Defaming Youth
He (or she) is a teacher (or an employer.)
These kids today — I deal with a lot of them.
No. Not this. Not again.
They don’t like to work, and they don’t know anything. They can’t spell, they can’t add a column of figures. They can’t find France on a map, fer Chrissake.
I pull my iPhone 4S out of my pocket, hold it up to my ear.
Tell me about France, I say.
Five seconds later, the screen shows a zoomable map of France, with a virtual red push-pin sticking out of Paris. I hold out my hand, palm up.
Do you know the average age of Apple’s work force? I ask him (or her.)
The answer is 33. For Google, (which provided the map) it’s 31. Whatever is wrong with the country today, young people aren’t it.
If you’ve been around a few decades you hear the same screed over and over again. Your point is well taken.
I don’t know if you’re still writing on this, or in general. Fwiw you really should. At times the empathy you display, whether I agree or not, cuts deep. And the poem ‘consolation’ you recently posted on crooked timber was something else.
More please
There were some things to be sorted first, but yes, there’ll be more. Soon, I think. And thanks.