My Favorite Fact Tank Data

In October 2000, the overall picture of high school dropouts had changed little since the late 1980s (Kaufman et al. 2001): For every 100 young adults enrolled in high school in October 1999, 5 had left school without completing a program; of 34.6 million U.S. young adults aged 16-24, 3.8 million—almost 11 percent—had not completed high school and were not enrolled. Some studies have shown that students in schools with a concentration of multiple risk factors (e.g., large schools, large classes, high poverty, inner city location) have less than one chance in two of graduating from high school; furthermore, the economic costs of dropping out have increased as time goes on (Castellano et al. 2001). Adjusting for 50

Status dropout rates are reported by the NCES (The U.S. National Center for Education Statistics) as proportion of young adult’s ages 16-24 not currently enrolled in school who have not completed a high school diploma or equivalent. Dropout rates status differ by many demographic factors, including gender, race, and ethnicity, immigration status, and geographic location. In the United States dropout rates are higher in males than females. Hispanics have the higher rate, followed by African Americans, non-Hispanic, whites, and Asian Americans.

High school dropout rate is a significant indicator of future success in life. For high school dropouts, it is harder to find jobs and earn as much money as their graduated peers. On the outside looking in, not being able to graduate is usually associated with school performance, socioeconomic status, parents’ education level and/or lack of motivation. Moreover, there are also underlying factors of race and gender and they both affect performance in high school immensely. In order to study dropout rates, focus should be put on the group of students at risk of dropping out.

Throughout history, the newest generation is always claimed as the most lazy, narcissistic, and self centered generation yet, and each previous generation disregards the reasons why the new generation acts the way they do. However, Joel Stein expertly brings to light in his article,“Why the Millennials Will Save Us All”, the fact that “They [the new generation] are not a new species; they've just mutated to adapt to their environment,” (Stein 4). Stein starts his article bashing on the millennials, utilizing a conversational tone and effective use of ethos and logos to draw the reader in. But halfway through the article, his tone suddenly changes along with his purpose as he analyzes his own life to shows how his own generation has the same

In “Why They’ll Save us all” published in Time magazine on May 20, 2013, the author, 41-year-old Joel Stein informs readers on the behavior, lifestyle, and mentality of millennials. He fabricates his article around the concept of contradiction and information that is both reliable, yet meticulously placed, in order to successfully persuade and inform the audience that although the newest generation can be entitled, lazy, and self-absorbed, they are also capable of positively changing the world.

Since the inception of the new millennium children, teens, and young adults have been adapting to an abundance of new technology, education, and forms of government. There is no more time to be a child in today’s era it’s all about molding you into an adult as fast as possible. Millennial young adults face more obstacles than any other generation since the modern era. America is changing at a fast rate and is putting pressure on the coming young adults to become adults. Young adults now are facing many challenges like poverty, homelessness, and drugs. But millennial young adults are also very unique, they find ways to make money through new technology platforms, and are the most educated generation of all time.

Stein claims that “millennials’ self­involvement is more a continuation of a trend than a revolutionary break from previous generations. They’re not a new species; they’ve just mutated to adapt to their environment” (31). He supports this assertion by using pathos, logos, and concession. Stein’s purpose is to explain millenial behavior to the older generation in order to recognize how millenials came to be and their importance in society. Even though he begins with a condescending tone addressing the negative attributes of millennials, he expresses a generally positive outlook on the qualities of millennials to the previous generations before them. This work

Nearly 3.7 million American babies born in 1982 were the first members of the new Generation Y, or more affectionately known as millenials (Thompson, par. 1). Many things play into whether a generation is considered to be faring ‘better’ than another one; job opportunities, the state of the environment, whether the U.S. is at peace or at war, income vs. living expenses, the general happiness of the people, and the list goes on. Millenials are part of a special generation because

But are the Millennials worth the extra effort? Alongside studies that show the economic and social hardships of Millennials, are articles like Jean Twenge’s that outline some less than positive traits among this generation. Her study found that in comparison to Baby

In Simon Sinek’s live talk about the Millennial Question, he discussed how technology, the pressure to conform to today’s society and the constant need for affirmation has greatly affected the young generation’s mental growth and stability. How likely is it to teach these young able adults how to live a balanced life without endangering their well-being? It is possible to nurture their mental growth in a positive way despite the ever-changing technological advances. Both the older generations and the Millennial generation are able to learn from each other by means of influencing one another in a positive way.

The circumstances that I understand to be difficult for millennials during their quarter-life crisis is that the belief that will be the best and make a significant impact in this world. The combination of the parents and the importance set on higher education coupled with the positive reinforcement that the millennial can achieve greatness as long as they work hard can be taxing. This can be a daunting task after the individual graduate’s college with a bachelor’s degree and the job prospects are not what they want to conquer the world. Philippe stated (p. 11),

Much of the literature on Millennials and Generational Differences presents theoretical and methodological issues, and often the research undertaken in this are by practitioners reaches conclusions about Millennials, without presenting any actual empirical evidence(Ng et al., 2012). The literature also identifies the academic research on generations as an issue, and whilst this aspect of the research is supported by empirical evidence, it often is conducted cross-sectionally – meaning, that the data is only collected at one point in time, and therefore the findings could be attributed to either the age of the individuals surveyed or the generation specifically (Ng et al., 2012). Hence, it is difficult to draw direct conclusions about any specific

Millennials, a group of people who were born in the year 1984 and after. There are millions of them and they are our future. According to Simon Sinek, millennials “are accused of being entitled and narcissistic, self interested, unfocused and lazy.” Even though Millennials lack in some aspects, he believes that parenting, technology, impatience and environment is to blame. As a millennial, I totally agree with Sinek’s point because I am affected by all the variables that he listed ever since birth. Millennials did not do anything wrong but, the way they were raised affected their attitudes.

Smith, Brandon. “Equipping the Generations: Freed to Make Jesus Famous” Journal of Discipleship and Family Ministry 04, no. 1 (Fall 2013): 70-71.

The unknown future may be frightening, but knowing the Millennials are the next generation of leaders to change the world should be comforting. Millennials make up the population of society that was born between 1980 and 2000 and “in America there are more millennials right now than baby boomers – more than 80 million” (Simmons-Duffit). Just like every new generation, the Millennials have been endlessly criticized by older generations. They have been called lazy, entitled, self-absorbed, social media crazed, technology addicts, privileged, and so much more. This generation change has drawn more public attention than ever before, maybe because of the access to widespread information nowadays or maybe because this time, it’s a bigger deal. Millennials aren’t afraid to address this topic because they believe that they can change the world for the better. They want the judgements in communities and the criticisms in the workplace to stop. They want society to realize they are not so different from generations before, they are already transforming life as we know it, and that they will soon be the next generation of leaders—and nothing can change that. Although Millennials can be perceived in multiple negative aspects, older generations should be open to the unique potential that this massive generation has to offer as an opportunity to close the gap of separation and learn to grow from each other.