It's common, right now, to slam youth. From the assumption of a coddled childhood to the dismissal of youth concerns like tuition hikes, the current generation of young people have a bad rap. This is often true as the next generation comes forward but, the Boomers (of which I am a tail-end version) happen to have played a mean game of generational politics all the way along, and seem particularly vitriolic in their dislike of this upcoming cohort.
And have pulled their support of them. The significant proportion of wealth in the developed world is flowing up to (a small percentage of) the older and more established as opposed to down toward youth. Public funds are being pulled to bail out ailing corporations (who pay, comparitively, very little tax - United States examples) as opposed to maintaining and supporting education and youth programs or any other programs for that matter. Maybe it's a good thing these kids love computer games and social networking because for so many of them, there is no work.
So, what the heck is everybody thinking? Fuck these kids. I had to work my way up and so should they. Okay. Okay. Okay.
But, you didn't. Even if you're a year or so older than me. I know. Because everything started to dry up as I got there as it's only gotten worse since.
For example, after the death of my supporting parent, I applied for the Ontario Student Assistance Program. This assistance came -- before I got there -- primarily in the form of grants and a lot of people were eligible. Fairly affluent kids would apply and receive a grant; so much so that OSAP's nickname was The Ontario Stereo Acquisition Program. As I got there, however, all changed. Welcome the 80's. The grants, mostly, disappeared and were replaced by very low interest loans. Tuition was cheap. Housing was cheap. And I was a hard luck case. I got out with a very small yolk around my neck - a little over a thousand dollars. And found a job pretty easily.
Of course, because of its relative inexpense, higher education became cheap. There were lots of lots of little BA's and BS's and such. Breeding like rabbits they were. And a lot of them weren't needed; so a lot of them got McJobs. Even the bachelor's degree, itself, was undermined to the point of being barely as important as a highschool diploma. And if you don't have a highschool diploma, you can barely get any job at all. (Never fear. Handymen grew up to trump us all but that is a subject for another post.)
And, despite the devalued status of the average bachelor degree, tuition has gone up. Waaaaaay up. Housing is expensive. Even if kids stay at home while they attend, they come out of university owing tens of thousands of dollars. With no work to go to. Of course it's their fault.
Look, in general, they seem a little cocky, a little assumptive, a little too optimistic. Not us, though. We weren't like that. Hmmmm....
In what kind of society do the old suck the life right out of the young? A vampiric one. And if only we all aged like Lestat, this might make sense; I mean how much money does one person need in one lifetime? You can't take it with you. Ah, unless you mean to give the money to your kids to ease their way. It's just fuck everybody else's. They're all slackers, anyway.
Jacqui Burke is
a freelance director, writer, and theatrical teacher living in Toronto,
Ontario, Canada. She is currently directing Kidsplay 2012: The Mayan Prediction
opening June 20. 2012 at the Palmerston Library Theatre for one night only, and The Last Five Years
for TOKL Productions running July 20-21st, 2012 at the Alum Studio. Next year, she is looking forward to producing/directing her own show in the fall, directing Love Letters for Encore Entertainment, and directing Lend Me A Tenor for Scarborough Theatre Guild. She is, also,
serializing The
Pretender, her first novel,
online at http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/.
She is preparing for two Shakespeare is Boffo! summer camp
sessions for 2012.
Want to contact me?
Jacqui
Burke
Artistic
Director
Jaybird
Productions
talk/text: 647-292-0210
twitter: @jaybird01
skype: Jacquiburkecell, jacqui.burke
www.wordsnimages.com
www.jaybirdproductions.ca
www.shakespeareisboffo.ca
http://jacquiburke.blogspot.ca
http://thepretender-amarcienoelnovel.blogspot.ca/
http://jaybirdproductions.blogspot.ca/
Ask me about Shakespeare is Boffo!
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– 3:30 pm, August 13-17, 2012 for only $155.
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