Sentiments

This blog is going to vary a bit from the norm of border related/ Mexican culture issues and such. Rather I thought it would be appropriate to address this past semester. Being a part of border beat has been alot of fun. It's odd being a senior and having to question your place in the world Nothing makes sense and the norm is turned upside down as you search for something to hold onto.

I admit I have been in a daze for at least two months now, I call it "senioritis"come a tad early, seeing as how I don't graduate till May and am already finding a huge lack of enthusiasm for daily classes. You realize though, at one point,that nothing about your college career is permanent. All of your friends and peers have come from different cities and will soon be flying off to their new cities, myself included. Some will be staying, others going home, others finding jobs god knows where. Will I ever see these people again?

As we enter the "real world" as adults we will no longer be defined by hardcore weekends of costume parties and drinking. We won't be known for our quirks and stunts we may have pulled, or memories of good time past. We go out into the world to be defined by what we do in our careers and not by who we are. I won't be remembered as that "crazy hippie" who spouted debate and philosophy while drinking your boyfriend under the table. Nope, it'll be something like, that weird girl who doesn't seem to be a morning person and isn't enthusiastic about her desk job..yada yada

I think that's going to be the hardest thing for me to come to terms with. Being defined by what I do instead of who I am. People at work don't know the real me, only my peers do. This is hard for me to come to terms with. I find it hard to walk through my day knowing that the world of learning will soon end, and our generation is going to be shoved into an environment that doesn't want our generation of relaxed young workers.

USA Today wrote of our Generation. . . "They're young, smart, brash. They may wear flip-flops to the office or listen to iPods at their desk. They want to work, but they don't want work to be their life." And I completely agree, I don't want work to be my life. I know boo-hoo for me right?

But American is one of the most overworked countries, with the longest workdays and shortest vacation times. Maybe I'll go to France where they fight for higher wages and go on strikes if work days aren't shortened. They realize the importance of family and down-time. After all what is life if you just work it all away and then die? Where do we place our values?

Okay, maybe I have gone astray here but I'm trying to make a point...I think.
The article continues

"Unlike the generations that have gone before them, Gen Y has been pampered, nurtured and programmed with a slew of activities since they were toddlers, meaning they are both high-performance and high-maintenance, Tulgan says. They also believe in their own worth."

"Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today's workforce," says Jordan Kaplan, an associate managerial science professor at Long Island University-Brooklyn in New York. "They've grown up questioning their parents, and now they're questioning their employers. They don't know how to shut up, which is great, but that's aggravating to the 50-year-old manager who says, 'Do it and do it now.' "

Okay, this is definitely true, and while we may be too vain about our own intelligence, maybe there is a point to be made. Chill out , relax and enjoy. Do I have a lot to learn? of course, we all do. Do I plan on freaking out and running random business reports the rest of my life? No.

For more articles on Generation Y visit these links:
USA Today
Reason Magazine
Time Magazine

It's a very interesting topic, will we as a new generation, just by our mindset alone, change the way the American workforce is run? Or will we fall into line like the baby boomers?