David Brooks 'Essay It's Not About You'

High school graduation marks the start of young adults’ lives, a time where they are expected to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Many young adults are pressured into attending college, whether they have determined their goal or not, but is it necessary? “The Case Against College,” an article written by Linda Lee, a mother who has questioned the former belief that college equals success, claims that “not everyone needs a higher education.” College, though beneficial to many, is not for everyone and should not determine an individual’s life.

The blossomed butterfly, finally freed from its lecture filled, finals stressing, late night partying, early morning madness cocoon, is ready to take on the world head on with so much energy and bravado. Its eagerness to make a mark in like, but expresses a conceited sense of entitlement, as though the world revolve around it. The butterfly or butterflies are the college graduates entering the workforce. They reveal their expectations on how their lives will be centered on finding themselves as they pursue individualized goals and fulfillment. These goals, however, are naturally unrealistic, In David Brooks article, “It’s Not About You”, he explains this discrepancy, on how college grads enter an unstable job market that will require them to forget self-fulfillment until they spend at least a decade finding their prominent role in life. Brian Williams article, “ Enough About You” correlates with Brook’s article. It illustrates how technology shows individuals what best interest and suits them. How the media exaggerates the success of others, making one want to emulate that success without facing the hardship of the journey to that success. Due to this, individuals such as college grads are wrapped in their own personal “bubbles” and will never achieve the true purpose of life.

The article It’s Not About You by David Brooks, presented the struggle in today’s society for graduating students, due to the trouble of finding passions or use of strengths. “Instead, they will confront amazingly diverse job markets, social landscapes, and lifestyle niches. Most will spend a decade wandering from job to job and clique to clique, searching for a role.” (Brooks 4). Newly graduated students have had difficulty discovering their strength and weaknesses. Instead, students should find themselves before taking on life's journey. “This year’s graduates are members of the most supervised generation in American history. Through their childhoods and teenage years, they have been monitored, tutored, coached and honed to an unprecedented

Throughout my childhood I could never say I had the most exciting life, even now I can still say that about my daily routine. Although my family put effort into nurturing me into a well-rounded member of society since youth, I never felt any change or progress personally; it was more as if I simply adapted to whatever expectations my elders had of me. I know this feeling did not apply to me only, in fact, I was once in a classroom full of fifty-two people who accommodated to whatever came their way.

Growing up, it was beaten into my head the importance of going to college to get a good job. I have to provide for myself and make good money. I won’t be “happy” unless I have this. Even though my parents told me that the game was just a game, I was still impacted by the very thought of not failing at life. Based off the game I had the notion that was how the real world worked, and in a weird way, it is how it works. The goals aspired in that game are ones my parents and authority figures have me strive for continually, to go to college, get a job, have a family, be successful. There’s all kinds of pressure at the dinner table of, “So do you know what you want to be when you grow up? A lawyer, a doctor, or a business woman?” Even in middle school I was given personality assessments to figure out my future career, and how to plan my high school schedule according to my desired profession.

Mark Caine once stated, "the first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself." Growing up in the Bronx, New York, this quote greatly applies to how the environment in which I grew up in shaped my aspirations. Living in the Bronx can prove to be difficult and it requires strenuous effort to find exceptional opportunities. Resources that are provided towards education are limited, meaning that most supplementary aspects that we need to obtain a "full' education is not granted to us.

"Some people are hustled off to college, then to the cubicle, against their own inclinations and natural bents" (“Matthew B Crawford”). Some people are forced to go to college because they’re parents don’t want them to be nothing and not make something

Ever since the existence of civilization, a fine boundary exists between human’s self-motivation and the expectation of social mechanism. As society progresses, this boundary is being gradually pushed against the will of individuals and favors the social construct. Unlike how people in the past were often inspired by their individual desires and goals, members of the new generation develop a perception of success that is heavily bounded by society’s expectations. Nonetheless, there are still individuals who are also motivated by their own values and dreams. These people are willing to step outside of the realm of ‘standard success’ and strive for what constitutes as success in their opinion. The following texts- “Project Classroom

