“Social changes over the last several decades have also dramatically changed the transition from adolescence into young adulthood, and such change is reflected in policy discussions about key aspects of this transition (e.g., access to and affordability of higher education, the potential role of nonmarriage in poverty).”- Johnson, M. K., Crosnoe, R., & Elder, G. H. (2011).

Many classmates have drawn attention to The New York Times’ article, “Long Road to Adulthood Is Growing Even Longer.” The spot light caught my eyes is that more and more children are still relying on financial support from home. However, this phenomenon just reflects our new generation surrenders to the reality not only in the states but international wide.

When my mother graduated from college in Taiwan, she was 21 years old. She got her first job even before she got her degree. Because there were only 8 colleges in Taiwan at that time, college graduates were competitive. She bought her first apartment on her own after she had been working for 2 years and got married after another 2 years. This is not aspiring story about how outstanding my mother is. Nevertheless, everyone with college degree could follow this schedule buying property or getting into marriage without question. For those without a college degree, they didn’t worry about jobs either in the thriving market. As Johnson, Crosnoe, and Elder asserted in the paper, manufacturing sector has given ways to a service and information economy, jobs providing steady working-class incomes and benefits has been disproportionately replaced by low paying, unstable jobs without benefits. Therefore, more and more people increasingly shift their aim to higher education with anticipation to access to more secure and rewarding careers.

Nevertheless, my generation has no way but enriches ourselves to stand out the current bloodthirsty job market. In order to survive in bloodthirsty society, we go to college, go to graduate school, get an internship, and finally are competitive enough to earn a decent saving to sustain oneself. Woops! It’s almost 30s!

Reference
Johnson, M. K., Crosnoe, R., & Elder, G. H. (2011). Insights on adolescence from a life course perspective. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(1), 273-280.

Cohen, P. (2010, June 11). The long road to adulthood is growing even longer. The New York Times.