys are forgetting the crookedness of this stinking government and don't realize just how corrupt it is. One example that's related to jobs is a company called Bain Capital. Basically, it was a company where Mitt Romney bought companies in the US and sold them over to India and China (mostly India I believe). It's how he made his $250 million. Reasons like this is why it's hard for mellenials to find jobs now. Some of you say to just MAKE a job, like it's the easiest thing in the world. How the hell do MAKE a job? Do you older people not see how the US has shifted from an industrial economy to a service economy? And how now all of the actual SERVICES are offshored by some random people who aren't even in your country anymore? Some of you talk about work ethic and how mellenials have screwed themselves over because they just suck. Well what about every other person your age who hasn't made it like all of you? I've known people who worked to build up their life and worked harder than any of you here (and they are your age or older) and are now working in gas stations. These people talk about how they got placed in their situations and such, and many of them have GREAT skills, some of them ****ing geniuses discovering algorithms of when people will call customer service based on a storm or event or day of the week or stock market change, or when electrical companies will need to optimize their electrical capabilities to account for higher/lower usage to save money, just to name a few. These people have skills that they cannot use for the reasons being what Tenacity stated. And guess what? A LOT of these folks aren't even mellenials. They're generation X and even 'Baby Boomers' too. But you'd never know that because those people that are your age don't ever talk about it because they have too much pride to. It's all about the luck of the draw I guess.

 

[Tenacity]

College used to be STRICTLY about applicable education and training towards a particular trade or skill.

Now the shyt is just 80% busy-work for the vast majority of the degrees, in an attempt to just increase attendance rates and graduation rates, even though the students are graduating with degrees that are worthless 80% of the time.

80% of the college degree programs are meaningless. If your degree is not building an applicable skill or SPECIFIC training towards a SPECIFIC trade/industry/specialization, then it's worthless. And said training needs to be required of the industry. So the college degrees to consider include:

- Accounting/Finance (for accounting/finance jobs)

- Nursing (RN and higher jobs)

- Medicine

- Dentistry

- Engineering

- Computer Science

- Information Technology related fields

That's pretty much IT for the most part. The rest of the shyt is nothing but busy work and bullshyt. Granted, I do understand that many Employers outside of these industries DO require you to have some college or a 4 year degree.

So my recommendation is again to choose one of the specializations ABOVE so you could either go into that field in particular, or another field that just requires "any" degree. By choosing a higher degree like one of the above, Employers will respect that much more than if you choose something easy like Communications.

 

[Von]

College used to be STRICTLY about applicable education and training towards a particular trade or skill.

Now the shyt is just 80% busy-work for the vast majority of the degrees, in an attempt to just increase attendance rates and graduation rates, even though the students are graduating with degrees that are worthless 80% of the time.

80% of the college degree programs are meaningless. If your degree is not building an applicable skill or SPECIFIC training towards a SPECIFIC trade/industry/specialization, then it's worthless. And said training needs to be required of the industry. So the college degrees to consider include:

- Accounting/Finance (for accounting/finance jobs)

- Nursing (RN and higher jobs)

- Medicine

- Dentistry

- Engineering

- Computer Science

- Information Technology related fields

That's pretty much IT for the most part. The rest of the shyt is nothing but busy work and bullshyt. Granted, I do understand that many Employers outside of these industries DO require you to have some college or a 4 year degree.

So my recommendation is again to choose one of the specializations ABOVE so you could either go into that field in particular, or another field that just requires "any" degree. By choosing a higher degree like one of the above, Employers will respect that much more than if you choose something easy like Communications.

Great post.

You guys know the WolfofWall Street?

You know he was a dentist student?

His "faculty leader" aka the dentistry department boss told him there was no money in dentistry due to technology, health habits, too many applicants... he told the wolfofwall street to become a stock broker since it was a booming field

Its True, dentist are suffering (cost going down, all grouping together)... like finance... you need hyper spécialisation to make it in $$$

Éducation is important but it wont get you à job.

You want something technical as a degree.

You want to be rich? 1) be in business 2) be the best in your Field 3) be in a Field with futur

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Great post.

You guys know the WolfofWall Street?

