March 28, 2024

Millennials: Don't worry, be happy

It’s graduation season. If you’re keeping score, that means in just four short years all younglings of the Millennial Generation will be finished with high school and either off to college or already in the workforce. Well, at least some of us.

The Associated Press, based on data from the Census Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor, recently released a study showing 53.6 percent of bachelor’s degree holders are jobless or hold a job that doesn’t require a college degree. I get it. I stocked shelves for many years before, during and after college. You do what you have to do.

It’s no secret that the statisticians in our country are doing everything in their power to scare the pants off Millennials. A similar study by Time Magazine show that nearly 63 percent of working-age Millennials have a college degree, but the most common profession for our age group is base-level retail. Although we may be underpaid and in student debt, it also shows we are the most highly educated generation in American history.

Our generation will be a self-made generation. Gen. Y has given the world Facebook and Snapchat. We build smartphone apps in our spare time, and engage in our community through non-profit work and volunteerism. We don’t look at conventional ways of executing old ideas. Instead, we look at problems from multiple perspectives and collaborate with others to beat the problem.

This year’s senior class will experience an increasingly small world, and be able to share ideas, philosophies and beliefs with culturally diverse peoples from around the world; without leaving their desk if they so choose (I would highly recommend getting out from behind the screen from time to time).

So before the graduating class of 2014 thinks twice before attaining that higher education in fear of the bill, remember its our education that will be a catalyst in solving the problems of our future.