They are not dead end kids. When one way is shut off another way will open up. They should become involved in politcs and or learn a trade. There is nothing wrong with working at McDonalds in the mean time.

I have to admit, I am a "dead end kid". I am 20, and I have not seen a single working day in my life. My parents always bother me when I am not in college to get a job. I used to try every single day to get a job, one that requires some amount of skill to do. I would tell them this, but they do not understand. I try to get some extra money by fixing computer problems and other side work, but this is only a once in a month type of thing. I used to apply for multiple jobs online mostly, and I used to call whenever I had the chance to. One company I called told me I needed experience to use a dishwasher ( LOL ). I will not work menial jobs and work for big corporations like Kmart. I am studying to be a mechanical engineer. I used to not look for menial jobs but now I am, but I still refuse to work for big corporations and I wish to work with local and small businesses. Is it my fault I can't find a job? I want to work, but nobody will let me work. And in turn I feel like a piece of #, worthless. After I am done studying, and even before that by getting an internship, I will get a real job. My mother and father are struggling to keep their business afloat, I might not even be able to afford any more years in college. Am I to blame? Am I to blame for asking for work, and not even getting a single employer to respond to me?
I will even admit here, that I have blatantly lied on my resume saying that I have working experience, but even that, nobody will hire me.

[edit on 27-9-2009 by fordrew]

Originally posted by gnosis111


I couldn't disagree more with this. Yes that may be the data, but there are SOOOO many entry level jobs, at least in my area, available that I don't know how anyone DOESN'T have a job. It all comes down to the

1. Laziness of young Americans
2. The unwillingness of them to work a job they think is BELOW them and
3. Well 1 and 2 were sufficient enough for me.

Illegal Immigrants are thriving in my area, I truly believe the "they took our jobs" crap is just that and if you want a damn job you will work whatever is available.

I live in Idaho by the way, just for reference. And I am 29 so I am a young American who has a felony, but still manages to keep a job that pays me over 45K a year (plenty of money in Idaho). I work in food production and I can not believe the whining and pickiness of some of the people we hire. Things like "12 hours is too long to work", "I can't do overtime", "I can't work nights", and we start out 70% of our employees at $15.00 plus an hour!!!

Unbelievable, yet our plant is full of Mexicans, many are believed to be illegal ready to work.

So 52% unemployment rate should be divided by 5 and that is the real rate compared to the laziness rate.


[edit on (9/27/09) by gnosis111]

What a bunch of crap. I have a job where i live, so everyone else must be lazy. You believe that the "they took our jobs" is crap, yet you admit that your plant is full of Mexicans. That's just because we're all so lazy, right? It has nothing to do with the fact that the people that hired them dont have to provide benefits or even meet minimum wage requirements so that they can line their own wallets.

[edit on 27-9-2009 by Exemplar]

Originally posted by star in a jar
...or they can go out there, buddy up with people in similar predicaments, seize some land and shoot anybody that tries to kick them out of their seized land, grow their own food, run their own community laws, and put the future back into their own hands....

Plueezz, are you kidding me? The other day I said to a 47 year old woman, why pay someone to rip out your carpet? Save your money, get some pliers, rip the carpet out, get a knife, cut it in strips and take it to the curb. It's such an easy job.

She looked at me like I was from the back side of the Moon. She informed me that she had asthma and couldn't rip out any carpet(I've noticed that just about everybody has asthma now), she didn't know what pliers were, and didn't own a knife that was going to be cutting any dirty carpet.

I told her to have her kids do the job. Again, an incredulous look.

So, you think kids, the majority of whom are raised by barely competent, do-nothing, know-nothing wimpy adults are going to go out and seize land and farm it? Who taught them what a shovel is? Seeds? Chickens?? Rainfall? Parasite control?

I can just imagine tossing your average 18 year old a live chicken and telling him that's dinner, so get to work!

Seize land? Not my land. They can WORK on my land for food if we get to Great Depression levels, but they are going to get a load of lead when they try shooting at me to take what I worked for.

The next few years should be a time for the rare, bright, and motivated person to excel. Time will tell.

A great many people in my area are laid off, and young people can't find jobs either.

What people are doing is working on starting there own business. I hear the mantra everywhere, mainly from fifty somethings, no one wants to work for corporations any more. It has become abundantly clear to so many what a huge rip off the corporate controlled system really is, and they want it to end.

I expect this new economy to mainly exist underground, to avoid the grossly over burdened taxes on small businesses. An economic revolt is taking place, and the youth are joining in.

This stuff about young people being lazy is the same thing they say every generation. If you want to point a finger at any generation, point them at the boomers, who have greedily rigged the system so heavily in their favor. Born in a time of economic prosperity, they have driven this country into the ground. They called gen X lazy, but they drove the .com boom, and started the re-invention of our economy.

As far as our school system goes, it is horrible, there is no aim to educate, just to indoctrinate. The message is loud and clear, conform or else.

I see the detestment of menial work amongst my generation and it as well as the system disgusts me. I understand not wanting to do menial work for a job that pays dirt, but menial work is required to survive. Anything as broad as collecting edible herbs, setting up the camp site, collecting fire wood, hunting, or field dressing the dinner one is about to consume is menial work.
Why does this thread keep reverting back to how this generation can get back in the system. Does no one else see how pitifully you are living out your life? Even for those that have successfully made something of themselves and have all the means to provide for themselves within the system; they have not attained any more peace or happiness than those that laze their days away. We should stop living like domesticated animals and return to nature. Live happy without the negativity of the system reaching us.

