Millennials are Killing Optimism
The term “Millennial” is defined as “a person reaching adulthood in the 21st century” according to Google Dictionary. Like any generation, Millennials face a set of problems unique to their time period. However, Millennials are an exception in that their generation has wider access and connection to the world around them due to internet and phone usage. This leads to an increase of comparison to others and a sense of competition, which brings more pressures. Malcolm Harris discusses these burdens and their relationship to Millennials through his novel, Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials. Published in November of 2017, Kids These Days encompasses the important issues that this generation deals with today. One issue prominent in his novel is the pathway taken by young students from primary school to college and all the way to the workforce. Harris emphasizes that the expectations that adults place on young children lead into a high stress environment in high school where they compete only to get into college, where they’ll compete again but this time to work. Through Harris’s research and my personal interviews, it is clear that the pressures surrounding a Millennial’s future are heightened by the issues prominent in today’s society.
When speaking on Millennial issues, one of the biggest concerns Harris addresses is the amount of labor being put into one’s future without guaranteed economic support or security. Harris argues, “By every metric, this generation is the most educated in American history, yet Millennials are worse off economically than their parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. Every authority from moms to presidents told Millennials to accumulate as much human capital as we could, and we did, but the market hasn’t held up its side of the bargain.” (Harris 40). Due to feeling like they have to apply themselves in order to compete with other students on a college application or in the job market, students are continuously doing more. More rigorous courses and unit loads, more extracurricular activity, more involvement and time spent on school. While this may seem like a beneficial idea, most often students are burning themselves out. Harris speaks on the idea of education being labor without pay. He believes that the amount of time and extra effort being put into school are equitable to a job with pay. As the amount of work and knowledge required to prosper rises, the guarantee of a successful life after college or the promise of having financial security waivers. In addition to the stress that results from the pressures of being a successful student, anxiety about money, the future, and ones’ place as a Millennial in today’s society continue to be present.
From elementary school and onward, kids have more requirements and stress placed upon them. This leads to a competitive environment where kids begin taking honors classes and then eventually Advanced Placement (AP) classes. This sense of competition is not only placed on students by adults and the threat of future success, but also from other students or friends. It feels as if it is an integral part of school to take these classes in order to be seen as smart or valid. When one’s entire social circle is enrolled in these courses, one cannot relate easily unless they are also in the class. In addition, AP classes set up a sense of a hierarchy in a high school – those who take these rigorous classes are given more value to those who are only in the regular classes. This is because these are the kids who are following the specific track to “success”. Students in AP classes are given more targeted support and access to information about colleges due to their involvement with the College Board – students who have been registered under the College Board get sent emails and letters about upcoming test dates, college tips, and more. In addition to inside social pressures that stem from AP classes, there are a lot of outside issues revolving around the access and opportunity provided to communities that are not wealthy and predominately white. Although there has been more attention given to the issue of a large number of AP classes not being available to all communities since the 1990’s (Tugend), there is still a lack of attention and support given to poverty ridden communities. Although more AP classes may be beginning to be offered at schools that offer lower values of education due to issues surrounding race, class, and education, there are still lower passing rates on the exams. An article from the New York Times titled, “Who Benefits from the Expansion of A.P. Classes?” states, “Critics of the program see the A.P.’s expansion as boondoggle, with scarce resources being thrown at a program that simply wasn’t designed to address the systemic problems facing public education – at a real cost to these students” (Tugend). Although the efforts to have more AP classes available are progressing, the resources given to lower income students are not the same as for those who live in wealthier communities. When interviewing my peer, who also attends UC Davis, she stated that her high school provided a college prep class. Similar to a seminar, this class provided her with one-on-one guidance on how to figure out the college process. She exclaims, “We basically searched for all of our top colleges that we wanted to apply to. We’d find our reach schools, the ones that we met the GPA [requirement] for, and like test-wise. We’d research all of them and we even did presentations on some of them that we were interested in. Then we would have that time in class to fill out applications”. This interviewee, “K”, attended high school in Del Mar, California, which is a generally wealthy area. This hands-on and present support during the college application process is rare. In addition to money playing into the amount of support given by a school, it also ties into the amount of help one is able to access on their own. In 2018, AP exams cost $94 (College Board). In addition to the actual fee