To the Class of 2014:
It is an honor to address you today. Your hard work in reaching this plateau will prepare you for the harder work of going to the next phase of life.
For many of you, that hard work will involve satisfying financial obligations. Some studies indicate the average debt from student loans, credit cards, and money borrowed from family members is around $35,200.
To the Class of 2014:
It is an honor to address you today. Your hard work in reaching this plateau will prepare you for the harder work of going to the next phase of life.
For many of you, that hard work will involve satisfying financial obligations. Some studies indicate the average debt from student loans, credit cards, and money borrowed from family members is around $35,200.
The job picture remains bleak. College grads have an unemployment rate of about 9%, though if you include those working part-time and those who have stopped looking for work in their field, the unemployment rate is closer to twice that.
As a result, you graduates will enter a market where full-time workers make, adjusted for inflation, more than $3000 less than those who matriculated a dozen years ago.
Then there's that whole general income disparity thing. Unless you are sitting on a sizable trust fund or your degree qualifies you to take over as CEO, you'll probably get lumped in with the vast majority of workers whose wages have remained flat while productivity and corporate profits have soared.
In fact, if the sundry predictions in magazines articles and blog posts are true, you might be part of a generation that will not do better financially than their parents did. Given the economic prospects for the foreseeable future, you may not end up with that suburban house, vacation condo, SUV, and other material measurements of what we've come to call, “having it all.”
In other words, Class of 2014, your prospects for attaining the traditional American dream are somewhat grim. So for those of you moving back in with your parents, I suggest you treat your new landlords with great respect.
But maybe you would do well to reflect on what your success will look like. Will it be measured solely in how much money you make? Or will your success be more difficult to quantify?
Will you be able to push aside the thick curtain of consumer culture that has obscured your vision all your life? Will you be able to see beyond the emptiness of possessions? Will you come to realize that owning material things merely means you are owned by them?
Will you take the time and make the effort to assess your priorities, to really discover what is important? Will the things you do focus on keeping up with the Joneses, or will your time be spent fostering friendships and building genuine human connections in your neighborhood, community, city, or town?
You can play the game you've been taught of working as hard as you can to reach that brass ring. But keep in mind, your hard work earns much more money for the people who set up the game and taught you to play it.
Or you can decide people and relationships mean more than material goods.
Graduating Class of 2014, I bid you take your higher educations and your remaining time on this earth, and make your choice.
Pat Grimes, a former South Bay resident, writes from Ypsilanti, Mich. He can be reached at pgwriter@inbox.com.