The life pursuits and subjective judgments of many contemporary young people indicate that the transition to adult roles has become so delayed and prolonged that it has spawned a new transitional period extending from the late teens to the mid-to late-twenties, called emerging adulthood. During the college years, young people often refine their approach to forming their own identity. In these years, young people have left adolescence, but most have not yet assumed adult responsibilities. Many have dreams and those are what guides them in their decision making. In the video, 22 year old Casey describes her dream and comments on her identity development. Casey says that she became interested in Psychology in high school during her junior year when she took a psych course. She knew from then on that was what she wanted to do, but she hadn't picked a career yet. Casey said that she picked a career during her first year of graduate school, when she decided on gerontology. She said her happy and active grandparents had a lot to do with picking a career and wanting to work with the population. Casey thinks her identity was a gradual process and it's only really formed since last year. She feels her parents helped shape her morals and beliefs, but in between her senior year and her first year of graduate school, she started to form her own and integrated some of her own ideas. 24 year old Elizabeth and 25 year old Joel are shown discussing

Nine years ago, I never could have imagined I’d be writing this essay. I was a senior in high school, and, like the rest of my classmates, I was apprehensive about the future. Unlike my classmates, I felt like I had missed the proverbial “you need to get your life together” message. I watched my classmates apply to colleges, their majors already decided and their future careers mapped out. While I was an above average student, I felt I lacked the decisiveness my classmates seemed to have. I did not feel passionate about a career or even a field of study. I felt defective. This was compounded by the financial strain I knew attending college would have on my family. It seemed wasteful to try to “find my passion” at school while squandering

As the writing advances, the argument shifts to people capable of hands on jobs out of high school considering whether going to college should really be advocated as much as it is today. Along with this, he says that eventually attending vocational schools will become scarce due technology and the fact that many things accomplished at these schools can be done online. He also claims that income statistics of high end jobs today are skewed considering the fact that when you look at average incomes of a profession, many of us will end up in the lower percentiles. For many people, he says, the best option is to pursue a service or hands on job that doesn’t require a four year education. He ends the essay by claiming that “College isn’t all it’s cracked up to be” as well as depreciating the value of the normal B.A. that little college pursuers end up achieving. Murray writes: “the misalignment is in the optimistic direction, as adolescents aspire to be attorneys or physicians without understanding the educational hurdles they must surmount to achieve their goals”.

David Brooks suggests our self can be derived from losing ourselves in life’s problems; however, our true self can be found just as easily through happiness, illustrating our ability to rejoice. Young adults fall “into the world amid rapturous talk of limitless possibilities.” (Brooks) From there they lose themselves among these opportunities and look for the issues that call to them. While this approach to life opens doors to so many amazing opportunities, college grads can begin to get stressed and overwhelmed by the pressures of the real world. In the article It’s Not About You this idea is addressed by the quote, “It’s the things they did to court unhappiness — the things they did that were arduous and miserable, which sometimes cost them

As a child, I remember growing up in an area of Atlanta, Georgia called Mechanicsville. This area was very diverse with people from various socioeconomic backgrounds. Often, my mother would share valuable life lessons with my siblings and me. One, in particular, I remember even to this day is, “Life is only as challenging or motivating as you make it”. Originally, I did not quite understand the purpose of this aphorism; but as I got older, the meaning became quite clear. Although life for me has been both wholesome and unhealthy, in hindsight, it seemed better than my childhood friends. If you knew the real story, you would see that my life is not as perfect as it appears. Just to provide you with a little insight into my world, I had a

Growing up, as Tim Urban stated in his article; Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy “, we were raised “with a sense of optimism and unbounded possibility” (par 6). Moreover, what our parents didn’t tell us, is that we have to devote most of our entire life to achieve those possibility. However, our parents’ generation - the baby boomers, born in the 50s, raised by our grandparents. Were raised to “build practical, secured careers” (Urban par 4) But another for them to get to stable career they have to go through hard time, bad decisions and loss of love ones.

Through our weekly discussion of Adult Development and studying Erik Erickson’s theories of development, allowed me to gain great insight to human development. In our reading Erik points out that “adults seek to accomplish goals that make them feel they have made a difference in the world. This is the payoff stage in which we can use the personality that we’ve developed to achieve our occupational, social and personal goals. We gain a sense of fulfillment from those accomplishments but also seek additional satisfaction through mentoring younger generations.” (Witt & Mossler, 2010, p 9). This is truly where I am in my life right now. Growing up as a child I always dreamed of becoming a doctor one day. As I got older and became a part of numerous debate teams, student government associations groups and community advisory boards, my interest changed to law school. When I became a wife and a mother, I developed the nurturing spirit and I wanted to become a nurse. Looking back at where I was and where I am now I am seeking career satisfaction in my life. I am struggling with generatively versus stagnation. I do not feel I am useful in my career achievement and that is why I am seeking to better my