required to take the exam, prep materials are also costly. AP prep books not only have information about the course, but they have insight and tips on the best ways to take the tests that will ensure the most points possible. A student without access to this information is taking the test simply based off of their school course and information provided by a teacher, who may or may not have access to this information or care to thoroughly teach it in the course. In addition to AP programs, the SAT is also managed by the College Board. It is also costly to register for the SAT, a test which is recommended to students to be taken multiple times for the best results. While prep books are another expensive issue for the SAT, a more common economic divide exists between those who can afford prep courses and those who cannot. In general, courses can cost over $500. An online resource titled Prep Expert states, “SAT prep and ACT prep can vary from free to $1000+/hour for some of the most expensive private tutors” (Patel). The article then goes on to lay out that programs such as 2400 Expert cost roughly $599, while others such as Princeton Review and Kaplan Test Prep are closer to $699. In another interview, this time with “A”, she revealed her concern for how she felt inadequate against her peers who were taking these expensive courses that her family could not afford. She struggled with getting sufficient exam scores while her friends who had taken the courses were doing better because they had been more prepared. In addition to facing social consequences involved with honors or AP classes, many students face economic pressures that make them feel that they have to be able to pay in order to have the same resources as their peers.
In addition to the rigors of the academic aspect of high school, kids are also adjusting to only participating in extra curriculars or volunteer work to have a better chance of attending college. Both interviewees that were spoken to mentioned that they had done certain activities outside of school to improve the way they appeared on a college application. Interviewee A mentions, “I only joined Crew to get into college. That was for college.” A took up rowing in high school because that was how she knew she would stand out on her application. Other girls from her high school who rowed were more likely to end up at Ivy League universities; it was seen as a prestigious activity. However, A also discusses how doing crew made her lose time for other important things, including grades. She states, “Around Junior year of high school, I was putting so much time into crew that I began to lose my grades. I was so exhausted because crew was my entire focus”. There becomes a strange emphasis on what is important in a situation like this. Students join communities that they are not entirely happy being in only so they can have more weight as a well-rounded individual on an application. The requirements and expectations of these communities take up so much of a student’s focus and mental space that they begin to fixate on that activity as the most important thing. However, in actuality, their grades and mental health are much more important than the activity ever was in the first place.
Competition and comparison have been exhausting the Millennial. From family and friends to college and the work place, there is heightened pressure to do the same thing as everyone else. Siblings get good grades and go to college and so you should too! Your friends have taken the SAT 3 times and you should too if you want to compare with them on college applications. Your friends are motivated and spend all of their time studying and you should too but you spent all day stressing about everything that you have to get done that you haven’t actually done anything at all and now it’s 11 pm on a Sunday. A general Millennial expectation for themselves and as encouraged by outside forces can be seen as this: Millennials transition from doing sports in high school so they could write their college essays on How Being a Team Captain Taught Me Everything Important in Life and going to practice after school for 3 hours, then coming home too late to even eat dinner let alone do homework or study. Then in college, they’ll work 20 hours a week in addition to classes so they can pay rent but put all of their focus and energy into work and find it hard to even attend class, let alone stay on top of school work. Some individuals manage to accomplish all of this and so you should too because if they can do it, then somehow you should be able to do it too. Millennials are taught to compete with each other their entire lives from the beginning of their education with honors classes to AP classes, extra curriculars, and college applications, all in order to get into college. Each level comes with a threat of the future. In middle school, you have to prepare yourself for the hard, studious environment that high school threatens and then once in high school, they start preparing you for college from the first day of freshman year, all so you can get into a good college and be prepared for “real life”. Harris states, “College admissions are the “boss” of aspirational childhood, in the video game sense: They’re the final hard test, the one everything else was a preparation for, the one that determines what comes next. The admissions officers are also the boss, insofar as they are the ones who evaluate kids’ work, who decide how much all their labor, all their self, is worth” (Harris 41). Harris argues that this system of accumulating human capital is set up from the very beginning to benefit the capitalist society and work force. Millennials spend their entire adolescence in a state of pressure to compete in order to be led into a system where they pay too much tuition to the government in order to attend school. This system depends on the idea that we’re successful if we go to these schools and pay this large amount of money. College is a privilege, but it has also become a privilege to give the government thousands of dollars a year.
