Paige Mason
English 110-H6
Paper 1 Final Draft
10-2-17
Benefiting the Individual
Imagine having just graduated. You’ve thrown your cap in the air screaming and shouting with joy. What next? Do you go get that job you’ve been working your tail off for the last four, five, six years? Or, do you take that vacation you’ve been waiting oh so long for. More and more 20- somethings are need more time to figure out their life path. In Robin Henig’s” What is it about 20 somethings?” She talks about this developing new stage called “Emerging Adulthood. Phycology Professor Jeffery Jensen Arnett states, emerging adulthood is “identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling in-between” (200). This self-discovery time period could potentially become a life stage. While recognizing emerging adulthood as a life phase would cost society, the individual would benefit.
By having emerging adulthood, it would affect parents financially. After their child decides to come home from college to “figure things out” a lot gets relayed back onto the parents. A lot of parents want to feel comfortable to retire to when they are in there 60’s. With emerging adulthood in place, parents might have to reconsider that option. If their child is moving back in with their parents instead of making money of their own this puts the responsibility yet again on parents to provide for their children instead of focusing on themselves. This delays their child from paying into social security, delaying their support when they themselves decide to retire. Finances are not the only negative impact on society. The over protected child also suffers.
From the second a child is born they are endlessly protected, sometimes over protected in some cases. This can negatively impact a child’s ability to develop. This could lead to the 20- somethings becoming unproductive, lazy and dependent. Henig shares a story about a 23- year- old New Yorker named Julie. Julie shares her thoughts on the pressures to making the right decisions that will form her foundation for the rest of her life. “It is a double edge sword she says “because on the one hand I am so blessed with my experiences and endless options, but on the other hand. I still feel like a child. She was offered all this support though she is great full for it she doesn’t truly feel as though she achieved anything on her own. Julie story tells us that with the lack of confidence in the work place, it could potentially lower production as well.
Though there are negatives that impact society, there are many benefits to the individual. Establishing Arnett’s ideas of Emerging adulthood as a life phase this gives the individual a lot of opportunities to explore the world. Instead of going right into the work force after graduating emerging adulthood is giving you the chance to go the Europe, Africa, across the United States etc. Traveling is beneficial for lots of reasons: It’s an opportunity to see the world, it’s a chance to self-discover. Thomas King talks about his experience with living with “indigenous communities in the Borneo Jungle to develop conservation projects” (10:16) and many other things and only at the age of thirteen. While not all of us can do this at age 13 like King, if we had time in our 20’s we can travel to explore our passions.
In life, you should enjoy what you do, you should have passion for what you do. Otherwise, why do it? By officially merging emerging adulthood into one of the life stages is gives the individual the opportunity to find that passion. Perhaps it will end of being something completely different than expected. Passions are important to have. It is part of who you are. If you don’t get ask that at a younger age your life could be drastically different, in terms of what the individual does with their life. King makes a point in saying that he had wanted his parents to ask him “what I’m passionate about, what I desire, what kind of society I want to live in and how I could create a legacy to help make that place a reality.” (12:36) King believes that it’s young children’s passions are what drives the world forward. It’s people like Thomas King’s friend Jacob who is a transgender person who had the opportunity to change the life expectancy from 30 to greater by advocating suicide prevents in the LGBTQ community. Or, it’s his friend Nada who studied criminal justice and is an active voice for the young Indigenous Australians. It’s people like them that have found their desire in life, their passion that is helping drive the world to a bigger and better place.
My brother all of his life knew that he wanted to do something with sports. My family and I knew that he would end up somewhere in baseball probably he would collect baseball cards and memorize players statistics. My grandmother sending him my dad’s old collection of baseball cards probably prompted him and my dad taking him to sports events (basketball games, football games, baseball games) since he was young propelled his dreams even more. It was what he was exposed to, encouraged to know. I mean my dad probably encouraged my brother to pursue a career in sports. He sure didn’t discourage him. So, my brother ended up at UMass Amherst majoring in sports management. From starting off playing sports, to majoring in a sports major to doing summer internships with the Portland Seadogs to finally graduating and working with the triple A Baltimore Orioles baseball team in player development by brother didn’t really have the chance to explore possible other options. This was all he had ever talked about, that is until now. He decided he didn’t know if that career was what he wanted to do anymore. So, after working with Baltimore Orioles for the past 6 months as we speak my brother is across the country as far away from home as possible in Alaska organic farming. My brother is a 20- something who decided to figure out what his passions were by taking time after college to take a chance. My brother is one of the many individuals that could potentially benefit from this. Emerging adulthood could satisfy his desire to explore the world to find his true passion in life.
The big question is: How are individuals supposed to find their passions of there are all of these expectations on them? Having passions are great, but most 20- somethings weren’t able to have figure their passions at the age of 13 like King. They were given a path to follow and that’s what would “make them happy”. The 25- year old Jennifer talks all about the expectations. She writes, “Follow your passions, live your dreams, take risks, network with the right people, find mentors, be financially responsible, volunteer, work, think about or go to grad school, fall in love and maintain personal well-being, mental health and nutrition” (Henig 206). With all of these expectations, how the HECK can anyone figure out what they truly want. Imagine being repeatedly told this over and over this is what you have to do? There isn’t any time for 20- somethings to enjoy themselves or just simply be. Something has to be done to make the 20- somethings believe that it’s ok to verge off the list of To Do’s in life. To allow 20 something’s to grow and find their passions they need to be given time. Time is the key to success. By giving 20- somethings time to explore other options it will allow them to find the right option for each individual to succeed successfully. During this time periods, it’s a chance for them to volunteer, work, and do unpaid internships. It’s a chance for individuals to go out and explore options that maybe, they didn’t think were possible for them to have.
At the end of the day, individuals are stuck in this belief that they need to follow your passions, live your dreams, take risks, network with the right people, find mentors, be financially responsible, volunteer, work, think about or go to grad school, fall in love and maintain personal well-being, mental health and nutrition when really, they are struggling to find their passions. With the lack of time given to find their passions they really are going to have a hard time since having passion for something is key. Emerging adulthood is a key concept that could potentially solve these problems that individuals have and help them succeed in life.
