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On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

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Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#11
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Like OP, I busted my butt in pursuit of a better future, graduated with an BS in Math and an MBA just to work at Denny's for 18 months before finding my first programming job.

But I can't imagine ever writing a piece like this.

I have only one "understanding". No one is ever going to give me anything, so I just have to suck it up and get it for myself.

If OP perseveres for what he wants as well as he whines, problem solved.

Oh and by the way, I got my MBA and worked at Denny's in 1978, so STFU and get busy.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#12

I believe private insurance for 20-somethings is very cheap. Anyway, health care. I think old people understand that the system is kind-of, sort-of insolvent already, and that expanding it will probably push it over the cliff at a bad time for them. Being shrill and ranty is all well and good, but other people have their worries, too.

It's not.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#13
Is anyone else really curious what sort of degree the author of this article has? I just graduated in May and almost everyone I know with a CS or engineering degree found jobs pretty easily. It was only the bottom of the barrel that struggled, and even most of those people still managed to find something in their field.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#14
No, fuck this guy and his bullshit attitude. I'm 25 and I work over 12 hours a day in my technology services company and startup projects and I make a good god damn living for myself and so does everyone who puts in time for our company.

It's his problem for believing the bullshit "adults" told him all his life. I knew from day one it was complete and utter nonsense. I bet he learned to blame others from them too. He should only blame himself for his lack of foresight.

I also have a degree from a good university but the difference is I used that time as an opportunity to extend my social and professional network instead of counting on a fucking piece of paper to grant me magical opportunities. College is what it's always been: a club for the children of privilege to come together and make relationships. If you treat it as such, the value of an "education" is apparent the minute you step foot on campus. Don't waste your time going to a bullshit school without any smart or wealthy people. Just skip it unless you can go to a good school.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#15
post #9

The article linked to at the end ( http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/08/16/our_gim... ), interestingly, is complaining about a group of young people who are asking Congress for this list of "youth bailouts": Among other things, the coalition wants: free college tuition for low-income students who are willing to do volunteer work; the right to be covered in their parents' health insurance program until th…

I'm sorry but I disagree (I'm a 20-something but not for much longer so I really don't think it counts).

Volunteer work is just that. You're supposed to volunteer. It's purpose is to show people the value of sacrifice. Doing volunteer work for Government compensation is called being a Government employee. Plus, as a former low income student I can tell you programs already exist that allow them to go to college for free and they're called Student Loans. With a part time job you can pay your living expenses and through grants and loans you can pay for school with very little problem.

Health care's screwed up and it should be cheaper but I don't want to send the message that it's ok to live off your parents at 26 years of age.

I don't have a problem with loan forgiveness for graduates that serve impoverished communities but that already exists for teachers and public servants.

Finally, while micro-loans seem like a good idea it would almost certainly end in a huge cash drain with virtually no pay off. Programs like YC work because they educate while funding. A 22 year old with little work experience who thinks the answer is to turn to the Government for money stands almost no chance of creating a successful business imho (and as someone who knows his fair share of entrepreneurs I've found most will tell you their first venture failed)

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#16

No, fuck this guy and his bullshit attitude. I'm 25 and I work over 12 hours a day in my technology services company and startup projects and I make a good god damn living for myself and so does everyone who puts in time for our company. It's his problem for believing the bullshit "adults" told him all his life. I knew from day one it was complete and utter nonsense. I bet he learned to blame others from them too. He…

What company do you work for, I'd love a job...

See, the way it is where I work is that you better fucking have your laptop with you 24/7 because if one of the duct-tape and chicken-wire projects that you're required to support goes down...well then hollly shit it better be fixed like RIGHT. FREAKING. NOW. (never mind that these outages and crashes happen at companies that we are customers of...as in: they won't let me into their FTP server to fix it when it is just fucking dropping connections for no reason).

But by golly, we better be glad to even HAVE a job! See, if we whine, or don't perform 100% all the time every day (even during our "vacation") there are a few hundred qualified applicants ready to take our job for the same pay and the same requirements (these people will burn out in a couple of months...again...and the cycle will continue).

How did this start? Too many people were told that they were special. Too many degrees were given out, and now the job market is flooded with people. We have a surplus of "skills".

How is it that people can't wrap their head around man-hours as a commodity? De beers knows this, they keep vaults full of diamonds locked away in a basement in NYC because they know that if they dump all those diamonds on the market, the price will get driven down.

We've been screwed. I'm sorry, this isn't entitlement. This is facts.

We've been screwed.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#17
post #9

The article linked to at the end ( http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/08/16/our_gim... ), interestingly, is complaining about a group of young people who are asking Congress for this list of "youth bailouts": Among other things, the coalition wants: free college tuition for low-income students who are willing to do volunteer work; the right to be covered in their parents' health insurance program until th…

I'm sorry but I disagree (I'm a 20-something but not for much longer so I really don't think it counts). Volunteer work is just that. You're supposed to volunteer. It's purpose is to show people the value of sacrifice. Doing volunteer work for Government compensation is called being a Government employee. Plus, as a former low income student I can tell you programs already exist that allow them to go to college for f…

"The purpose [of volunteer work] is to show people the value of sacrifice."

No it isn't. It's to help people and/or the community.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#18

No, fuck this guy and his bullshit attitude. I'm 25 and I work over 12 hours a day in my technology services company and startup projects and I make a good god damn living for myself and so does everyone who puts in time for our company. It's his problem for believing the bullshit "adults" told him all his life. I knew from day one it was complete and utter nonsense. I bet he learned to blame others from them too. He…

Yikes. Potty mouth.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#19

I believe private insurance for 20-somethings is very cheap. Anyway, health care. I think old people understand that the system is kind-of, sort-of insolvent already, and that expanding it will probably push it over the cliff at a bad time for them. Being shrill and ranty is all well and good, but other people have their worries, too.

It's not.

Yeah, well, doing 5 minutes of research shows me that plans in the 300-400/month range are available.

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com

...the deductibles tend to be 2000-3000 dollars, but that's not unreasonable. If you have any data to provide, please do so, because chirpy little responses are just so much pollution.

Re: On those "Entitled" Twenty-Somethings

#20
post #7
post #2

Before everybody starts complaining, yes, I know that this is, on the surface, about the health care debate. However, before complaining that this isn't HN-material, consider for a moment the prevailing expectation college graduates have: "I need to get a job, which I can now do because I have a college degree." The author doesn't even consider entrepreneurship. Can we as a society do better, so more people realize t…

A lot of 20-somethings — especially the ones with natural intelligence — grew up jumping through hoops. An adult puts up a hoop, you jump through it. A clear series of steps. Take the tests, ace the classes, get into the good college. It's clear what you're evaluated on, and it's clear what you have to do to ace the evaluation. But once kids get out of college, no one's putting up hoops anymore. No one's telling you…

"Maybe that's related to the upbringing of today's 20-somethings and maybe it's not"

Science shows pretty clearly that it is related to upbringing. C.f. Punished by Rewards.

The way high-SES parents overstimulate their infants and toddlers also seems to be causing long term damage to executive function. Because of poor parenting and the way our school system is designed, kids are essentially graduating with severe cognitive damage and are unable to invent and manage their own lives.

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