Alexander Williams
Emerson
Eng Comp 110 H6
10/01/17

Emerging Adulthood is Not What We Need

The Millennials as a generation get a lot of flack, and the idea of “emerging adulthood” is not helping their case. Emerging adulthood is in its most basic sense a proposed life stage between adolescence (after) and full-fledged adulthood (before). The “emerging adults” themselves seem to be widely accepting of this new life stage which should not be surprising; they are getting the better end of the deal. For the purpose of this essay, Millennials and “do-somethings” or passion seekers are the same age group. Millennials are the people that were born between the early 1980s to around 2000. While these young adults are out “finding their inner selves” and “exploring the endless possibilities the world has to offer,” the rest of society has to work more than their share in order to support them. The millennials now have children of their own, and in order to raise a child there needs of be some form of stability from the parent. These children and seniors, the ones who rely on the citizens who are able to work, need this generation in order to have a place to live, have food, etc. If these “emerging adults” are out street busking and picking up an off-kilter religion they found on the internet a couple days ago, there is no support being reciprocated. Now, finding what one is passionate about is of course encouraged. It is probably one of greatest accomplishments one can have in life, that is to live their passion. But they can find their calling after they get off work or are done with classes for the day. College courses can be deceiving too. There will be classes that seem fun and unique, but usually those are the ones that hold no substance and purpose (i.e. parapsychology, art history, gender studies, etc.).For instance, someone who studies parapsychology would most likely not be hired by the chief of staff at a hospital (unless it was haunted). If “emerging adulthood” is nationally recognized as a true life stage, it may be a slippery slope leading to an entire society of people who do not work, are uneducated, have no sense of work ethic, and have not matured properly enough to function as true adults (people who have a steady job, a family to support, etc).
In Thomas King’s TEDx talk, “Adults, We Need to Have the Talk,” he makes the claim that in an ever changing society with a new technological backbone, many of the traditions that Americans are used to and have ingrained in their minds are no longer relevant. This poses a problem because that is simply not true. Now, to King’s credit, he did say that “… in the context of the twenty-first century how we live out those values is inevitably going to be different” (King). While this is accurate, he seems to want to completely throw out the window everything his predecessors worked so hard for. Thomas King is from Australia originally, so maybe there is a difference in culture down there, but usually people try to keep a strong societal foundation. Obviously Australia is a vastly different place than the United States but both nations have had their struggles. Americans have several stereotypes about themselves, one of them being the fact that we raise generation after generation of slackers, hippies, and idiots. The only reason that is our stereotype is because that is what everyone else saw on the news and in the media outlets. There are those types of people everywhere and in each generation.
But King says we, his fellow Millennials, need to be “job-makers, not job-takers” while he seems to miss the fact that there are some jobs that will never go away, and there are spots that need to be filled at that very moment (King). The content of such positions may change over time, but the basic professions that every society has will always be there (i.e. physicians, builders, teachers). If we are too busy making new jobs, then who is going to take the initiative and do the jobs that are already there and need to get done? Furthermore, who else is going to be qualified to work these jobs? Children are too young and seniors are too old, so that leaves the people in the middle.
King gets very close to talking about the basis of “emerging adulthood” when he says “Instead of asking me what job I wanted to go into, I wanted my parents and teachers and aunts and neighbors to ask what I’m passionate about, what I desire, what kind of society I want to live in…” which means he has fallen under the same spell as everyone else and has deluded himself into thinking he lives in a utopia. Because that is the only place “emerging adulthood” could work.
King’s intentions are all well and good, but his ideas are not overly practical. By advocating for a generation to step away from the traditions of their parents and grandparents more than they already have, they are resigning society to its deathbed. We all need tradition to thrive as a society and to remain unique and different than the rest of the world. There is no need in building a new foundation until the one we have now is broken, and it is not that. Societal advancement can be a great thing, but we can not forget where it all started, where we came from.
Lastly on King’s speech: Of course it is agreeable. Not only is his argument vague but it is also one-sided. The past generations were never against the ones that came after it; they are just bitter about their own mistakes and the fact that they are getting old. They were never against the Gen-Xers and Millennials forging their own path. They were worried about their own security. Because the old generations rely on the working class, and if the working class is reduced, then the seniors are no longer stable.
For example, one young adult fresh out of college, and still unsure about what they want to do for the rest of his or her life, could move back to their hometown and support their ill grandmother. Their parents have taken the grandmother in but they are struggling to make end’s meet. By working a full time job, the college graduate could help alleviate some of the costs grandma is racking up. While supporting the family, the college grad can go experiment new things and find what they are truly passionate about. Maybe it was different than when they first graduated.
Or the young adult fresh out of college can talk to his or her parents on the phone every night and sympathize with them about poor grandma. The college grad can go wherever they want, whenever they want because they are experimenting and exploring and do not have time for a job. They rely on their parents to pay the phone bill and the grad stays on their parent’s health insurance because they can not afford their own. While the college grad is out living it up in Vegas, grandma is put in a senior home because that is the cheapest option.
