Gen Y

• Thea Elder, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2010

I have found that in my 10 years and 24 days (around about) of schooling so far that it seems like all we ever get taught is how not to screw up our lives. I’d say that we (speaking as a student body) get told at least 3 times a week that if you fail at high school (either one exam or don’t finish and pass year 12) that you will fail at life. Obviously the teachers don’t tell us this in so many words, it’s always the same old “ If you don’t hand the assignment in on time, you’ll fail ‘whatever grade’ and then you’ll fail ‘whatever subject’ and then you’ll fail senior, so you better start learning correct study ethics now!” Of course we all stare blankly back at them, pretending to eat up their scare tactics (which fail on epic proportions, by the way), because we are all more intelligent than them (probably more arrogant too, considering we’re Generation Y and all) and continue on with our day-dreams about sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, travel and becoming more than just a suburban high school teacher.

Don’t get me wrong, being a teacher is probably incredibly fulfilling, but why do it in this day and age when the majority of kids you’ll have to teach have the mental capacity of a goldfish? I mean even the goldfish students want to go somewhere in life. I think the problem here is that the teachers can’t wrap their heads around the idea that we are all going to become something someday, and that just because we fail one test it doesn’t mean we won’t ever be employed or get to travel or have a family. Perhaps I’m just too optimistic or naïve though, but I suppose all of us Generation Y youngsters are. This is probably because we’ve never grown up in a war zone (other than our bedrooms around exam time) or seen the affects Jo Bjelke Petersen can have on a state and its people. This however, does not mean we have not seen tragedy, of course we have, we see/hear it on the news every day, we see it at school, amongst our family, our friends and we sure as hell saw it on September 11 or when the Haiti earthquake hit or when Elliott Fletcher was murdered. Maybe our generation is actually smarter than the rest and can see that it is the people born in the 50’s and 60’s that have caused all the problems of today’s society and that we, Generation Y, will be the ones that will have to fix the problems up. But hey, what would I know? I’m too busy spending my time having promiscuous sex, beating up old people, drink driving and trying to pass grade 11.