You know he was a dentist student?

His "faculty leader" aka the dentistry department boss told him there was no money in dentistry due to technology, health habits, too many applicants... he told the wolfofwall street to become a stock broker since it was a booming field

Its True, dentist are suffering (cost going down, all grouping together)... like finance... you need hyper spécialisation to make it in $$$

Éducation is important but it wont get you à job.

You want something technical as a degree.

You want to be rich? 1) be in business 2) be the best in your Field 3) be in a Field with futur

The thing is though with dentistry it's always going to be something at least somewhat reliable since it is medically related. Everything related to the medical field makes a lot of money. That's why Hillary didn't win in 2008; she wanted to change it so that those rich folks weren't gonna make as much money so then they destroyed her after that.

 

[Alvafe]

The problem with my generation has many facets.

1 - My generation feels entitled to success regardless of putting in 'hard work'.

2 - We have it rammed down our throats from an early age that college is the route to go down for ANY successful career, which just isn't true.

3 - Houses prices keep on rising. It is tough for the average college graduate to buy their own property. By the time they have left college & saved for a deposit they can be pushing 30. To compound this, 1 person on a average wage could not afford to purchase a property.

4 - A lot of people I know went to uni because they wanted to put off adulthood, rather than study for a career.

5 - Education should focus on helping children prepare for adult life. Managing bills, emotional health etc. In this regard education fails miserably.

It is still the individuals responsibility to become successful. If you live day to day & focus on bettering yourself, it will happen eventually.

you know the 5th of your list should be the parent teaching not school/colege, one thing I see a lot from this and the previous generation is not being a parent, people are so absorved on they own little life they don't care with no one, even they kids, they just pop kids and hope school will teach then how to behave and how to do everything, not really how it works.

I think I said it before but colege do have a lot of useless things you are forced to do with will not help you ever on the market, its alwyas all about how much you can memo and vomit it back the way the teacher want even if its wrong, if not good luck with your grades or a teacher reproving you for not liking you.

but what you really should learn is how to search for the info and how to apply, if you do learn it you can do anything. we coulkd blame others and all but that really wouldn't change nothing, you will just give the goverment a new "excuse" to take even more freedom from you so you don't need to worry about this new thing. the main reason most country are like this is not the capitalism is not how the world is going to hell with wars (news we was a race who had his most technological jumps during wars, and there was always a war going on).

problem with having you own bussiness normally is the capital to start one, so if you don't have any money you can't really start, plus you need to notice the need for a certain service to provide and know how to do it, most fresh from colege don't even know how to work so how you can expect they to even start a bussiness?

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Technology has been doing this to the job market since the dawn of the industrial age. Imagine how many people over 100 years ago were displaced from making their living renting horses as they cursed that new-fangled invention of the automobile. How many Milk Men have you seen since they invented refrigerators and preservatives? I've had jobs that were displaced by technology, my father had a job for 30 years that was eventually displaced by technology.... It's not a new thing that only Millennials suddenly have the burden to deal with.

In a supply and demand market there will always be products, skills and jobs that constantly fall in and out of favor. There may no longer be horse renters or milk men jobs around anymore, but there are now a lot of computer science and IT jobs that never existed before the 1980's. Something else always comes into favor regardless of technological advances, hence why myself and other people here are talking about the current high value in skilled tradesmen.

When you have too many people and not enough jobs for them, the pay goes down. When you have a lot of jobs and not enough skilled people to fill them, the pay goes up. That's why we have plumbers making north of $80K/yr and some scientists making only 40. And in todays market with the faster pace of change you have to be multi-skilled to keep a float. That's why those brilliant guys with long careers are now working at gas stations. They probably didn't have any other skills to fall back on when the job market turned on them.

Of the men I know, they actually got offshored. That's how I know about Bain Capital actually. It's not that there aren't any jobs, it's just that there aren't any jobs HERE.

 

[skinnyguy]

It used to be that not everyone went to college. Now everyone goes to college, which means per supply and demand costs will go up. Moreover, since now everyone has a college degree, it is now worth the same as a high school diploma. These days if you want to make money you need a masters or above. Kids are leaving college with no marketable skills. That's why they move back home with mommy and daddy.

