Though it is always difficult to make accurate generalizations about a generation of people, it’s not difficult to point out the generalizations that are wrong. Trying to simplify one of the most complex generations in American history onto a wallet card is one of those. The Washington Post had a profile last week of Anne Loehr, a self-professed “generation guru.” Loehr travels the country speaking to groups of professionals who work with or employ young people, coaching them on how to “speak to Generation Y” and handing out wallet cards. It has become, as the article adoringly notes, “an industry.” It’s apparently not a very good one, though, because Loehr, like many others, is offering interpretations that ignore the most important trends among today’s young people and -- like the debate over women’s roles in the workforce -- focus on the upper-middle class while glossing over millions in less fortunate situations. “This generation is very well-educated -- both parents probably have MBAs,” says Loehr. That’s unfortunately pretty far from the truth. A CIRCLE studyfound that just 11 percent of Americans 18-25 held bachelor’s degrees or higher, with fewer than 40 percent having completed “some college.” Nationally just over 30 percent of adults hold college degrees -- and even fewer hold professional degrees like MBAs. Young people spent time “being shuttled to soccer at 9, and the play at 12. You know, the nanny took them,” says Loehr. Save for a small subset of young people, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Admittedly, the companies Loehr works with probably deal mostly with middle and upper class young people who have college and advanced degrees. But Generation Y is the nation’s most diverse in demography and background, and college classrooms and professional workplaces are beginning to reflect that. --Christopher Sopher
