2008 Woodie Awards
We cannot and should not lose sight of our education
Erin Bowman
Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Opinion
For those of you who are hard-core "Grey's Anatomy" fans, you might know the episode that I'm about to reference. Derrick Shepherd, (a.k.a. McDreamy), is asked by his wife if he wants to talk (the ex-best friend that his wife cheated on him with has just shown up in town), and he responds with "I want to sleep." He doesn't want to deal with any of the real issues that are going on in his life, he wants to do his surgeries and retreat into his mind. As I was watching this episode though, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between McDreamy's dreary attitude and the tone of so many Americans today. That's not to say that this mono-esque, rainy day apathy isn't contagious beyond our borders or even that all, or even a majority, of Americans are infected. Simply put, I've merely noticed "society," while maybe in recovery, seems to have a bad case.
Despite any apathetic actions on the part of our parents, the brunt of this label is put on our generation. From the outside, it's a pretty logical conclusion too. Reality television has become a multi-million dollar business, and commercial capitalism is thriving due largely to our buying power. Girls need their Coach bags and boys need their thirty packs. What about the less widely accepted member of our generation: the kids who watch the BBC and eat organic food? They recognize the flaws that have been hurtled at our generation and the need for change. Surely they are not apathetic?
We are amongst the highest educated in our country's history, in short even the apathetic among us know their stuff. History majors have learned of the failures of past social movements, economics majors have learned of the failures of past economic models and the psychology majors have learned about the failures of our individual psyches. We have been shown all the ways not to proceed but seem unable to identify any solution. It seems that we've gotten lost in the pessimism and skepticism of our educations.
Perhaps then, it's not apathy. Perhaps we have passion that's merely been misdirected. In this overwhelmingly global society can you really blame anyone? News today is more available than ever. Theoretically, we've gained the transparency for which our parents' generation pushed so hard. In reality though, newspapers are a dying business. As more and more people read their news for free online, newspapers lose the money they used to spend on having journalists. Instead of multiple newspapers having foreign correspondents spread throughout the world, there are only a handful.
Despite any apathetic actions on the part of our parents, the brunt of this label is put on our generation. From the outside, it's a pretty logical conclusion too. Reality television has become a multi-million dollar business, and commercial capitalism is thriving due largely to our buying power. Girls need their Coach bags and boys need their thirty packs. What about the less widely accepted member of our generation: the kids who watch the BBC and eat organic food? They recognize the flaws that have been hurtled at our generation and the need for change. Surely they are not apathetic?
We are amongst the highest educated in our country's history, in short even the apathetic among us know their stuff. History majors have learned of the failures of past social movements, economics majors have learned of the failures of past economic models and the psychology majors have learned about the failures of our individual psyches. We have been shown all the ways not to proceed but seem unable to identify any solution. It seems that we've gotten lost in the pessimism and skepticism of our educations.
Perhaps then, it's not apathy. Perhaps we have passion that's merely been misdirected. In this overwhelmingly global society can you really blame anyone? News today is more available than ever. Theoretically, we've gained the transparency for which our parents' generation pushed so hard. In reality though, newspapers are a dying business. As more and more people read their news for free online, newspapers lose the money they used to spend on having journalists. Instead of multiple newspapers having foreign correspondents spread throughout the world, there are only a handful.
Be the first to comment on this story