I graduated college and started working at a good job but I considered myself extremely lucky. It wasn't the right career for me so I got a masters in the field that I wanted to work in. A lot of these college kids don't know what they are passionate about and will jump around a lot. If you aren't sure of what you want to do after college it will bite you in the arse.

 

[Trainwreck]

College was a rich man's institution and still is. Andrew Rockefeller from the Hamptons can major in "watching paint dry" and still come out of college with a decent job hooked by Daddy. The average Joe on the other hand is not and can only maximize his chances of getting a job afterwards by majoring in a field in demand. The elite figured out that they could scam the proletariats and petite bourgeoisie in to going in to debt if they convinced and forced them to think that they have to go to college. Thankfully, millennials were the first to question the necessity of college and this will just build up with the younger generations.

 

[Dingo]

Predatory Capitalism?

What does that (dubious concept) have to do with the hardship of millenials?

My thoughts exactly... ??

 

[051AV]

I'm a gen X its been a struggle for me for my 40 years of life, when I got out of high school the job market was poor I worked for my family we were in the steel fabrication industry. I learned the trades from a young age I never went to trades school for tickets I ended up with real world field experience. I was self employed as well I worked my a** off, beating the hell out of my body. Landed a corporate job worked at for over a decade learned management skills I took on too much the stress I was phucked. Long story short I tried everything to get out of the job, I was deep in debt I tried to go self employed part time the economy crashed. I left my corporate job 2.5 years ago I'm slowly rebuilding my life its frustrating but you have to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and move forward.

 

[ThisNThat]

I'm a gen X its been a struggle for me for my 40 years of life, when I got out of high school the job market was poor I worked for my family we were in the steel fabrication industry. I learned the trades from a young age I never went to trades school for tickets I ended up with real world field experience. I was self employed as well I worked my a** off, beating the hell out of my body. Landed a corporate job worked at for over a decade learned management skills I took on too much the stress I was phucked. Long story short I tried everything to get out of the job, I was deep in debt I tried to go self employed part time the economy crashed. I left my corporate job 2.5 years ago I'm slowly rebuilding my life its frustrating but you have to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and move forward.

Yeah, I know of a couple of 50-somethings that got laid off from General Motors. Worked years there, but didn't quite make retirement. So now they are working menial jobs and biding their time as they make the slow crawl to SSI retirement. Either they'll wind up homeless, or maybe...just MAYBE...they'll find a crappy studio apartment and be 65 year old bag boy using all that income to pay for his/her pharmaceuticals.

I've known many that had worked at tycoon industries only for them to be swallowed up in buy outs, never to seek any real equivalent in employment EVER again.

 

[Trainwreck]

Yeah, I know of a couple of 50-somethings that got laid off from General Motors. Worked years there, but didn't quite make retirement. So now they are working menial jobs and biding their time as they make the slow crawl to SSI retirement. Either they'll wind up homeless, or maybe...just MAYBE...they'll find a crappy studio apartment and be 65 year old bag boy using all that income to pay for his/her pharmaceuticals.

I've known many that had worked at tycoon industries only for them to be swallowed up in buy outs, never to seek any real equivalent in employment EVER again.

Never ever reward a company with loyalty. It is always a losing scenario regardless of how great you think you are. You are trading your time and energy for money and that's all it needs to be.

 

[ThisNThat]

Never ever reward a company with loyalty. It is always a losing scenario regardless of how great you think you are. You are trading your time and energy for money and that's all it needs to be.

Yeah, well, hind sight is 20/20. So you're saying these guys should not have stuck around these big companies, expecting a pension?

Speaking of which, pensions are becoming extinct. Sad.

 

[ChristopherColumbus]

It's funny how we complain about technology taking our jobs. Wasn't that the idea? I mean, that we were supposed to work towards escaping the drudgery of work? Are we all Marxists these days? Actually, I think this goes back to the Protestant work ethic. Platonism anyone?

But we work, and get caught up in the economic bureaucratic machine, and the means become the ends. I thought 'red-pill' was supposed to question this kind of mediocrity.