The Curse of a Generation

"Why don't the youth vote?" people have asked me. "Don't they care about their future?"... The answers to those questions are much simpler than one would like to think. Apathy, hopelessness, and lack of drive contribute to the view that is readily believed by the people of my generation. The view that Our future is beyond our control, and thus useless to worry about.

I'm 21, a junior in college and fully employed. This odd situation has given me an unique view into my own life and the people around me. I work 40hours a week and study for my classes in my free time. I wasn't always this driven, i remember growing up when my only aspiration was to play PlayStation 2, and play soccer. I had lofty goals about my future from time to time. When people asked me what i wanted to be when i was older i said things like "I want to be a doctor or an engineer or a rock star." but in the end of the day i didn't know nor did i have any care to know. Later on in my life i was confronted with live changing situations that helped put my life in prospective and helped me establish a footing for where i wanted to go in life but everyone is not so lucky.

I grew up in the no kid left behind, everyone succeeds, education system. My motivation in class was to keep playing sports and pass the exams. But i never strove for some higher calling or purpose. Looking back to my high school experience three years ago i know see how poor and miss guided much of my education was. It was more of a grown up daycare than an education facility. So its no surprise when I read about higher dropout rates or decline in academic test scores. Why would the students care? Why don't people in my age bracket "care" about their future? Well it's quite simple, we were raised in padded rooms where our hands were tied and we were all made out to be the same. We were never given the opportunities to truly fail and find out what in life is truly important. Which goes to point out the biggest problem to our nation, the curse of my generation. The view that the world is beyond our control, that success is more of a roll of the dice then the reward of hard work and elbow grease. Why would we care about what its beyond our control....