A Problem in Thinking
Bill Long 6/7/08
My Advice for Young People
During my 20-year teaching career at colleges and law school I never really felt I was a very important influence for students as they charted their life courses. Certainly I spent many an hour counseling them on the "options" before them; certainly I was the "favorite professor" of many of them; but I never really felt that what I was saying was something they desperately needed to hear. They generally looked at me as one of many sources of information as they thought about their future. My students were, in general, "information-rich" people; they had assets, an education, some skills and, likely, would have employers looking for them when they finished.
Since I left teaching in Dec. 2006, I have increasingly run into another "type" of young person--those who have finished high school but have chosen to "take a few years off" or opt not to attend college at all. Some of them have chosen well in a mate and a skilled career, but the vast majority of them are, in my judgment, living confused lives and articulating hopes for the future that seem not tethered to any kind of reality that I recognize. In my judgment they are setting themselves up for long-term difficulty, depression and sub-optimal production and satisfaction in life. It is to these young people that I write and dedicate this essay because I think I have something to say to YOU. Finally, then, when I have left the position where I was supposed to be shaping young people's minds and aspirations, I am realizing how I can contribute to these young people. I have three simple principles to say to you.
Principle # 1--It is Either College or Skilled Profession
Most of the young people I talk with, who are not pursuing college degrees, have relatively grandiose plans of what they want to accomplish in the future. Maybe it is to establish a business which will make a lot of money; perhaps it is to give guidance to the arts community in town; others want to help people younger than them make good choices in life. But my word to my 20-something/early 30-something young friends is that America is a harsh place, and 99+% of people "make" it here either because they have gone through four years of college or they have a definable skill that they can "sell" to others. This skill may be in landscaping; it might be in plumbing or construction work, but it is not in taking someone's order at Starbucks or working at a booth in the mall selling cell phones. That is, if you can step into the job without any experience or training, it is a dead-end job. It will be a job that won't reward you financially, will probably abuse you in terms of hours or conditions of employment and which will lead you to nothing of significance in the future.
America is so much a "credential-oriented" society now that people will only be able to get "decent" positions in most businesses if they have gone through four years of college. College today is the high-school of 30 years ago; a four-year degree is the entry point, the starting-gate for moving up in the world of work. Thus, I would like to tell young people that even if they are undecided about their future, they should spend their "undecided" time in college. You don't really have to be a whiz or a dedicated academic achiever to succeed in college anymore; you simply have to learn some discipline. And, I think that is my point. Young people need to take on personal discipline, discipline that generally is imposed from without (college or the army or a rigorous job-training experience). It simply avails nothing to have great plans for the future unless you decided to take on some regular form of discipline today to prepare you for that future.
Principle # 2--Find Yourself a Mentor
The business and academic world is only coming to realize these days what the skilled trade world has known since time immemorial--and that is that young people need mentoring. If you don't have one by age 35, you probably will never have a mentor. And, it isn't necessarily a personal disaster if you don't have one. I, for one, have no one to whom I can point who "showed me the world," even though I am grateful to a number of men who spent time teaching me things about various professions, primarily the ministry. The principal reason young people need mentors is because their/your minds are confused so easily. You don't really perceive the "realities" of the world "out there." You spend so much time spinning your wheels and getting nowhere; you only speak to other 20-somethings who are as confused as you and are in no position to give you "wise advice" about your future. A mentor should be a person who has a genuine interest in you and even an affection for you, but who will be able to look you in the eye and tell you when you are all wet-and when your ideas simply don't make much sense.
Principle # 3--Don't Wait Until Next Year to Get Started
Now is the time to undertake discipline, to seek a mentor. Certainly there is fun in life; there are times for exploration and discovery. These times should be integrated into the fabric of your life and not put off until some distant "retirement" time. But if you have been out of school for a time and are not making visible progress in gaining a skilled profession certificate or competence, now is not the time to be dreaming of recreating Ken Kesey's wanderlust by naming your car "Further" or humming Lobo's "Me and You and a Dog named Boo." The discipline need not come through a college, but it must be something that furthers your ability to sell yourself to people and to offer a product to them for which they will pay you. Very few people can make it on their looks; the person I occasionally see at the gym who is in gay porn films is probably one of the few who is making money off his looks that I know--and his isn't an enviable road in my estimation.
Conclusion
The author of the Biblical book of Hebrews says it well: "Now discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it," (Heb. 12:11). The discipline referred to in this passage is suffering at the hands of the Romans and others for one's faith; yet even if that isn't the issue in 2008, the advice is precious nevertheless. Discipline's lashes are inconvenient, painful, or even boring today. Yet, they pay dividends. Big time. Don't wait, therefore, much longer...
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