The “Yes, I Can” Generation

People are talking about the “I don’t care” generation. They mean the young people who have no interest in school or work or the future. Because they live at such a leisurely pace that they think it will never end. Young people dropped out of college because the construction company across the street needed workers and paid well. They had no idea that this job might one day come to an end.

The open doors of the labor market suddenly slammed shut again. And the youngsters went back to school almost out of habit. It didn’t matter what job they had. And it didn’t matter whether or not they wanted to continue their studies. Without work and with little experience, they were no longer wanted on the labor market.

A generation with a lot of opportunities

This is partly why we end up having the most prepared generation in history. It may seem contradictory. Because it is also a generation with the worst academic performance.

We have a generation of young people who have fully and shockingly accepted the roadblocks and requirements that the business world puts before them to join their companies. That’s why we have baristas who speak five languages ​​and can program in C++. Or we have warehouse workers who have PhDs in quantum physics.

We also have a new kind of apprentice, which we call interns. They help the business world survive. They are qualified, motivated and low paid people. And often they mean subsidies and prestige for the companies that hire them. We can’t say they work. Because if we did, we’d have to report them, right?

Of course there are expectations. However, generalizations always leave them out. But we wish there were more expectations in the form of companies offering serious, specialized and fairly paid training. Or where a job awaits the intern once the internship period is over.

You believe what they promise you. And then you realize it’s not true. The odds are all for the bosses’ friends. So anyone who puts their time into making friends will eventually be successful.

Hope for this generation

I think this generation of young people deserves good opportunities. They deserve it because they have accepted the hard rules of this game called life.

Because in general they know that there are not many possibilities. Yet they keep looking for it. They do not blame the generations that preceded them for their loss of hope. Nor have they harshly condemned them.

We are talking about a group of educated extremely energetic young people. They run to one job in the morning, then another in the evening, while also working on their studies. This is a generation that has more access to technology than any other generation in history. They have been sold the idea that they can acquire stability to start a family. But actually it is no longer so easy.

We may be able to point out some of the flaws of this young generation. But we can’t say they don’t work or don’t look for opportunities. Nor can we claim that they are not willing to sacrifice their time, friendships and even relationships to move to another city, where there is more room for them.

Maybe things were better in the past in many ways. But staying in the past means seeing only one part of reality. And that’s not fair to the present that we all have to experience today.