79 percent of college freshmen in 1970 said "developing a meaningful philosophy of life"

[KoKo]

was among their goals, whereas only 36 percent said becoming wealthy was a high priority. By contrast, in 2005, 75 percent of incoming students listed "being very well off financially" among their chief aims.


Missing in Antiwar Action

By John McMillian
Saturday, January 20, 2007; 12:00 AM
But my students suggested some other reasons today's youth seem so passive. Although this high-achieving group was hardly representative, many of them spoke plaintively about being pressured from an early age to begin building their credentials for college. "Students are expected to get perfect grades, excel in extracurricular activities, save the world and be home before dinner time," quipped one freshman. These demands seem to be common nationwide. The American Academy of Pediatrics warned this month of the physical and mental health problems that may arise from the competitive and hurried lifestyles of many youths. In such pressure-cooker environments, students are unlikely to become committed organizers.

Nor are many students likely to be socialized into antiwar activism. Every campus has its left-wing organizers, but today the gauzy idealism that circulated among teenagers in the 1960s seems almost freakishly anomalous. According to a recent U.S. Census report, 79 percent of college freshmen in 1970 said that "developing a meaningful philosophy of life" was among their goals, whereas only 36 percent said becoming wealthy was a high priority. By contrast, in 2005, 75 percent of incoming students listed "being very well off financially" among their chief aims.

Some of my students suggested that they might not even be capable of experiencing the kind of indignation and disillusionment that spurred many baby boomers toward activism. In the Vietnam era, the shameful dissembling of American politicians provoked outrage. But living in the shadow of Vietnam and Watergate, and weaned on "The Simpsons" and "The Daily Show," today's youth greet the Bush administration's spin and ever-evolving rationale for war with ironic world-weariness and bemused laughter. "The Iraq war turned out to be a hoax from the beginning? Figures!"

The students who took my seminar were a particularly serious-minded and delightful bunch. Most of them came to admire the pluck and panache of the New Leftists we studied, and they were quick to recognize how frequently the concerns of Vietnam-era protesters dovetailed with their own complaints against the Iraq war. Some even wistfully remarked that they would like to be part of a generational rebellion.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901619_pf.html

[illinoisprogressive]

1. It was not all romantic and high minded. The passage of time tends to

blur reality from romance and nostalgia.

[LeftyMom]

2. Oh god, another aging hippie ready to tell us young whippersnappers what's wrong with us

Need I remind this twit (apparently I do) that back in the 60's, at least out here in CA, public education was free or close to it, and one could actually get by on a relatively unskilled job. Now books alone will set you back $500 a semester, tuition at a CSU is about $1500 a semester, and even a shitty apartment sorta near campus is at least $750/mo here in relatively cheap Sacramento.

So if you want to know why college students aren't out changing the world, it's because we're working when we're not studying. We're lucky if we get to sleep.

[spag68]

3. so according to you

it's up to the old hippies to fix things for you.

[LeftyMom]

5. Hell no.

They haven't the best track record. They just need to quit bitching at every subsequent generation for not being just like who they think they were.

PS More people in the Boomer demographics voted for Bush in '04 than 2000. What's the age group that voted for Kerry? Oh, just us under 30 types. :eyes: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html

[rockymountaindem]

7. Thanks for reminding them

And believe me, I count myself very, very fortunate that I don't need a paying job (I've had internships) to stay in school.

[LeftyMom]

8. I was raised by old hippies who didn't buy thier own hype.

So I grew up hearing about Altamont (they were there) as well as Woodstock (I think my folks are the last surviving hippies who freely admit they weren't there) and it being safe to hitchhike in the East Bay back then, when they used to go to parties with members of the Manson family (really) and that there were great bands, but also that knew people who later went to Guyana with the People's Temple and Dad had a friend who killed himself before the Army got a chance.

I guess what I'm saying is that I know their generation is as imperfect as any other, whether they remember it or no. I just think we deserve the chance to be imperfect too, and in our own way.

[Nikki Stone1]

11. Lefty Mom. you are correct about the financial burden on students

These kids don't have the luxury of time to really think and wonder about changing the world. They are struggling financially, with many students working 20-30 hours a week (and sometimes full time jobs) to support their college classes. Their biggest worries are juggling time committments and paying bills. They also have to worry about courses being available for them, since many state schools are overcrowded and underfunded, and classes necessary for graduation are cut. Many students end up taking 5 or 6 years to get a degree, not because they are pondering life, the universe and everything, but because they can't get the classes to fulfill their GE or major requirements, or because they have to take 12 units a semester instead of 17 so they can have time to go to work and pay their housing and transportation.

And with the student loan debt that many of them will carry, is it any wonder that they want good-paying jobs when they leave school?

[PreacherCasey]

4. Generally speaking, this generation has been brought up by TV.

TV is where they get their culture, their news, and, for some, their "identity". I don't think this can be overlooked when we talk about this generation's apathetic response to political problems. The CONSUMER CULTURE that they are brought up in certainly pushes them to strive to be "very well off financially". This is what they think the world is about. Of course you don't see the graphic war photos or hear of the outrageous injustices being committed in our names worldwide on the TV "news". You have to search them out for yourself through alternative means. It is not made real to them. Unfortunately, the way things are going, I fear it will be made real to them sooner rather than later.

[LeftyMom]

6. Maybe it's just that the economy's in the shitter again.

Sure, self-improvement is great, but you can't feed your kids enlightenment. Getting a job that won't wind up in Bangalore next week is a perfectly reasonable goal. Especially if you've grown up in more lean years than good ones, don't expect things to be better anytime soon and live in a time where it's hard to get by, let alone do something wild like buy a house or a nice car, when you're anything less than "very well off financially."

[deadparrot]

9. Except that it's the members of that generation

that got us into the mess we're in right now.

[Vidar]

10. Sigh.

[Nikki Stone1]

12. How many of those 1970 freshmen ended up changing their tune in the 1980s?

So many boomers sold out during the decade of greed, the Reagan years.

If you are a Boomer who is living those counterculture values, you have a right to gripe. The sell-outs--and that's a hell of a lot of boomers--have no right to complain. They changed their values and then passed them on to their young.

[Hardrada]

13. In my experience (college and grad school through the 60's):

There was only a minority of people at the state university I attended who actively opposed the Viet Nam War, say 300 max at a university of 20,000+ students and this was when there was a Draft!! There were a few hundred more who were living a countercultural lifestyle (rather vividly). We in the student radical movement often DESPAIRED of the fact we were so small numerically. It is mythical to think of a huge generation of boomer hippies. I think it was fashionable to talk about oriental philosophy and pacifism but it was only a micromillimeter deep with most. The reactionary or indifferent students of today had reactionary and indifferent parents. A few parents did manage to convey something of a more progressive viewpoint. But against great odds. The world we have now is no accident.

[JVS]

14. the supple reed doesn't break