As a young working professional, many things irked me, but perhaps none more fiercely—and more rightfully—than the mere mention of “kids today.”
To me, that phrase was the laziest of insults—a shorthand way of saying that the concern being voiced was so frivolous, so inane that it could only be borne of the mind of a child. It implied that my entire generation—the members of which were still kids, mind you—don’t know the meaning of hard work and have never experienced hardship. That we were severely in need of a crash course in fortitude, resilience and perspective. This lesson, keep in mind, would be taught by a group of people who were routinely bested by the photocopier, a device that literally came with an instruction booklet.
On the other hand, to the people delivering the line, “kids today” was some kind of conversational checkmate. That was the phrase that could end every discussion, settle every argument, dismiss every concern, no matter how well-articulated or well-founded. Just like that, the case was closed, for no greater reason than “Because I said so.”
It really made me wonder who exactly had the mind of a child.
I know many people in my peer group who share this experience and have the same visceral reaction to the phrase—which is why it bothers me even more to hear people of my generation lobbing some variation of “kids today” at those ten or twenty years our junior when they say they want to erase student loan debt and make college free.
As far as I can tell, their logic is as follows:
- I had to pay for my college education, so they should too.
- I was saddled with a mountain of student loan debt over the past twenty years, so they should be too.
- I won’t get anything back from all that money I already paid, so I think everyone else should have to pay too.
- I wasn’t able to go to college because of the high cost, so I don’t think we should make it free now.
In short: I suffered, so kids today should suffer too.
And while many people will defend the inherent “fairness” of that logic to the death, I think they’re being, at best, shortsighted and, at worst, obtuse.
Fairness doesn’t mean that everyone continues to participate in a flawed system out of respect to those who have done so in the past. It doesn’t mean that we should take the word of people who, by their own admission, struggled to succeed as proof positive that it can be done. It doesn’t mean that we should disregard the idea of loan forgiveness simply because a lot of people don’t have any loans.
Setting aside the mechanics of tuition-free education and student loan forgiveness—which is to say, that I will ignore all the research that demonstrates the positive economic impact of such programs and the countless examples from countries who do it already—I’d like to focus on the sentiment of the argument against student loan forgiveness and tuition-free college.
When people in my peer group gripe about those concepts, they seem to be implying that people younger than us have had it easy all along and that we now have to rewrite the rules to make it even easier.
I’m honestly not sure what they’re thinking. “Kids today” in America grew up with our country at war. They suffered through the same recessions and economic downturns as the rest of us, except they had even less control over their circumstances. They’ve had to grow up with the constant threat of mass shootings in their classrooms. And they are now faced with an urgent, potentially catastrophic climate crisis that the generation before ours created and that we, as a group, largely ignored for the past twenty years.
I find it completely disingenuous for our generation or any other to imply that “kids today” have it easy. I think it’s practically unconscionable to suggest that they don’t deserve our help as they enter the job market in the midst of yet another downturn at the height of a global pandemic. Waiving payments for a student loan (that, quite frankly, we probably shouldn’t have approved them for in the first place in many cases) is the least we can do to begin to make up for this mess we’ve made.
One of the hallmarks of the progressive agenda is that you support policies that advance the creation of a more equal and just society, as opposed to those that benefit you personally. That’s why I am in favor of erasing student loan debt and making public colleges tuition free. And that’s why I’m so frustrated by my peers who are lamenting “kids today” getting a so-called free ride.
Because these policies may not save you or me any money, but society will benefit overall when people who were being crushed by debt are suddenly able to be fully present in their work and for their families. It would be a great benefit to all of us if people who were toiling away at corporate jobs because they have bills to pay could instead start doing work that is meaningful to them and that would help their communities. And it would be an absolute privilege to say that we live in a country where the best and brightest students have the opportunity to pursue a higher education, regardless of whether or not they could afford it. I happen to think that just knowing college was a real option would give some students the motivation to apply themselves in school and work hard towards what is now a much more attainable goal.
But what do I know. I’m just a kid.
Hear hear! When our older son was looking at college, he decided to study abroad and applied to several universities in the Schengen Area that had FREE programs. He’s now working to earn his BS in business consultancy at a university in Austria. The program is in English, about 50% of his class is from outside Austria, and it’s free. It was far from the only free program he was looking at. He pays a small activity fee every semester and living expenses and that’s it!
I was curious about why a university would offer this opportunity to foreign students and found it’s because they’re trying to build their workforce. Hmm, imagine that? Once he’s done with his coursework, they’ll help him find an internship, then a job. In Austria! How novel!
