ONCE again, the red-faced baby boomers who dominate Britain’s discourse have seized upon another scapegoat. This time, they’re incensed at the "feral youths" who, in their eyes, are raging their way across the country, carelessly throwing raves in their parents’ back gardens, and doing their best to spread the coronavirus far and wide with no regard for basic decency.
As far as I’m concerned, the sacrifices us young people have taken have been utterly ignored. We’ve been hit with a raw deal: in exchange for ‘protection’ from a disease with a 99.8% youth survival rate, our financial prospects, social lives and mental wellbeing have been chucked out the window.
Let’s start with school leavers: those meant to be at the start of their transition to responsible, independent adults. After the illegitimate exam ‘results’ debacle, needlessly causing huge amounts of worry and stress, school leavers are finally making their way to uni. Lucky kids, right? Hardly. With less than a month until I begin third year, I’ve been told nothing concrete about the coming term except the catch-all phrase of ‘hybrid system’. I’ve no clue what classes I’ll be sitting, what my pre-reading should be, or to what extent classes will be online-only and consequently whether or not I need to get a flat there.
Think of those eager-eyed young ones starting their ‘university experience’ (if you could call it that) this year. So far, the only Freshers week event I’ve heard about are a series of Zoom lectures from the Marxist society – thrilling stuff, but not quite the noisy parties, student society functions and boozy nights out I experienced. Good luck trying to make friends in an unfamiliar city, in an era of Zoom substitutions, 8-person party limits and overbearing venue restrictions (seriously, no music in pubs?).
It’s no surprise many are delaying or taking a year off uni. But with another “once in a lifetime” recession in full swing, few companies are willing to take a chance on young people from such a large pool of candidates. Summer jobs – a necessity, for the student loan is far too little – are over, and many of us have already been bled dry from exorbitant rent in dingy flats before the new term even begins. As far as gap year travels are concerned, forget gallivanting around Asia – you’d be lucky to make it to Manchester.
None of us want to throw away elderly lives – all we ask for is consideration that this lockdown has hit us far harsher than older generations. Instead of kickstarting our adult careers and relationships, we’re back in our childhood bedrooms, or hidden away in cramped, mouldy flats with mounting bills. Those who care about young people will be forced to square a rise in youth loneliness, mental health issues and suicide against the largely harmless coronavirus.
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