Confessions of a college student

I recently read an article about Generation-X, the folks who, according to Wikipedia, were born between 1960 and the late 70's. They are the folks who wanted their MTV and bleached their hair while most of the current student body was still in diapers (or, for some, in utero). They were jaded and never going to conform to what the man (that would be the baby boomers) wanted from them.

But now, Gen-X is apparently upset that the man isn't giving them the chance to grow. "We were starting to buy into the system, at least to some extent," Bruce Tulgan, a generational consultant and Gen-Xer says, "and then we got the rug pulled out from under us."

He's talking about promotions that many Gen-Xers were counting on that were suddenly lost because of the crashing economy, causing the Baby Boomers to become unwilling to retire.

Liza Potts, a 35-year-old professor at Old Dominion University believes that her generation has taken on the cynicism of their parents toward the current job market.

"Many of my friends had hoped to have jobs like their parents — places they would stay forever that would take care of them like they did their parents. But then we saw that start to crumble for our folks."

People are referring to Generation X, also known as the 13^th Generation and the "Baby Busters", as the forgotten middle children, caught between the baby boomers , who have a firm grasp on most major managerial positions, the House and the Senate (though not the White House at present.) On the other end, they have the Generation Yers (that would be most of us), who are considered to be very tech savvy and want more out of a job than just a paycheck.

But we are also being refered to as the "entitlement generation". This is because we want more creative prowess in our jobs. We want to be able to balance life and work, rather than having to choose between our careers and the things we love. And due to the mass availability of technology (Seriously, you can keep a computer in your pocket) why shouldn't we? We want to work for companies where you can go in at three in the morning if that's when you work best. And we want the option to go see our kids' recitals instead of being threatened with the loss of our jobs. We aren't necessarily getting flack about this from the Baby Boomers; most of them are our parents. Instead, we are being criticized by the Gen-Xers, who are still ingrained with the work ethic of the baby boomers, and the cynisism their generation was defined by.

Jon Anne Willow, editor of Third Coast Digest out of Milwaukee, specifically hires Gen Xers becauces she feels Gen Y candidates just won't cut it. "When the dust settles, they'll be exactly as they were before and we'll just have to sift through them and take the ones that actually get it and hope the rest find employment in fast food."

I think it's funny how cyclical things are. The Hippies, who were Baby Boomers, said they were never gonna give into the man, were never gonna trust anyone over thirty, never give in to corporate pressure, seem to have lost the vision they held when they were young. They now dominate the market, and haven't really brought the change they said they were going to. The jaded Gen-Xers are having a hard time because the Baby Boomers won't give them their chance. And the Gen Yers are heading off into the world, saying we're going to change everything too. But, odds are, if we are anything like the generations before us (and we probably are), we won't bring about the changes we want to either. We may end up just as money- and power-hungry as everyone before us. We may sit back and let the injustices of the world continue.

But I certainly hope not.