Young, Broke and Broken
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The collection of responsibilities that signal the start of “adult life” can conveniently boil down to a series of timely cycles. Graduate from college, get a “real” job, pay rent, pay bills, don’t commit tax fraud, and with any luck, you will one day get to die with a modicum of comfort.
Though this process seems simple enough, it is no secret that in recent times, the dream of financial autonomy has been put increasingly out-of-reach for postgrad millennial youth. With education costs rising incessantly and a discouraging job market for stable salaried work, millennials have long faced the irreconcilable conundrum of being by-and-large more educated than their parents’ generation, but being priced out of the life many of them had by their mid-20s.
Any self-aware millennial reading stats like these is likely already painfully aware of how far the goal post has been shifted for their timely professional success. However, though moving back home has become a recurrent, almost meme-worthy trend for many post-grad youth, the convenient arrival of a global pandemic has sped up that denigrative process for many young students. As schools have shut down with nationwide ubiquity, the shift to online teaching and learning has kept students moving through their programs, but with little redress for those on the cusp of graduation looking for their first job or further education.
Though COVID-19 has undoubtedly reshaped normal life for countless people worldwide, millennial youth have seen their economic infantilization exacerbated to crippling extremes. While many have become accustomed to the hoop-jumping of accredited internships, and preparing students for the navigation of these professional labyrinths has become a routine part of the education process, the widespread cancelling of internships has left many professionals-to-be in an uncertain limbo. Furthermore, the fact that some universities have not adjusted their internship requirements to accomodate for the exceptional circumstance of a global contagion crisis has only further forced young students into states of utter dependency.
Programs like these hold significant importance for young students. While one could reasonably assume that the proper markers of professional development could and should be centered around an individual’s capacity to do their work effectively and passionately, countless millennials have been spoon-fed the idea that while these things are important, arbitrary markers like degrees and internships are, no matter how arduous and unfair they may be, boxes that must be ticked to achieve success and stability. Though the importance of such programs are difficult to understate in many cases, their arbitrary inclusion on the path to independence has led many to identify them as uncompromisable components to education and job-hunting. As such, the shuttering of businesses across the U.S. has led many to protest economic shutdowns in the face of COVID-19’s rampant spread.
These protests are disheartening for many reasons. There is, of course, the clear threat to public health posed by gatherings of people in such close proximity in public spaces. But more insidious is the realization that these protests are primarily motivated by a desire to return to a status quo that would erase strides made in the eventual quelling of this virus, and more than likely plunge us deeper into pandemonium. The fact that some see their suspension of work as oppression akin to facism is especially troubling, because it puts governing bodies in the irreconcilable position of explaining their restriction of certain freedoms as necessary for public health. And though such restrictions may ultimately be necessary, the frustration of protestors is not unfounded, as many are genuinely suffering.
Where these protests miss the mark, and where many youth find the most frustration, is the fact that they address the disastrous results of a fundamentally broken system buckling under pressure rather than questioning and challenging the system itself. If the societal raze brought on by COVID-19 has revealed anything, it is that the U.S. economy was sorely unequipped for even a brief suspension of services under extreme circumstances. And as millennials and college youth find themselves even more frustrated and disenfranchised than before in the job market, the urge for structural change is more glaring and prevalent than ever.
Millennials have been accustomed to economic abuse and ignorance for a long time, but the recognition of structural inequity being exacerbated by COVID-19 should bring to light the need for structural change. Worshipping the economy will not bring jobs or stability back to an already disadvantaged group. Unfortunately, the apathy that these dire straits have bred in millennials threatens to only perpetuate inaction toward change, change that is desperately needed in these times. If we are to climb from this trough, then sweeping change should be imminent.