The New York Times reported today on the Cenus Bureau's 2007 Statistical Abstract of the United States. It held a variety of depressing statistics - among them the growing evidence that Americans continue to demand ever-larger spaces so that they can generate greater amounts of waste while getting fatter every year.
College freshmen described their primary personal objectives in the study. In 1970, the goal of 79% was to develop a meaningful philosophy of life. 75% said their primary objective was to be financially very well off in 2005.
In the late seventies, I decided to major in Russian history with a minor in art history. I have laughed at the impracticality of my decision many times over the years. Honestly, I have no recollection of taking a single class with the idea of creating a profitable career for myself. And I was among the lowest of lower middle class - no one in my mother's immediate family had ever graduated from college at the time. Looking at the 1970 statistic, I am reminded that I was not unusual in my viewpoint. Like most college students then, I just wanted to learn.
These days my daughter - a senior at UGA - has combined her love of learning with a definite vocation in mind - her degrees in Spanish and French will enhance her ability to use the eventual nursing degree abroad. But I - the liberal arts casualty - remind her to stay focused on employability. The 21st century is a different universe. Accumulating a crushing debt via credit cards and student loans is frightfully easy these days, while I didn't even have an American Express card until I was heading toward thirty.
The shift toward runaway consumerism is depressing. My managing editor at the paper is a recent college graduate; the advertising manager is still in school. They're nice, bright guys... but I think that their hopes of big financial payoffs for enduring college are probably unrealistic. College is not a technical school - and the vo-tech down the road is teaching the skills that might make the real money. The managing editor drove a truck, making beer deliveries to bars, before he took this job at the paper - and he admits that selling beer is where the money is. No college required.
My friends who teach at the university lament the growing lack of intellectual curiosity among the students. So many of them don't want to learn - they just need a passing grade in order to get that degree. One professor was sitting at a coffeehouse with me earlier this week, waving her arms around as she described a student body obsessed with their SUVs and their consumerism already. They'll mostly head back to Atlanta one day and join the circle of interstate traffic that commutes from suburban McMansion to major corporation and back again as they chase their golden carrots.
I hope that they take a little time at some point to develop a meaningful philosophy of life. Planet Earth would appreciate it.
NTD
8:56:35 AM 
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