Ten years ago, I was getting ready to go to college. As many of my cohort did, I selected a school that matched my interests and would provide me with opportunities to learn and grow and to change my mind. While there, I received training that prepared me for my selected occupation and then went out into the wide, wide world. What I found was a shock.
You see, when I was in high school, counsellors and career experts told me (and most others my age) that there would be a remarkable hiring frenzy when we got out of college. The Baby Boom generation was reaching retirement age, and hundreds of thousands of teachers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, and other public servants would be leaving the workforce. They would need replaced, and my generation would be the ones to do it! Unfortunately, in the early part of the 21st Century, the economy of the United States started to falter. As it did so, those Baby Boomers made a pragmatic decision: they didn't stop working. To be fair, some retired, but they then moved to other jobs or got rehired to the positions they were working before retirement. Though I don't question their right to still be drawing their retirement payments, this practice of double-dipping has hurt their children and grandchildren and the country as a whole.
When I graduated from college, I spent half a year looking for a job. At first, I sent carefully prepared resumes and cover letters to districts in Michigan and Ohio, as those were the states I knew best and I wanted to stay near family and friends. As time progressed, I stopped spending the time to prepare individual cover letters and began sending more applications online. My search broadened, and I eventually moved 1800 miles ten days after accepting a job offer, site and sight unseen. The pay for this job was relatively generous for a new teacher, but still far beneath what most people would consider a reasonable salary for someone with a college education. Though I considered myself somewhat unfortunate for waiting as long as I did and then going through such hoops to get a job, I was far better off than many who have graduated in the ensuing years.
My reason for relating this story is that it is but one example of the young being victimized by their elders in our society. Legally excluded from the legislative bodies that could make changes to the system, teenagers and young adults are unable to work on their own behalf. Powerful lobbying groups work for the elderly, but no such groups exist for the young. Insurance companies offer group rates that are charitable to those with high risk but devastating to those in good health. Social Security payments made by workers of all ages today to support those of retirement age will not exist when the youth of today are of an age to draw those benefits. Student loan debt is the only type that cannot be forgiven through bankruptcy, yet many people in their twenties are drawing more debt to stay in school when they cannot find jobs.
It seems that someone, somewhere must speak for the young. Someone must raise a voice and champion the cause of youth and protect the future of our society from the present. Who will it be?
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