Thursday, January 21, 1999
Students in rush to join corporate world
YOUTH: Drive to succeed ends childhood too early, takes focus
off having fun
I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count all of the
19-year-old kids I see swaggering around in tailored business
suits; or the 20-year-olds who type up agendas for their 12-person
committees; or the 18-year-olds who stay up all night – not
studying, but planning some huge event. If you’re like me, you too
brush shoulders with these post-adolescent overachievers everyday.
In fact, you probably are one. Welcome to college life that is as
far-removed from "Animal House" as you can get. Welcome to today’s
UCLA.
We’ve all heard the old adage that college years are the best
years of our lives. Assuming that’s true – which it may or may not
be – then hooray! You and I are in our prime.
We have total freedom coupled with the promise of adventure. So
why do we restrict ourselves with extracurricular and other
activities that practically suck the life out of us? We’re so busy
with other serious "things" that we forget to enjoy our youth.
I’m not talking about schoolwork, either. Going to class is the
whole reason we’re here: to learn, expand our minds, debate and
philosophize.
Instead, I’m talking about the time-consuming internships,
part-time jobs, student groups, board-of-director positions. True,
all of these commitments brighten our resumes and boost our
employment potential, but does no one else see the absurdity in
working like dogs only to get hired to work like dogs?
It’s bad enough that society decided we should go to school for
years just to receive a piece of paper that will get us a
nine-to-five cubicle job somewhere down the line. Forget down the
line; we have those jobs now. Now we have recruitment meetings,
club elections, budget proposals and kids who want to be the CEO of
UCLA.
Now we have lunch breaks and Dilbert calendars and coffee mugs
and ripped nylons. Now we are mini-adults – and we have the rest of
our lives to be the full-size version.
This loss of youth is caused by the fact that the need to
achieve – and to overachieve – infects people at a much younger age
than before. A few years ago, only college seniors had internships,
but now high school seniors have them. What’s next, kindergartners
logging onto Jobtrak?
One of my friends took a UCLA class the summer after his
sophomore year in high school. Shouldn’t he have still been on a
BMX bike? Another friend of mine, who is 18 years old, spends his
free time delivering babies. He practically is a baby!
This inflation of success, this need to be above and beyond what
everyone else is, robs kids of the relaxed and worry-free years to
which they are entitled.
Every one of us knows college grads who tell us to enjoy college
life while we still can, swearing that they should have stayed
longer. We’ve all met someone who went out into the real world and
then ran back to grad school faster than you can say GRE (Graduate
Record Examination). Alumni advise me to get a master’s or a
doctorate, or to become the chancellor – anything to delay the real
world. "Life only gets harder after leaving UCLA," they say. No
more parental help on the bills, no more Westwood bubble of safety.
"The real world sucks."
Some of you are exempt from what I am saying because you have a
decent amount of free time, party time, play time. But most UCLA
students have Mortarboards as crammed as my father’s Day Timer,
which records the daily meetings and weekly business trips of a
major publishing executive. The difference? He had the hippie
college life. We had Woodstock ’96.
I’d hate to look back on my life and regret not having enough
fun. So every night I reflect on what I accomplished during the
day. What good did I do? What fun did I have? Did I laugh? Did I
live in my youth? Or did I go into career-woman overdrive?
Let’s all try to live our college lives as a college students.
Let’s do the things now which we can never do again. When else can
you put life on hold (or enhance it) by traveling abroad, for
example? When you are up for your three-year review? When you have
a six-month-old baby?
I do not propose indulging in a fantasy life of crazy behavior
with no responsibility to our community or society. There is
something to be said for planning for the future, for making good
decisions and spending your time wisely, whatever that means.
Many student groups and activities build character and teach
invaluable lessons. But there is also something to be said – to be
shouted – for indulgence, for simple fun, for living every single
day like it is your last. Or your best.
Take it easy. We have years to go nuts at work. We have years to
stay late at the office and ostracize our spouses. Why rush it?
That’s kind of a depressing thought, isn’t it? I mean, ideally,
even working adults should not lose sight of personal exploration
and experimentation. The "If not now, when?" philosophy should not
be limited to people who wear pajamas to class. It should govern
everyone’s life.
Adults, too, should make the most out of every waking minute.
Adults, too, should read and think and laugh. I hope our generation
will, but we’d better start practicing now.
Ultimately, people who need money or want extra cash should
work. People who have career goals should do some slave-labor
internships. People who want to make a difference should volunteer.
Stick with the activities that do good for the world while giving
you personal satisfaction. But if they make your life complicated,
sleep-depraved and unfulfilling, forget it.
Save time for yourself. Find a balance. Remember that you have
another 50 years to drive yourself nuts by being an over-committed,
under-appreciated, nameless link in a chain of self-righteous
organizations and all-consuming companies.
Today, sit in the grass. Go to the beach. Dance. Smoke cloves.
Read a juicy classic. Buy a Slurpee. Talk to your roommate. See an
artsy flick. Laugh at your parents. Wink at your neighbor.
When job-time rolls around, you will not be unemployed. If you
have one less activity on your resume than the applicant competing
with you, who cares? While he or she sat on the Board of Really
Busy People, you cultivated your mind in other ways. He or she has
Random X Award, you have your sanity, sense of humor and peace of
mind.
You don’t have to be reckless to savor the moments of reckless
youth.
Comments, feedback, problems?
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