They want to organize college around the life they created during the pandemic. Is this wrong? So in counseling and raising young people that have been impacted by this pandemic like the rest of us I have seen a pattern emerge. More young people aged 16 - 21 are working and not attending college or trade school in a traditional sense. The world of online classes and virtual fluidity have given them the ability to move at a pace they choose. More of them are starting businesses, more are traveling, more are living independent of their parents/families. Not to mention the moves made with the increased flow of money from the Biden administration. College has become an afterthought to making money or living life on their own terms. The independence of being able to hold full time employment or run a full fledge business during the day time hours while attending classes online has empowered this generation. They aren't the same kids who graduated from high school and went directly into college to accrue debt, with no job or life experience to guide them. These kids were essential workers for much of the pandemic getting a frontline view to the pain sorrow and despair of our world. They are finding out what they choose to spend their time and money on. It's no longer about whether or not they go straight into a 4 year college and get a bachelor's degree. It is about whether they can be contributing members of society and make themselves mentally happy. It's about whether they can make good decisions to support themselves in the future. It's about their mental stability and comfort. It's about their ability to be debt free when the generation before is drowning in student loans. This path was not given to us 30+ and honestly we have no idea how we would have reacted if a global pandemic would have stopped our teenage world. These kids are making tough decisions everyday and are choosing themselves over our prescribed notions of life success.
People put so much emphasis on perfection when thinking about Jada Pinkett-Smith and celebrities/politicians in general. I think about all of the naysayers saying that she can't be an expert on interpersonal relationships or give advice through channels like the Red Table Talk series because of her recent admission of supposed infidelity in her marriage. But she is a human being. That is one thing that has frightened me in all of my professional journeys. People believe that if you fail in one aspect of your life then you don't have the right to give advice to anyone in another area or even in that area of life. It is a perceived notion that you must be perfect all around, have a perfect image everywhere so that you can advise. People are trying to cancel her saying that she can't give anyone advice on anything anymore because of this new revelation. This revelation that is new to us. But who are we really? My question comes in how can people grow if the mistakes they make ...
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