<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_12439584]Ram”>http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_12439584]Ram</a></p>
<p>I have a good friend who graduated from Smith College in 2000. She was part of the Ada Cromwell Scholars program for women of non-traditional ages. The artist Judy Chicago gave the commencement address, the gist of which was: Ladies, you CANNOT have it all. Not the wonderful, meaningful, world-changing work AND the amazing relationship AND the perfect children and family.</p>
<p>Among the 20-somethings, the speech went over like month-old sushi. OF COURSE they were going to have it all! They were graduates of an amazing school!</p>
<p>All the older women in the audience just smiled and nodded.</p>
<p>So, while I agree that the article referenced by the OP is sort of nasty and poorly written (and in questionable taste, for graduates), it’s not completely false. Kind of a hard old world out here…but it’s got considerable joy in it too.</p>
<p>I agree with you HeliMomNYC. Some people expect that they are going to make 6 figures out of college and are going to live in a big house and live life with no trouble.</p>
<p>The article could have actually had a comical twist to it (which would have been appropiate).</p>
<p>The author basically put down all of the graduates before they stepped into the “real world”. How can he predict that you won’t be successful if you don’t attend college? </p>
<p>To me, the author has a grudge towards something and it shows in his writing.</p>
<p>To me this article is 100% spot on. Today’s HS grads by and large don’t have a clue about the real world.</p>
<p>I hate the tendency of people as they get older to assume that the generation after them isn’t as qualified or talented as theirs. I hope I never get that way. And in any case, graduation is not the right time to tell a group of people to curb their enthusiasm.</p>
<p>I’m doing just fine, my generation will be alright, and we’re not any more delusional than those who came before us. This article smacks of someone projecting his own failures on a new generation.</p>
<p>One of my favorite ways to respond to older people feeding me the line of reasoning in the article was to say something along the lines of, “Well, you did it, so how hard can it be?” This might be offensive to the older person, but no more so than implying that the new grad, and by extension, his whole generation, are inferior to the one that came before.</p>
<p>Son of Opie, Right on. I’m almost 40, so far I’ve not forgotten and I hope I never do.</p>
<p>Right there with you, Opie. I’m 50 and still haven’t figured it out, so maybe someone need to write an article for the likes of me.</p>
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<p>What percentage of HS grads have already found that out? I’d guess at least 1/3.</p>
<p>I think this guy doesn’t want to do another commencement speech.</p>
<p>To the posters above - ask a new HS graduate today to create a budget and how to balance a checkbook. I have. You get blank stares. </p>
<p>It is not a failure of the generation. It is a failure of their parents and the educational system to teach basic life skills.</p>
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<p>Yeah, well, I didn’t know how to create a budget when I was 18 or 22 either. Why? Because I didn’t need a budget (I had little income anyhow). I DID learn to create a budget and keep my bank account balanced when it became important, after marriage and children made NOT doing so a perilous situation. </p>
<p>I don’t care what practical skills new graduates actually have as long as they have learned how to learn… that’s all they need in a changing world. Resourcefulness. That and a deep knowledge of history, compassion for others and a sense of responsibility.</p>
<p>I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. I see graduates terribly unprepared for the real world. And I place the blame squarely on the parents who are either absent or might as well be since they refuse to place limits on their kids. We are supposed to be parents not their best friends. Often the two are mutually exclusive.</p>
<p>I learned how to balance a checkbook when I got a checking account- at 16. I think most people learn how to do the tasks you describe when the situation arises. I didn’t know how to work on a car until I started driving, when driving a 1987 taurus with 150+ thousand miles on it made those skills a necessity.</p>
<p>Go to college, you’re screwed. Don’t go to college, you’re screwed 2x. The piece is relentlessly negative.</p>
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<p>Your parents are supposed to be your best friends. They should be there for you whenever you need help or advice. I can constructively criticize my best friends and they can do the same to me. I tell my best friends when they are doing something wrong and I give them support when they need it.</p>
<p>Why can’t parents be their children’s best friends?</p>
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<p>I have been balancing budgets ever since I was young. If I had a certain amount of money, I knew what I had to do if I wanted to buy something and what I had to do if I wanted to save for something bigger.</p>
<p>Who actually balances their checkbooks? I rarely write checks, but I always know how much money is in my checking account, how much available credit I have on my credit card, and I know when I have to cut back on my spending.</p>
<p>People, kids and adults alike, learn best when they’re interested. Neither of my kids cared a hoot about budgeting or balancing a checkbook when they were 16 (even though they had bank accounts). They do now. Anyway, what does this have to do with whether parents are their kids’ best friends?</p>
<p>Also, it’s mean-spirited to try to burst a new grad’s enthusiasm and optimism. Everyone learns to be “realistic” sooner or later. No choice.</p>
<p>That’s some poor writing.</p>