Meanwhile, here in his home state of Idaho, where it would cost him three times as much (when factoring in 2x yearly travel costs) to attend the state university from which his dad and I graduated, we’re facing a labor shortfall of about 50,000 workers in STEM, skilled labor, and medical fields. In a state of fewer than 2 million people, that’s a big shortfall. Entire industries are fleeing.
But, God forbid anyone get a “free lunch” around here or fail to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps! Ya’ll go out and get yourself some of that college debt you’ll never dig your way out of.
Gah! It’s maddening! I feel like we’re in for a major course correct in terms of how we approach higher education in this country. At least, I hope! It couldn’t come too soon!
WOW! That’s really fantastic. I know you’ve mentioned that your son is studying in Austria before, but I didn’t realize quite how generous the program is. In case it comes up as I’m talking to college bound students back home, do you have a link to any available resources – your own blog about how you did it, a website for the program, just anything that can get people started if they want to learn more?
In the meantime, I am hoping that we take some steps – ANY steps – to reform our education system, from start to finish.
Ditto on reforming our education system. It’s not likely to happen before our younger son is ready for college, but I hope soon after that.
My blog is mostly about my experience moving him into his dorm (and then touring Austria over the weekend of my 50th birthday) since he did all the research and we just helped with paperwork related to his visa, but I’ll never turn down a request to share:
http://www.midlifesentence.com/moving-my-kid-managing-expectations/
Here is a great overall resource for people who are interested in studying abroad from someone who takes a look at programs across Europe. This is a blog she wrote about my son’s program that features him and a few classmates:
https://beyondthestates.com/the-myth-you-get-what-you-pay-for/
Finally, I have a lengthy email from Jack that I forward to people (there have been quite a few) who ask about his process. I’ve extracted the important information below, but the links are from 2017 and I haven’t checked them lately so am not sure if they still work in the way he says:
There are a few search engines online that you can use to filter through universities to find the right prices and programs that you wish to study. They may not include all universities but they certainly do help when looking for what you want.
Here is a link to the one that Jack used:
https://www.bachelorsportal.com/
The places he found with the least expensive tuition were Austria, Finland, and Germany. It can be difficult to apply for each of these but Germany has a system for international students in which the student gives all their information needed to apply to universities there. After that you are able to pick as many colleges you would like apply for all at one cost. This system also has a full list of all the universities in Germany so you are able to find the ones that suit your needs the most.
Here is the link for that:
https://www.uni-assist.de/en/tools/uni-assist-universities/#tablink-37465a393615112c5180111261
Here is a link to Jack’s program: http://www.fhwn.ac.at/en/
Hit me up if you have more questions!
awesome – thank you for sharing. this landed in my spam for some reason, so I’m glad i was able to fish it out because this sounds like a great place to start. thank you again & good luck to your son!
(I think I goofed with my last reply as it didn’t show up right away, so if this is a repeat, delete it – but I also thought of a couple of other things to add even if it is …)
Well, I’m never above sharing my own blog, although it’s not specifically about his study-abroad option search, here’s a post about moving a kid to Austria:
http://www.midlifesentence.com/moving-my-kid-managing-expectations/
For his part, Jack did all of the research and found the programs he wanted to apply to. A big issue was the difference in application schedule. It seems many of these programs have application deadlines in early spring, make their determinations in early summer, and start in mid-October, so it’s a little bit of a nail biter for someone whose friends are firming up their plans for the fall while they’re still waiting to apply.
Another huge issue is the visa process. Every country is different, but for Austria, there was a list the length of my arm of the documents we had to come up with as well as he had to have about $6k in an account in his own name to prove to the Austrian authorities that he could support himself during his year abroad.
Here’s a resource we found after Jack started in Austria, when the author profiled his program, along with him and a couple of classmates. If we were to start over, we’d start with this site:
https://beyondthestates.com/the-myth-you-get-what-you-pay-for/
Jack compiled some data from his own search, below, which is from 2017, so I’m not sure if the links are still up to date:
There are a few search engines online that you can use to filter through universities to find the right prices and programs that you wish to study. They may not include all universities, but they certainly do help when looking for what you want.
Here is a link to the one Jack used:
https://www.bachelorsportal.com/
The places he found with the least expensive tuition were Austria, Finland, and Germany. It can be tedious to apply for each one individually, but Germany has a system for international students in which the student gives all their information needed to apply to universities there. After that you are able to pick as many programs you would like apply for all at one cost. This system also has a full list of all the universities in Germany so you are able to find the ones that suit your needs the most.
Here is the link for that:
https://www.uni-assist.de/en/tools/uni-assist-universities/#tablink-37465a393615112c5180111261
Finally here is a link for Jack’s college for anyone interested:
http://www.fhwn.ac.at/en/
Hit me up if you have any other questions!
Terrific post! You cover it all and more
thanks so much. It’s a shame it needs to be said.