I'll give you an example of what I mean. Earlier this year I graduated University with a Bachelor of Arts degree. I also began a post-graduate course in teaching... which I absolutely hated and quit after a fortnight. Believe me, this wasn't an easy decision to make as I've never been a quitter. Friends, family, family friends and friends of friends all seemed to know I was studying to be a high school teacher because that's what I had 'always wanted to do'. I guess that's what I had led them and myself to believe for a long time.
I graduated with a credit average (having earned some distinctions and high distinctions along the way) in the field of English, Text and Writing and a sub-major in Art History/Cinema Studies. Then began the Master of Teaching. It was dreadful. I had no passion for this new field. I kept thinking "What is wrong with me? Why am I so disengaged?". The students around me would actively participate in class discussions and knew exactly how to interpret the set readings. This was normally my forte in the undergraduate program but here, in a post-graduate setting everything seemed dismal.
I sunk into a depression although I'm sure those close to me just thought I was being difficult. "I simply can't go on like this" I thought, driving to and from University in tears every day, my head in my hands in every class as I sketched little caricatures to distract me from my looming thoughts. Eventually, I decided to quit this course with the silent approval of my parents. You see, I felt an obligation to fulfill an agreement with myself and them to become a teacher and make them proud. So when no fights took place between us and no blame was laid, I felt free to go ahead and do the unthinkable. After all, I had a degree now so finding work would be easy... right?
Wrong. I can tell you now, having applied for an array of full-time positions in the past six months, a degree in Arts simply doesn't seem to cut it. I am still waiting to be proven wrong, desperately hoping to be. I was offered one job, however; a part-time position in a small clothing boutique. Not exactly the kind of job I was looking for, especially considering I had originally interviewed for a management role. Needless to say, I didn't take it and I stuck with the part-time job I already had in retail.
Now, this is not an ideal situation when you've just turned twenty-three and you have your parents pressuring you to find a job and hinting at moving out (don't even get me started on the pressure to find a boyfriend). This week I've been lucky enough to pick up thirty-two hours work so I've been getting home by 6pm, jumping straight on the internet, searching job vacancies in Google by company or industry and practically living on seek.com.au. Of course, there have been few respectable jobs that consider an Arts degree an actual academic achievement in the workforce. I've been losing sleep because all I can think about, all I seem to be dreaming about is "how on earth am I ever going to survive without my parent's roof over my head?" because nobody seems to take a chance on an Arts graduate.
This is where my initial concern is derived. With so much opportunity out there in 'the real world', why is it that so many of us 20-something's are finding it hard to get a job, even with a degree? Are our parents putting too much pressure on us to be the next Richard Branson when really, all we're meant to do is work to the best of our given abilities and be good people while we're on earth? In relation to my previous post, the book Buddhism for Busy People by David Michie says we are all meant to work together for the greater good of mankind, not for selfish reasons. So then why are so many of us fighting each other and competing for something so unnatural? Have you noticed though that it's not just parents placing pressure on their children to aim high?
Television is playing an increasingly large part in the formation of how today's youth tackle life day to day. Have you ever seen an episode of 'The Hills'? [Before reading on, please know I do watch this show and I do enjoy it for a bit of a laugh and something to talk about with my best friend.] Exhibit A: Heidi Montag-Pratt. In the first season of the show she was a naturally pretty, young thing from Laguna Beach: sun-kissed skin, cheeky freckles, a big smile. Today, however she is the product of a dissatisfied young-Hollywood: breasts enlarged, tummy-tucked, face horribly 'plasticised' and distorted. What was she thinking when she underwent surgery? Who was she trying to impress? I doubt it was something she had always wanted to do and I now believe it is the result of living in a sickened society where nobody is happy with what they've got: materially or physically.
The young-Hollywood sub-culture aren't the only youth suffering from dissatisfaction although they've unwittingly become the face of an unhappy generation. I've noticed more and more girls in the city and the suburbs here in Australia taking on a fake and unnatural look (weekly spray-tans, fake lashes, nails, bleach-blonde hair, etc) and for what? To become like every disrespectful bimbo on our television screens? Basically, addictive 'reality' television programs (and I use that term loosely) such as The Hills promote this fake lifestyle not only in terms of appearance but also convince young girls to think it is easy to find a glamorous job and get rich quick. But what is the trick these advertisers use and what keeps them going?
These organisations actively promote a lifestyle that is ever-changing and relies upon money, material possessions and status to get ahead in life. These companies exist because nothing we buy from them will ever be enough to satisfy us, so we keep buying their 'new and improved' products even if it means supporting the plastic surgery industry to enhance our own bodies. No longer are we striving to be the best person we can be through practicing good morals, reveling in higher education and getting regular and honest exercise as much as we are trying to be something that is ultimately impossible to achieve: an ideal as preached to us through advertisements and clever marketing.
Therefore, the idea that today's youth is being set up for disappointment is not really a reflection on the pressure placed upon us by our parents to achieve great things but our place as consumers and willing participants in a material world.
So back I go to the drawing board with a positive attitude towards my continued job-search and a fresh opinion of the pressures placed upon me by my own parents. After all, our parents only want what is best for us. Can the same be said for the advertising industry?
