When You Blame Generation-Y For Being Lazy, Remember Who Raised Us

How many times have you heard that we are a hopeless generation of good-for-nothing kids who have everything handed to them, and who are going to do nothing positive for the "real world"? Hundreds? Yeah, same. Attention Generation X, Baby Boomers, whatever, read on to be enlightened as to what is really going on in the life of a college senior.

As students, we are constantly told that these are the best days of our lives. Time to do whatever we want and just get drunk all the time because we have nothing better to do. Right. Newsflash: we're working our asses off. Most of us take on a full course load, if not more, on top of multiple jobs and trying desperately to maintain a social life because we've been told that it's all downhill from here.

All the while, we are accumulating massive amounts of debt (which the older generation didn't have to worry about when they were in college, I might add) and trying to figure out what the hell we're going to do in seven months when it is all thrown in our faces. We're trying to find time to apply for jobs, only to be told that we can't get these jobs because these jobs require experience, and apparently, nowadays, you can't even get experience without having experience...so there's that.

When we're not doing this, we're in class. Here, we listen to all of our professors tell us how terrible the economy is (which generation let that happen, by the way?), and how we're never going to get jobs. Great. Just what we want to hear. Here's some news for you, professors: we're trying. And most of us are trying to get jobs that pay more than yours, but that's besides point...isn't your job to TEACH us? To give us the tools we need to earn these jobs, rather than to shut us down and fill us with doubt? Oh no, that would be pointless because our generation is a failure! I forgot.

Tonight, I had to call 911 because I found a middle-aged woman (I'm looking at you, Baby Boomers) passed out drunk in her car on a busy street. Who was the responsible one in that situation?

Last weekend, I saw two different 21-year-old students post online that if anyone needed a sober ride home, to call them. My goodness, how irresponsible of them. And since they go to UMass Amherst, like myself, they must have been drunk when they posted it, right? Right.

I know several people who have graduated in the past couple of years and not one of them is unemployed. Not one. In fact, I recently learned of a current UMass senior who just received a job at Google. GOOGLE! Can any of you match that? I have friends traveling to LA to meet with CEOs of companies bigger than your wildest dreams! Not too shabby, if you ask me.

The purpose of this is not to bash my elders. I, like many, have amazing parents and family members who are extremely supportive. The purpose of this is to express that we are not a generation to be doubted, disregarded, or shut down before we've been given a chance. If you ask me, we're doing some pretty amazing things.

One last thing -- next time you doubt our generation, remember which generation raised us.

Photo via American Pie 

Via First World Thoughts, this article was written by Emily Crocker