I read an article about how we have an entire generation of men who don’t know how to be men. (http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/have-we-raised-an-entire-generation-of-young-men-that-do-not-know-how-to-be-men) It was an interesting article, I could see the points the author was making. I know a few guys who still live with their parents, are unable to get jobs and don’t really have an interest in getting married or having families. There are a lot of reasons why our current generation of young men are stuck in these kinds of situations. For one the job market sucks, no matter if you’re a man, a woman, or an elephant. (Acutally, I think an elephant would get a job before either a man or a woman.) College is expensive and unless you’re in very specific degree programs, has become rather useless. Men (and woman) beg for grants and loans, go to classes that are run by egomanical professors and get degrees that don’t help them get a job. I have a very good friend who graduated with a degree in psychology a couple of years ago, the only job she was able to get that used her degree also caused her to get assaulted by her client. After she left that job (because honestly, who wants to be assaulted by their client) she’s been unable to find anything else and is now working a temp job doing taxes. This is a college graduate and yet she’s working for minimum wage (which in NM is $7.50 an hour). With so many college grads getting out there and realizing their degrees are useless it’s no wonder younger men (and women) don’t really want to go to college.
I live with my dad. I’m 24 (almost 25) years old. Am I proud of the fact that I live with my dad? Not particulalry. Am I frustrated that the only jobs Ican find wouldn’t pay me enough to live on my own? Damn right I am. The article talked about men living at home and playing video games and watching TV instead of having jobs and having families. I’d like to know exactly what economy the author of this article is looking at. Some men are luck enough to find good jobs that pay well (my boyfriend being one of them) but even with a job that pays what would normally be considered a good wage it is almost impossible to actually live on it. The cost of living has risen so much it makes it damn near impossible for young adults to live on their own without roommates or without their parents.
Why shouldn’t men (or anyone for that matter) want to hide from life in video games or social networking? When you look at your life and you see student loan debt, no chance a decent paying job and no real opportunity to start your own life what is the point of continuing to try. I’m not saying I condone this sort of behavior but I can certainly understand it. I have my own moments where I look at life and wonder what the point of trying is anymore. I keep trying and working and hoping that eventually something will be enough and I will be able to live with my boyfriend and our (as of yet unborn) baby without the strangling fear of abject poverty.
Maybe, if instead of just simply pointing out that men don’t know how to be men we look at the root of the problem and actually try to fix it our society wouldn’t be in the absolute free fall it is in now. The last thing young adults need to be told is how much we all fail at life. We get it, we’re not doing what generations before us did, but generations before us had jobs that paid well, jobs that you could work at for 30 years and then retire and actually get retirement. Previous generations could actually survive comfortably on one salary. So before everyone turns on us and calls us fuck ups and failures take a look at the world we’re trying to survive in and make a life in.
This is Where Words Come to Die 