Last night, my mother gave me an interesting perspective on something. While she was growing up, girls were raised to be nothing more than a mother, wife and homemaker - "the ugly ones" became nurses and teachers. The didn't have to work hard in school or study, except in Home Economics. Girls were to go to their freshman year of college, strictly to get their "M.R.S.", if they hadn't already married their high school sweetheart. But then, the sexual, feminist, and educational revolution happened, and suddenly girls who've been skating through life were now expected to have goals and dreams and intelligence; strictly being a wife and mother went against the rules of feminism! And where that freed a lot of repressed girls who always wanted to pursue science, math, and medicine, it left a lot going "...what next?"
I think that explains a lot about our current generation. Our parents were the product of this sudden expectations of goals, which is why we were constantly told growing up that we needed to go to college to avoid working at the grocery store - because that's what society at the time told them. There were lots of people who, at the time, didn't expect to have to do anything harder than work at a grocery store because nothing more was expected of them. Now, when we shun these "low" jobs because they won't pay for our $40-120 grand in student debt, we're scorned, because back in their day, these were perfectly respectable jobs.
Our double standard stems from the expectations placed on them radically shifting from one decade to the next.
They were just as confused and scared as we are.
It's very fascinating. I mean, I make more than enough to support myself comfortably.. but I feel like a failure because I'm not using my teaching degree :/
ReplyDeleteIt's quite sad. I want to stay where I'm working because it's a steady income and I can work from home and I can save money...
But everyone wants me to fuck it up and quit and become a teacher. It's all about expectations, even if you're making good money in your current situation. It's like, let's say a manager at McDonald's was making more than enough to support his family.. but he has a degree..
Is he supposed to quit and use his degree? Because "I'm a manager at McDonalds" doesn't sound too good in our society. "I'm a doctor" sounds much more respectable.
Sad. I feel like a lot of us were just set up for disappointment.. Not only do we feel like failures, but we feel like failures with a fucking shit ton of debt.