Note: From here on out I won't be posting blogs here but on my Crank Old Retired Lady Facebook page. When your old and cranky it is kinda tough to keep up with more than one blog-type-are. Thanks for reading here.
Observations of the week have fostered the growth of another OPINION in my little flower bed of crankiness.
In the past few years I find it increasingly disturbing that certain
groups of young people (let's say the under 30 crowd) seem to feel
entitled to everything these days. Especially their post-secondary
experiences. And since I am just a cranky old retired lady who has
walked the earth like an ancient, but not yet extinct dinosaur, I can
name names so to speak. So ya'll I am tired of young black people,
young women, young immigrants and young people with disabilities not to
mention the LGBTQ crowd and others screaming that life is soooooo unfair
to them because they are "put upon" yet they very seldom acknowledge
that people way, way, way before them fought long and hard and lost
their lives in many cases so you could whine in present time about how
unfair the world is to you. A lot of people suffered to give you
opportunities--going to college being one. In the current age you wanna
blame it all on politics? Seriously? You tell me the Constitution and
the Bill of Rights promise you things? Seems like these days everyone
is screaming about how unfair their lives are from their dorm rooms at
very expensive colleges where getting a hang nail is a major crisis and
you need safe rooms to survive disappointment.
Well, my little
snowflakes, you are there getting your college degree because people
born generations before you fought tooth and nail and put it all on the
line so you could whine from your $40,000 a year college campus and go
in debt for your educations via government subsidized loans meaning that
a large portion of your degree, has been most likely subsidized or paid
for by the American Tax Payer in some form or another. Of which I am
one.
So before you you burn my flag because America is so
horrible how about I burn your student visa that lets you be here at an
American university (probably getting American financial aid)? Please
don't start lecturing to me at my age about how tough life is until
you review a few things. Back when I was a kid (I've waited six decades
to say that by the way) only about 20% of people went to college and
you went because you needed it to GET A JOB, unless you were a "draft
dodger" way back in the 60s and 70s and didn't wanna go slog through the
endless, wet , stinking jungles of Viet Nam and get your hiney shot at
because you generally got an educational deferment so you could complete
said education. And BTW vets, good job to those who had the guts to do
leave the comforts of a dry, warm USA and fight. Fear and discomfort
was pretty motivating to go become a teacher or social worker... Or
maybe you should contemplate how Democrat Governor George Wallace was
telling young black people they couldn't go to those very colleges back
then. Women were not so welcome either. But those are different rants
ladies and gentlemen. The point is, college was not an automatic
"gimme" and if you needed a degree to pursue your chosen occupation it
was a different attitude than today where people do things "bass
ackwards" as my dad used to say. You don't go to college to find what
you wanna do my dear snowflakes. You do your research and find how you
wanna earn your living and THEN find the training that helps you do that
which may be a college degree. Or not.
College should not be
an automatically provided extension of your tax payer high school
education. You "do" college because you need it to get to a vocational
goal. It's not summer camp for pity sake! But if you have to go to
college to fulfill your chosen career path via higher ed, please don't
lecture me about how rough it is until you have thanked those people who
fought long and hard so you could be there. No one owes you a living
so stop blaming Trump or conservatives or politics in general and take
advantage of the opportunity you have to get your education or training
or whatever you are doing so you can survive the rest of your lives
instead of being eternal children.
I don't wanna pay for your
permanent vacation without a compelling reason as I am most likely
subsidizing your school career in some form through my taxes. Many of my
generation remember the phrase "working my way through college." And
we did literally. So, at least have a little appreciation for what
people before you gave up and sacrificed so you could be where you are
today because if you are jobless and homeless and camp out on my yard
you are most definitely getting off my lawn.