Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, especially the White Men, got the short end of the stick. They were told that a degree is the only thing that guarantees success. The stigma is so powerful, and the grade schools do nothing to guide kids to find their passion or explore careers in meaningful ways. Years of children’s lives are wasted learning generalities without sufficient direction. Critical thinking is not encouraged while simultaneously children and teens are punished for wanting to have fun after being stuck in a desk for 8+ hours a day. This is a failure that won’t be solved in a bureaucratized society like the one we have now.
They did what they were told was best, and tried to do what they could with what little information they had to work with. Not all of them are able to succeed in STEM majors (even though now the value of STEM is questionable in terms of employment), and that is ok.
Not all people are meant to be hustlers, nor should they be expected to be hustlers. It is not natural for humans to compete on a global scale, and this “hyper-competitiveness” shouldn’t be seen as acceptable. It’s important to emphasize the values of hard work in younger generations but also to show compassion in a system that is so clearly against them. Merely telling them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps only reinforces the notion that the globohomo systems we see now, where everyone EXCEPT whites have significant in-group preference, is normal and should remain in place.
Vax pushers are adults, bro. Bit different from blaming children for the fact that near every trusted adult around them gave them the same bad advice all their life.
Kids by nature are ignorant and gullible, on account of having very few life experiences. If you want to blame someone, blame the universities, who know damn well how poorly the overpriced papers they sell do on the job market, yet keep hiking up the tuition every year.
You can blame the parents too. The average tradcon parent is STILL pushing their kids into college.
It's like you hadn't read my comments, I was focusing the idea of shaming on the older ones, with shit degrees. OP was talking gen z, millennial, and gen x(!)
Sure, they're all grown when they graduate and are handed their useless piece of paper and the first bill for it. But keep in mind the fact that they were still idiot high schoolers when they selected their school and major and agreed to that debt. And the younger ones following them down that path are still surrounded by trusted adults giving them that same bad advice.
Also keep in mind the fact that Congress has passed multiple laws to protect banks from the consequences of giving bad loans for worthless degrees. Before 2005, private student loans could be discharged through bankruptcy and before 1998, government backed ones could be discharged after seven years. How fucked up is it that we have an entire industry built on scamming kids into undischarable debt? Which is why I say the solution is to change bankruptcy law and stick the banks and schools with the cost of all those garbage degrees they've scammed multiple generations of kids into.