Older Generations Perpetuate Discrimination

KAYLA NOWACKI, Reporter

“Teenagers these days have no idea how the real world works….” “Why are there so many holes in your jeans?” “Back in my day….”. If you have ever heard any of these quotes from your parents or grandparents, you know the constant struggle of being a millennial or even a person from Generation Z.
The past generations who have raised us always appear to be the ones who are most critical of our lifestyle choices.
We pay 50 dollars for a single pair of jeans that are, in fact, very ripped, but could you tell me how much you spent on your ‘80s Hammer pants or the cans of hairspray you put into your hair? It’s not our fault that this is the style now and these are the types of clothes that are being designed for us to wear. I’m sure your parents questioned all the decisions you made as you do with ours.
The question is, do you remember how it feels to be insulted constantly just because you were dressing with the trends?
It’s no surprise that when you talk to a baby boomer about millennials one of the first things you hear from them is that we are constantly on our phones. While this is very true, the generations that came before us are the ones who created these advances in technology that we now use regularly.  Today’s adults were the ones who created MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, and iPhone, yet  somehow we are the ones at fault for the lack of social interaction in society as a result of them.
But if millennials are going to complain about anything they should be yucking about the more important things we don’t do well or don’t know at all.
You could probably go up to any high school student or college student today and ask them what a mortgage is  or how to balance a checkbook or  how taxes work, and they would have absolutely no idea.
Half of those people will have no clue what you’re even talking about not because they don’t care,  but because they weren’t taught any of these skills in our 13+ years of education.  And whose fault is that?
Isn’t it the job of those who come before us to teach the skills necessary to succeed? We aren’t contributing to the world as much as we are just existing in it if the adults in our lives do not spend adequate time providing us with necessary information about life skills.
It is easy to see why critics of our generation have so much negative to say. Teens have more opportunities to succeed than ever before, but we don’t appreciate the opportunities we have.
Maybe we get roasted by these past generations so often because we give them all the tools they need to properly wreck us. Instead, maybe it’s time for our generation to grow up and start taking responsibility and taking charge of our own lives.