Not only have people I know told me this, but it seems to be a piece of common wisdom. We college students have it easy. We go to class, hold a part-time job and have fun on the weekends.
I hear the real world is a rough place, where people struggle to survive. Life is harsh and college kids don’t understand it - they’ll be surprised when it hits them.
After writing columns criticizing conservatives, a few people have accused me of never having worked a real job.
I admit, I’m having a pretty good time in MSU fantasyland. I have it easy compared to some. On the other hand, I can think of a few people who have cushy jobs and great pay and who didn’t work very hard to get where they are today.
I consider myself quite privileged. I’ve never had to worry where my next meal is going to come from or whether I’ll find a safe place to sleep. My parents are paying the majority of my college tuition, and will also fund my younger brother when he graduates from high school in 2004. It is a financial drain on my family, but we can handle it.
I don’t have a car and I don’t have a cell phone, but I might be able to afford at least one of them if I was willing to cough up the money, which I’m not.
What will happen when I graduate from fantasyland? Will I be able to find a job? I’m not sure, but I’m reasonably confident I won’t be living in a back alley.
I may have to hold down more than one job or I may have to work long hours to make payments.
Many things will be different when I enter the “real world,” but that doesn’t make it any more real than what I deal with today.
I’m a journalism major. I read the news. I know what’s going on. I may never know what it’s like to get by only on minimum wage - I hope I never will. But I can listen to those who deal with this daily and I can care.
I know it’s hard. I’ve heard testimonies from couples that buy a box of macaroni and cheese and try to make it last for several days. I’ve listened to the stories of people who must forgo their medications to buy food or diapers for their babies.
There are people in our country who can’t keep jobs because their increased income would end their Medicare aid. They are members of the real world. So am I.
I doubt my life will be much more difficult after I graduate. I’ll probably work harder at my first job in a struggle to prove myself, but I’m completely willing and expectant of this.
When and if I land a job at a newspaper, I’ll put in many hours, often working late or during odd times. I won’t get paid much, but it will cover the rent, although my place might not be very big.
How is that life real, but my current one is not? Let me delve briefly into perception (very briefly): We’re all real and we all live real lives!
Right now I have an expectable life, in that I know how to get by from day to day. I might be in job limbo for a while after I graduate, but I’ll find something eventually. When that happens, I will develop a new daily routine. The hours might be strange, but I’ll know how to cope every day.
I have friends with real lives and real jobs, friends who didn’t choose college. They are not so different from me. I’ve grown up watching my parents’ lives and careers.
They’re both educators, so we often discussed the ins and outs of the public school system on a local basis. I don’t claim to completely understand what it’s like to be a teacher, but I think I come pretty close.
Don’t tell me I don’t know what it’s like out there in the “real world.” You probably can’t tell me a life story that would surprise me. The only thing that would make me better understand the plights of many underprivileged folks is if I stepped into their shoes and tried out their lives for a while.
My college life is real. I have issues and matters to deal with in my own life just like the oil baron who came from a rich family or the struggling teen-ager selling drugs on the street. Their lives are no more real than my own.
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By many people’s standards, I may never have a “real” life. I differ from many of my peers because I don’t have as strong of a need for security. For example, I would be willing to leave everything in my current life behind for a new culture, a new pace of life. I’m not unrealistic though - I’d keep in touch with my folks and I would like to head out of East Lansing with a college degree, so I might stick around for a while.
Maybe my reality is a bit different than yours, but it’s just as valid.
I don’t know what my life will hold, and I may not know when I’m 40. But I do know my life is real and will be until the very end.
Ryan Weltzer, State News opinion writer, can be reached at weltzerr@msu.edu