Lastly, time becomes an advantage for those from wealthier backgrounds. Those who do not have to work can spend more time on their studies or relaxation because they’ve spent their time getting their school work done. However, for those who depend on a job to pay for college or rent are hindered by the amount of time and focus that they must spend working. In general, by the time that one has finished work and class for the day, one is almost too exhausted to properly take care of themselves and especially too worn out to put their full attention into schoolwork. This leads to late hours spent finishing up assignments that they must complete and furthering their lack of sleep, instead increasing their exhausted mental state. As previously mentioned, in addition to actual labor, Harris argues that the extra amount of work put into making oneself the most successful for their future is enough work that it also demands pay or added support. He states, “As it turns out, just because you can produce an unprecedented amount of value doesn’t necessarily mean you can feed yourself under twenty-first-century American capitalism” (Harris 40). In addition to the amount of work it is to be motivated and give education as much effort as possible in order to succeed in “the real world”, students that have to work have another physical and mental obstacle. The interviewees have different perspectives on working while in college: K does not work, while A does. When comparing the idea of privilege of time of not working versus spending time at work, it was agreed by both interviewees that time not spent at work equals more time dedicated to matters that are applicable to their future career goals and desires. While working at a minimum wage job teaches customer service and communication, it does not further one’s goal of doing work that they actually care about and relate to. Time becomes a privilege for one who does not have to work to instead dedicate themselves to other programs or internships that will further their own interests in their field. It is possible for a student who works to also have these opportunities, however, it often includes overextending themselves and testing their motivation. It is easy to compare oneself to a peer who is doing work, school, and outside activities successfully in an environment such as a four-year university. The students who attend a four-year university are the ones who have been pushed and molded by the pressures to do everything that they possibly could to succeed. These students have obtained as much human capital as possible, and the desire to continue is prominent because of the always present threat of a future career. Students are still competing against each other because they have to in order to ensure job security. This sense of competition is what fuels the job market, the four-year universities, and institutions such as the College Board; they are the ones who profit off of the labors of the student. However, for the Millennial, the increased pressure of competition amongst one other is too much on top of the stress to be a successful student, employee, and individual in general.
In conclusion, Millennials are expected to be everything. They are expected to be motivated students from childhood and then to work hard enough to be well-rounded as an individual so their sense of self will be seen as worthy to a college board. Their work and existence are taught to be validated from the institutions who accept them into their colleges. Finally, they are expected to continue to compete against each other in order for the work force to decide who will be a worthy employee (for a standard work environment). However, economic and social factors inhibit most individuals from being successful at this pathway. Unfortunately, we are taught that one’s worth stems from their success in this system. While the Millennial who is fortunate to attend college can benefit from the opportunities and experiences given to them, the government and institutions are the ones who benefit from things such as increased tuition hikes and expensive prep courses. Millennials work towards accumulating as much human capital as possible and have been told by the system that this is what is necessary. However, the expectations placed on these individuals are much more than what the system promises back in return, which is the failure to guarantee financial security or fulfillment in one’s career path. Overall, Millennials put in more efforts than ever before to successfully make their way through the school to college to workforce ideal; however, this system can leave one stranded.
Works Cited
Harris, Malcom. Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.
Patel, Shaan. “How Much Do SAT & ACT Prep Courses Cost? Part 2 | Prep Expert.” Prep Expert SAT Prep Classes, 22 Oct. 2015,
Tugend, Alina. “Who Benefits from the Expansion of A.P. Classes?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Sept. 2017,