While that example was completely made up and probably over-dramatized, the point is made: We have obligations we can not, or should not at least, ignore. Robin Marantz Henig, a journalist and an author for The New York Times, says “parents are paying for phone bills they never counted on paying…” (Henig). This shows we have a very obvious flaw in our society if we find it acceptable to burden our parents and grandparents with expenses, for a cell phone no less, instead of attempting to take care of ourselves. While Henig does not lean heavily one way or another on the issue of embracing “emerging adulthood”, she is correct in acknowledging both sides of the issue. Still, being accepting of “emerging adulthood” as a life stage will condone things like unbalanced financial situations, relying on past generations to support the new ones long after it is traditionally acceptable, and the toppling of the idea of traditionalism itself.
Robin Marantz Henig’s “What is it About 20-Somethings?” seems to be a pretty unbiased article. One problem is that she practically makes it Jeffrey Jensen Arnett’s, the man who coined the term “emerging adulthood”, own work. Arnett of course is supportive of his own finding of a new life stage, and he is to a fault. In one of his other articles published in 2007, Arnett makes the claim that three-fourths of Americans over the age of thirty are married (Arnett, 2007). This is simply untrue. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, only .7% of the population married in 2007. Carrying this percentage trend all the way back to 1977, there is no statistical way to reach 75%. Also, while Arnett is quick to point out the fact that marriages seem to be still happening at a steady pace even with the integration of “emerging adulthood”, divorce rates are through the roof. The divorce rate has steadily increased throughout the years so even if the same amount of people marry each year, they will most likely get a divorce.
Arnett does not mention the divorce statistics at all in his article, and Henig only provides some of Arnett’s anecdotes and vague examples in order to support his claim, specifically the long winded story about a twenty-five year old African American person named Nicole. Basically, Nicole struggles to get herself through school all her life while supporting her younger siblings and her mom. Nicole worked to put food on the table and she eventually saved up enough to go to night classes after she graduated high school. Nicole has aspirations to do big and successful things. Arnett uses Nicole to make the point that financial standing does not mean one will not go through emerging adulthood. Honestly, this does not really help his case. Nicole worked hard for herself and multiple other people. Nicole did not have time to go off and explore because she had real obligations. While Nicole and her family are all still poor, this is more a case to support the American Dream concept: Start from the bottom and work like no other to make it to the top.
Henig also includes the fact that Arnett himself admits that not everyone goes through an “emerging adulthood” phase. For Arnett to make the statement that not every young adult goes through the “emerging adulthood” phase, that means he takes back what he said about it being a biological phenomenon. If it was biological, everyone would have to go through it. Richard Lerner, a colleague of Arnett, calls Arnett out on this. Lerner says “you must develop what you’re supposed to develop when you’re supposed to develop it or you’ll never adequately develop it” (Henig, 209). Lerner says that in order to qualify something as a life stage, one that holds developmental significance, it has to be a constant and it has to be essential. When Arnett said if one does not go through “emerging adulthood”, then it wasn’t a big deal, he invalidated his own life stage.
While Henig does not have much of her own opinion to express, she is correct in saying “…if this longer road to adulthood really leads to more insight and better choices, then Arnett’s vision of an insightful, sensitive, thoughtful, content, well-honed, self-actualizing crop of grown-ups would indeed be something worth waiting for” (Henig 212). It is too bad that is not the way it works, because in theory, a generation like that could do so much for society. Unfortunately, reality must make itself known. In reality, most people are not going to be extremely successful according to society’s standards. If “emerging adulthood” places more merit on happiness and passion, then that gives people less incentive to actually work hard for something that might make them a successful human being. If being a world-class pediatric heart surgeon is someone’s passion, then they can work towards both goals at the same time. If being a musician is someone’s passion, then they will have to find something else to make them successful because no matter how amazing it is that someone can make music, it is very rarely a fruitful career.
In the meantime, while finding our passion and what we are good at, we can work on building a network in the working class. That is what will help us be successful. Gather up a good list of references. Build up a resume. Take the initiative in high school, college, and beyond, and instead of just memorizing material, study it and apply it and research it too. Get the right world experience while also holding down a part-time job. Some of the places we do not necessarily want to work pay well for part time positions. Take care of one’s own finances and get stable as soon as possible. It will be better in the long run if we are forced to take that next step instead of choosing to stay in that limbo between teenage years and adulthood.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited
Arnett, J.J. (2007), “Emerging Adulthood: What is it, and What is it Good For?” Child Development Perspectives, 1: 68-73. Doi: 10.1111/j.1750-8086.2007.00016.x
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. National Marriage and Divorce Rate Trends for 2000-2015. www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/marriage-divorce.htm
Henig, Robin Henig. “What Is It about 20-Somethings?” Emerging: Contemporary Readings for Writers, edited by Barclay Barrios. 3rd ed., Bedford/St. Martin, 2016, pp 198-213.
King, Thomas. “Adults, we need to have the talk.” Youtube. TEDx Melbourne, Nov 2015. Web. September 2017.