College | Caffeinated

I read an interesting article from True/Slant on Monday. The article claims that Gen Y is the most stressed generation ever, with high expectations and dreams of owning it all (h/t Lauren Fernandez for sharing). I recommend reading it, but if you want the CliffNotes version, here it is: Gen Y is tweaking more than anyone else in history. Ever. Well, they probably didn’t include cavemen. I guess they would be a close second. You would fret too if T-Rex lived in your backyard.

Anyways, on to the point: the article says we’re stressed to the max. If generations were bagels, Gen Y would be the everything bagel. The article labels us as, to name a few: stressed, entitled, narcissistic, materialistic, miserable, assertive, confident, greedy, self-indulgent. Is your head spinning yet? Talk about a tough blow. I feel like Zach Galifianakis after being laid out by Tyson.

The part that got to me though, especially as I start a new semester, is the following quote from psychology professor Jean Twenge:

“A recent study published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence … found that two-thirds of college students believed their professors should raise their grades if the student simply explained that he or she was trying hard. One-third believed that if they attended most of the classes for a course, they deserved at least a B in the class. Almost a third thought they should be able to schedule the final exam around their vacation.”

Now originally, this post was going to be about the failure that is the American education system. But that’s like playing a 98° CD at your party- it used to be cool, but quit already. Not long after, I read this article and had the proverbial light bulb: what if it isn’t the system (well, as much as we think it is), but it is the students?

I acknowledge that I don’t like the way the American education system is organized. In fact, I hate it. This may be because I’m cynical, or because I’m one of those touchy-feely learners with ADHD whom most of my teachers despised, or maybe, MAYBE, it’s because I feel entitled. I mean, I’m part of Gen-Y so that comes naturally, right?

Does Gen-Y feel entitled to an education? We got a trophy for just showing up for basketball games, even if we sucked, so why shouldn’t we get an A for just showing up for class? It never mattered if you tripped over every damned hurdle on that track, but you tried hard, so you got your medal. That Social Research class should work the same way, right? I showed up, I should get an A! Is the education system failing us, or are we failing the education system?

Yes, I know the introduction to this post is historically inaccurate. Put the encyclopedias down. Props to Flickr user Terren from Virginia on the shiny picture of swimming trophies.

As I sit here trying to write the obligatory “about me” blog post to kick this thing off right, I realized something.

question mark

I can’t write about myself if I don’t know who I am.

Seriously. I am a 20-year-old with an identity crisis. And I am fine with that.

I had this discussion with a good friend the other day. He believed that I was full of shit, that I in fact do know who I am. To an extent, this is true. I know what I like (sports, beaches, vodka lemonades, nachos) and what I dislike (olives, Joe Buck, road construction). I know my name, where I am, where I am from, what I mostly like, and what I mostly dislike. These are things I know.

But there is a lot I don’t know.

Shocking, right?

I don’t know what I am going to do in five years. I don’t know what I am going to do in five months. Hell, I don’t know what I am going to do in five days.

I don’t know if I will ultimately enjoy the field of work I want to get into. I don’t know why I listen to the same 27 ridiculously catchy mashups every day. I don’t know why I can’t hold a relationship down for longer than two months. I have a general idea of important values to me, but those have changed so much in the past few years. I don’t know why, despite being ready to crawl into my mattress and go comatose, I am writing at 3 in the morning. If you know me well at all, you know that I don’t know why I do what I do.

I just do.

And I am fine with that.

It’s the Gen-Y identity crisis. We have so much surrounding us- all of which is constantly changing. Every. Single. Second. It can get kind of scary. We aren’t sure how we fit in with the big picture, because we don’t know what the big picture looks like. We want to find out. We try to find out. But ultimately, we just have to find out when it happens. Whatever ‘it’ is for you.

So how am I fine with feeling utterly confused as to wtf my life is?

Because of the good people around me.

I know that my friends, family, and people I generally enjoy associating with will keep me on the right track. Whether many of them realize it or not, I live everyday with the intent to become better in some way. It’s because of them. It’s the framework, the structure, and the support of my friends and family that cause this. You all bring out the best in me, and when I do screw it up, you forgive me and keep me on the right path.

"The Straight Path"

Thank you.

What are you doing to make sure you’re staying on the right path? Even if you don’t know where that path is headed, it’s much better to walk it with good people, right? Who can you always go to, that after talking to them, you need to go out and kick life’s ass?

Make a list. Seriously.

And then thank them. Because it doesn’t matter whether or not we know where we will be in 5 years, 5 months, or 5 days. What matters is that you are going to be the best you can be, and you are going to do it with some damned good people around you.

As a wise man once said, “we get by with a little help from our friends.”