Kids These Days

Take it for what it's worth...

At the meeting, I sat in my old high school cafeteria, picking at a plastic plate of cold spaghetti and meatballs and trying to reconcile how the school once looked with how it looked now…

As a fairly conservative business owner, it wasn’t much of a surprise that I was an outlier in the room, which was populated mostly by educators and those involved in administration. Very North Shore, very liberal and progressive, very educated, and very pleasant. Some of my preconceived notions were being reinforced, others were being brought down. In the end, I was really happy I went, and even though it wasn’t what I expected, I felt much better off for having done it.

Being a kid these days is hard. Hell, it’s never been easy to be that age. Imagine the effect of the internet, social media, and other societal pressures when we were that age. In the 1970’s, our social media was scribbled on the bathroom walls, there wasn’t an internet as it’s known today, and life, as they say, was so much simpler. When working my way through school and up the cooking ladder, there was a lot less noise to sort through and change didn’t happen in nanoseconds. It can’t be easy, but these kids deal with it every day and still succeed.

So what about the kids who see electrical, carpentry, or kitchen work in their futures? Those who lack the interest or funds to go to UW-Madison or Marquette? Even MATC has gotten expensive, and less worth the investment with each year that passes. Where do these kids go for good advice? I mean, the future’s never been brighter for them, because while artificial intelligence is displacing more and more people in so-called “white collar” jobs every day, there’s a building boom coming that’ll require all manners of skilled labor to fulfill. Housing is so expensive largely because of supply and demand, and the people who work to build the new homes are not those with degrees in social sciences.

I hear younger people worrying about how much debt they’re carrying, how they’ll never be able to buy a home much less have a family. On the flip side of this coin, I know people who’ve worked here at one time who’ve pursued careers in the trades, and they not only have no appreciable debt, they own their own homes and businesses. If, like me and my sisters, you were raised with the idea that education is the key to success, going to a traditional college, pursuing a career spent in a comfortable office, and retiring with a nice pension after 20-30 years to move south, play golf and fish, it’s nothing like that anymore.

Now, it could be go to university, get a business degree, create a successful startup, then sell out to the highest bidding competitor, rinse and repeat until you’ve made a couple million and can move to somewhere warm. But in reality, though it sure sounds good, not too many people get to do that.

Is there really that much of a hurry to go to college? A question that would’ve never been asked in our house, or in my high school of the ’70’s.

What if you went in the military first? Learn self-discipline, a ton of specialized and real-life skills and experiences, and pretty much any occupation that could be found in civilian life. Get that GI Bill money, and make some good connections. By the time you’d get out, you’d be set up to succeed in college and in life. You’ll be more mature and focused than your peers, probably graduate high in your class, and get a better job than you would’ve had if you’d just gone straight out of high school. When I was that age, I wouldn’t have listened to reasoning like that. I suspect few kids will now. Try to convince me that it makes no sense.

So what do I have to say to kids these days?

If you’re lucky and have had a good guidance counselor, you’ve got a good idea of what it is you’d like to do and your pathways to get there. Be realistic. It’s easy to think you can be a star athlete or musician if you’ve been told all your life of seventeen years how good you are, but guess what? If you don’t have big time scholarship offers coming your way, you might want to reconsider.

What’s important to you? How can that fit together with what you like to do in order to make a living? Talk with your counselor, with your parents. They might have a friend or relative who does something similar to what you think you want to do. Use everyone you can as a resource, and you’ll learn a lot more than you ever will looking through college materials.

Be prepared to work hard to get what you want. Nothing worth having is easy to get. Be prepared to start low and work your way up. On your way up, take those extra shifts, out-hustle your co-workers, and sacrifice now to be rewarded later. Work somewhere that’ll give you something that will make you a better person. Sometimes you need to look hard, but there’s always something to draw from every experience.

Be self-aware. Everything you do is seen by someone, so it’s way better to be yourself in all your flaws and shortcomings than it is to be a poseur. A little humility goes a long way, you’re not the center of everyone’s attention, you’re a member of the team, and they don’t need another quarterback.

Be polite and gracious. You will stand out in the crowd and be noticed way faster than the person who expects attention and treats everyone like they owe them something.

Last, put the phone away. You’ll miss a lot less of what’s going on around you and notice more of what makes this such a good life.

Wishing you the best, -m.