It's not entirely fair to criticize the whole generation.

The biggest flaw these days is that companies want employees with experience, but they won't offer the chance to give experience.

I'm 20. Currently full time college student (But hell, I'd still be glad to work 30 hours a week)

Between all that I've done, I have about a half a year of experience..

When I was 16. I started applying at all the places around here. Grocery stores, ect. Nothing ever came of that.

When I was 18 I worked at this pizza place for a little while, and then lost my job because the business just sucked. (It closed down a couple of months later).

So that didn't work out. So I finished my high school education. Started college.

Last summer I got a job at Home Depot. It was a temporary job which only lasted me a bit until mid-sept. So I decided to take my savings, and just continued college, this is when I became full time.

This summer. I got to be pretty hopeful. The Best Buy near me called. And after about two weeks I had been through about 4 interviews. But was told that I wouldn't be notified until about July because the manager who was hiring in his dept. was going on vacation. But my overall feeling from the several people that interviewed me was that I did not have enough experience. They all kept asking "So... you don't have any other type of experience, no volunteer work.. or anything else?" So I waited til July 1st. Started calling every day. At different times. After a week of that, I got the message. managers did not want to talk to me. So I just moved on, applied at more places. No more luck.

So I just kept with my plans. Continuing school. I don't have much money but that's alright since I live with my parents.

The economy sucks, but I'm dealing with it. I'm going to enter the Emergency Medical Services program at my school this winter. I'm doing the pre-reqs now. Ultimately. I want to learn trades. I'm good with computers, but so are a lot of people. So that's not very helpful to make money.

I want to learn to make custom knives.. but I don't have the money to start something like that up. So that idea ends there until I can find a way to make some money to start that.

I guess the dead end kids is a good description. We're a generation that mostly doesn't have any experience, most don't have a work ethic, most aren't willing to go outside their comfort zone.

Originally posted by poet1b

As far as our school system goes, it is horrible, there is no aim to educate, just to indoctrinate. The message is loud and clear, conform or else.

I would have to disagree and agree with you on that. The maths and the sciences are pretty straightforward, but is is the history and social studies classes that are not. From what I remember when I was in elementary and highschool, 10 out of the 12 classes are about US history. While most of us live in the United States, it is unarguably important and imperative to learn about the world's history. I am not saying that all 12 classes have to be world history, but there should be more emphasis on it. Also, even in the history book I am studying and taking a class on today, there is a emphasis towards the United States and the "evils" that are the foreign policies and foreign nations. American classrooms will praise their country, and will not make their country look bad; while European countries such as Germany will also do the same. German history books will not say whether they started WWII and lost. American textbooks will not say that we lost the Vietnam war or that we are losing "The War On Terror".

People should work hard regaurdless, we should stop wanting to work for money. If one put as much time into outdoor survival as they do working or many other things, they would certainly stop worrying about what they were going to "buy" for dinner.
Most people will say that we need money to continue, but in all reality money was a useful tool during a particular stage of evolution. Now money is used to suppress technologies that could make resources abundant and keep people enslaved. We're evolving and just like any other evolution process, the unevolved species fights to survive and is eventually phased out.
Are we really the ones with a dead end? I at least know I'm being enslaved, it's blatantly apparent to me. However, on a second thought, I can't speak much for the rest of my generation. I'm sure most of them are too busy going about their daily lives in the system in the hopes that one day they will have enough money to live in what they would beleive to be happiness.

[edit on 27-9-2009 by grayhawkz1]

[edit on 27-9-2009 by grayhawkz1]

Originally posted by Lookingup

Originally posted by star in a jar
...or they can go out there, buddy up with people in similar predicaments, seize some land and shoot anybody that tries to kick them out of their seized land, grow their own food, run their own community laws, and put the future back into their own hands....

So, you think kids, the majority of whom are raised by barely competent, do-nothing, know-nothing wimpy adults are going to go out and seize land and farm it? Who taught them what a shovel is? Seeds? Chickens?? Rainfall? Parasite control?

I can just imagine tossing your average 18 year old a live chicken and telling him that's dinner, so get to work!

I wish I could raise chickens. But I don't have any room.

But I hope you're not tossing them just the chicken. A knife usually helps

Thanks to youtube however, I know now how to prepare a chicken from the point to where it's alive and pecking to where you are roasting it.

Woops double post...

[edit on 27-9-2009 by grayhawkz1]

I'm sure most people on ats could agree that the world could be quite different if the majority of mankind gave up the lust for money.

I live in NYC and i have worked in the same deli since i was 17, i am now 24. From my point of view it was a lot easier to get a job when i was 17. When i was 17 i had a lot of friends at the store where i worked some were cashiers some were porters and stock boys. now i still have some friends as cashiers but all my friends that were porters and stock boys are gone. they have been replaced by illegal immigrants. there are less jobs out there for americas youth because illegals are taking them and using a transitional position as a stock boy as a careers. in my opinion there needs to be an employment reform but at the employers level and not the employees.

Originally posted by star in a jar
They can stay at their parent's home (If they even have a home) and cry about their condition, or they can go out there, buddy up with people in similar predicaments, seize some land and shoot anybody that tries to kick them out of their seized land, grow their own food, run their own community laws, and put the future back into their own hands...

Or they can just stay where they are like good sheeple...

Their choice... The powers that be don't care to move them along, only to hold them back...

Their choice.

Steal land and kill people is your solution? Why not work with their parents and others in their neighborhood to start community gardens, raise chickens and such?