Back in my day…
And so summer draws to a close and in many households across the country, including mine, we have a student going in to their last year at High School. This brings many challenges, both exciting and darn right scary. SAT scores are in and we are now faced with a barrage of forms to apply to colleges and to get grants and scholarships.
We also take a look at the future that is unfolding for our children. What will it hold for them? It is a much different future than the one we were going into. Just the huge amount of technology that surrounds us makes it a daunting proposition for most parents to try and understand. (If only I could figure out how to get voice mail messages on my cell phone!!!)
Back in “my day” there were no cell phones so that you could keep in touch with your parents 24/7 – you were expected to act responsibly and remember the rules and lessons that your parents taught you – and if you did need help you could just go to the next door neighbors house. What a different world it is today.
Back in “my day” we wrote our essays for school using a pen and paper – no computers for us, and as for being able to use a calculator – well that was what your brain was for. I am reminded of this as I watched a young lady struggle to make change at a fast food outlet last weekend.
Back in “my day” man hadn’t yet landed on the moon – nearly but not quite yet – and we were all weekend hippies who spent hours being cool and listening to that new group, Led Zepplin.
There are so many other things that I see with our “high schooler” that makes me wonder what the future will hold. The blurring of the lines between Reality TV and Real Life seem to have only served to make young people’s expectations of life outside of the home an “unreal” experience.
And so to all of those entering their final year of school, I wish you a bright future and hope that one day you will be able to look back and say “they have it easy today, not like back in my day”.
Sheila Smith
There was a study done not too long ago where they concluded that thise current generation heading into college will be the most narcissistic generation ever and will probably also be the most depressed. The premise for this conclusion was that this generation has been the most sheltered and consequently, has been given unrealistic expectatons of the real world. They grew up believing “everyone is a winner” where you get trophies and accolades just for participating. For example, in Washington, high school kids are no longer allowed to boo opposing teams. And in Ohio little league games, teams are no longer allowed to chant the traumatizing phrase “Hey Batter, Batter…swing!” In other words, this generation is smart yet naive.
I also read that they will be the first generation in a while to make less than their parents instead of more. No wonder they’re depressed.