Concern For the Current Generation

 I have concerns regarding the current generation, knowing that these are the people that are going to forge our future.  From observation of, for instance, college students that I see on a weekly basis, they just don't appear to have any common sense.  Common sense isn't really common anymore.

There are practical skillsets that the generation doesn't seem to have, and they don't even realize that they need to learn anything.  I see that most of them don't seem to have any ability to figure things out if they've not done it before, and they don't have someone there to show them.  I've seen simple things that require a minimal amount of mechanical (physical) manipulation of something, and they do it backwards, or not at all.  Things that seem obvious to me (I had to figure the same thing out), they can't get right.

But there are other simple things that are not mechanical that they don't seem to realize either.  I've observed them suggest something that a small business man needs to do, because they want it, without giving any thought to what it would cost the business to do it, and they don't seem to understand that businesses are run by human beings.  Human beings need motivations to do things, and if there's no incentive, or negative incentives, then why would those people want to do this new thing that the young person suggests.

It's like they don't seem to understand how the world works, and that a lot of it is based on human nature.  People aren't going to do something that is going to destroy their business.  People aren't going to do things that will cost them money, rather than make them money.

The current generation don't seem to understand how businesses are created, and how hard it is to start up, and be able to make a product or service, pay all the bills and be able to pay employees, taxes, insurance, rent, etc.

I had a conversation with a guy that had a masters degree, and another with a PhD, and we were talking about taxes, and how it can affect the job market.  They had no clue.  I mentioned that if they try to increase taxes on the rich, that it will just make it harder for new businesses to be started, and it'll make it harder for people to find new jobs.

Their response was "Rich people don't create jobs, companies do".

I said, "where do you think companies come from?"

I got silence.  They are literally never thought out it.  To them, companies are just there automatically, and as population increases and more people enter the job market, new jobs will just appear for them.  There didn't appear to be any thought for how our society can maintain the average person in the population, to be able to be employed (or employ themselves), and feed themselves and their families.

On other subjects, not regarding economics, we live in a society that benefits from switches, buttons, levers, valve, etc.  But most of us, at least in older generations, understand that these are not magic.  They are just mechanical or electronic mechanisms to get something in the real world to happen.

But I see college students that have no idea what is going on when they push the pedal down in their car.  It just magically makes the car go.  They don't seem to understand that this would mean more gasoline to be pumped to the engine, and more that the engine will be burning in order to make the car go.  To them, the pedal is just a pedal.

I see people that never understand simple manipulation of simple home repairs with a hammer or screw driver.  These are simple things that the current generation doesn't seem to grasp. 

 And at work, I've noticed time and time again that the current generation don't seem to have any grasp of, at least in the white collar professional world, the affect of having visible tattoos and piercings.  They routinely do it, with no regard to how these things are received by customers, which affects the business.  From a career standpoint alone, these things are limiting in most cases, depending on the industry.

In addition, I've observed them not understanding that businesses, mostly, expect employees to show up to an office (or place of business).  Although remote work is technically possible in a lot of cases, this doesn't automatically mean that it is to the employees discretion on whether to show up at work or not.  This generation seems bewildered by the notion that the boss wants them at the office.  They act like it should be automatic, that they can just work from home.

In addition, they seem to not understand that, whether they are remotely working, or showing at the office, that if for some reason they are sick or otherwise not working that day, that they need to call in and talk to the boss, or someone at the business, letting them know.

I'm further mystified by people that don't know about the common notion that if you are going to leave the job and take a new job, that you should provide a two-week notice.