The Upperclassmen Back Row: Suzanne Lopez and Veronica Casal Center: Courtney Allbee and Maurie Murray Third Row: Elizabeth Pfaff, Brendan Beitler and E. Krystal Somaza
Facebook. I want to be more popular than you, and you want to be more popular than me. Murray: We were kind of left with a mess, though. There was a recession. The housing market went down. There were barely any jobs available. They were thinking about cutting all sorts of school funding where I’m from. When you have to be an adult going out into that world, it can be tough. Quite frankly, the older generation caused it. Beitler: Our parents are complaining about us being selfish, yet they were the ones who caused these problems. Stetson Magazine: How is that? Beitler: Well, I mean, here’s a perfect example. When you go to Publix, and you see a kid screaming for a cookie because Publix gives out free chocolate-chip cookies to kids. The
parents say: “No, no, not today. You haven’t been good, so you don’t deserve a cookie.” The child starts crying, and then the parent gives in. “Fine, I will give it to you.” Lopez: Yeah, I agree. Parents don’t know how to say “no,” or they are afraid to say “no,” because then they believe their children won’t like them. A lot of our parents tried to protect us from the realities of the world when we were growing up. So, a lot of people I know don’t understand finances or practical things that you need once you graduate from college. You lack different practical skills because your parents have always taken care of them for you. My parents taught me how to balance a checkbook and how not to go in debt. Most kids don’t understand how to do anything like that. Some parents put some of us at a disadvantage.
Somaza: About the parents part: I am from Venezuela, so it’s kind of different there. We live there with our parents until we get married. My culture is family-based. Therefore, we don’t have that thing where we get everything we want because our circumstances are different. Cultures are different. If I cried to get something, I’d get spanked. Pfaff: I don’t feel like my parents really sheltered me from the real world. I know how to balance my checkbook. And I knew a couple times we were barely making ends meet. But we were born in a time where people started to have the desire for immediate gratification. Twenty years ago, few people had cellphones. Now by the time you turn 10, you have a cellphone. And by 2000, people wanted more and wanted more immediately. STETSON
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