I recently read with interest a small piece in New York Magazine titled: "Seniors Then and Now". Seniors that graduated from a New York high school in 1960 (really seniors) were compared with high school graduates from the same school, this year 2011. That is an approximate age gap of 50 years. Some surprising results came from this anonymous survey.
For example: 54% of the graduates from 1960 described themselves as being in great health but only 36% of the 18 year olds said that about themselves. I realize great health can mean something different to a 68 year old than a younger person but still, the baby boomers clearly should not have a "Darwinian" edge on health at age 68. Why are so many 18 year olds not in great health?
Another interesting question is are you a charitable person? 62% of the older crowd self identified that they were and only 36% of the teens described themselves as being charitable. The question wasn't did you give to charities (something a 68 year old would likely be able to do more than an 18 year old). NO the question was are you someone that freely gives to others and many young people (2 out of 3 in fact) said no.
In favor of the teens was this question: Are/were you a great student (obviously meaning high school) and 43% of todays grads said yes whereas only 29% of the boomers said they were. Why weren't the boomers better students? Are the teens thinking they are great students because of grade inflation and the incessant need to tell kids they are great? Maybe they the teens are great students because they have to be in this competitive world whereas in 1960 there were many ways to make a buck.
Are you able to express yourself? This question I thought would yield scads of boomers that had been told to stay quiet unless spoken too, but NO. 83% said they are able to express themselves but only 49% of todays grads thought so about themselves. Is social networking causing young people to be able to communicate with their device but real people? The 1960 grads had no other viable method to make their way in the world except learning to express themselves. Either that or end up in a dead end job where mumbling to yourself was your only social network.
Baby boomers said they aren't party people or hosts of parties, 29% but todays chatty kids said yes they host and attend social gatherings, 50%. This question yielded shocking results (to me): do you believe in an afterlife? Which group do you think said yes more? Baby boomers said they believed in an afterlife at the rate of 9%. Nine frigging percent!!! 9 of 10 people aged 68 said they didn't believe in an afterlife. However, 49% of this supposedly jaded younger generation said yes they believe in an afterlife.
The boomers indicated they read books and newspapers more by large margins, but the youth self reported being more laid back, more realistic and more humble than the older group. This younger generation self-reported more drug use, and admitted they drink too much by whopping scores: Drug use: Boomers 0%, 18 year olds 19%. Of course the question must have been are you CURRENTLY using or drinking too much because most of those baby boomers would have had to own up to the fact that when they were 18 they used drugs and drank too much too. I mean they were at woodstock, and countless other venues where pot was more available than water. C'mon now!
The most shocking question / results was this one: Are you gay or lesbian? Boomers said yes (3%) and the 18 year olds reported an incredible (0%). Apparently when it comes to age, young and old alike are in the closet together.
To be fair, this survey tended to ask questions more favorable to the boomers. For example, do you read newspapers and boomers said yes (91%) but they didn't ask this question, do you seek out news and information from all sources other than newspapers? Young people would have undoubedly said yes at a higher rate.
The point is this, young people may keep up on the news but do so on cumputers and Iphones etc.
The one result that saddened me was this one: Are you satisfied with your life right now? 60 year olds said yes (86%) but 18 year olds said yes a lot less frequently (61%). I really don't like thinking this younger generation 18-38 is so disatisfied. I mean shouldn't 68 year old's be the ones concerned about their lives and future, their shrinking incomes, health issues and so forth?? Shouldn't younger people be happier?? Why aren't younger people more satisfied with how their lives are?
Do you have any ideas??
Austin weighing in:
ReplyDeleteWhat survey was this? I mean, where did it come from? Who published it and who conducted it? It sounds pretty biased. Surveys are heavily flawed too, because (as you indicated in one of your paragraphs) they often use wording that is vague, limited or confining. The fact that 0% of people said that they were gay (or bisexual or trans?) makes it seem like a wholly uncredible survey.
But we are of a generation (us twenty-somethings) that have sprouted the term "quarter-life crisis." I've always been a big fan of the quarter-life crisis because, why not get it done at quater life rather at during mid-life? And besides, the infamous mid-life crisis is known for being costly. New cars. Divorces. Renting an apartment in the valley.
But that used to be more of a male thing, though not exclusively a male thing. The quater-life crisis affects youths of all stripes. I think it has to do with, in part, the economy. We need our parents to survive financially. We can't, like older generations, do it on our own. And people in their early to mid twenties fail to launch, not because they don't want to work hard, but because the jets are fueled, the launch pad is set, but there's no take-off because there's nowhere to land.
And we're also a generation who looks at life in terms of what it has to offer us, not the other way around. This is both good and bad. It's good because it means we have the potential to fulfill our dreams and not live as one of Marx's alienated workers. It's bad because... we often dream more than we do.
Can you picture it? Student X was a History major. He is smart, organized; marginally skilled. He knows how to write. So he gets said job at said company and works in said cubicle. He always pictured himself doing something else, something more "meaningful," but what? He's thinking about going to law school, but he's not sure if it's what he wants or if it's just something to do. He'd really like to backpack through europe; maybe even "find" himself while he's at it.
In so many ways, this is a totally ancient dilemma. One can picture a ancient student of Athens-U pacing around a campfire at night in a toga, looking up at the constellations, saying to himself: "I always pictured myself doing something more. I really like Philosophy and Astronomy but I don't know... I'm definitely not going to work at the sandal repair shop the rest of my life."
The Biblical adage 'there's nothing new under the sun' was invented by a moody youth with a melancholy bent. Yes, the currency of wood and shale had been greatly devalued. The only thing the young and listless could do was wander the desert.
But it is true that the American socio-economic landscape is changing, and America's youth has all the things the previous generation had, but less of a means to put them to good use.