On the front page of The Wall Street Post: to graduates

Dear class of 2012:

You graduated in 2012.

 

Allow me to be the first one not to congratulate you. through exertions that-let's be honest-were probably less than heroic, most of you have spent the last few years getting inflated grades in useless subjects in order to obtain a debased degree. now you're entering a lousy economy, courtesy of the very president whom you, as freshmen, voted for with such enthusiasm. please spare us the self-pity about how tough it is to look for a job while living with your parents. they're the ones who spent a fortune on your education only to get you back-return-to-sender, forwarding address unknown.

Please allow me to be the first person to say "congratulations" to you. In the past few years, most of you have worked hard to seek out an outstanding score in a variety of practical courses. This is nothing to boast about, you know. Now, in this bad economic environment, thanks to the election of the president you voted for, you are about to leave school. It is not easy to go back to your parents' home and start looking for a job that is not easy to find. After all, your parents once gave you high hopes, and now they are more like a sender with a failed package, and have no idea where to send the package next.

 

No doubt some of you have overcome real hardships or taken real degrees. A couple of years ago I hired a summer intern from West Point. she came to the office directly from weeks of field exercises in which she kept a bulletproof vest on at all times, even while sleeping. she writes brilliantly and is as self-effacing as she is accomplished. now she's in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban.

Of course, some of you have gone through a severe test and gained real talents. I recruited an intern from west point a few years ago. She had just completed a training program that lasted for weeks before starting her work. In this project, she even had to wear a bulletproof vest while sleeping. She is very good at writing and she is extremely modest. She is now fighting terrorists in Afghanistan.

 

If you're like that intern, please feel free to feel sorry for yourself. Just remember she doesn't.

If you are like an intern, you have the right to feel dissatisfied with your life. But remember, she never thought that way.

Unfortunately, dear graduates, chances are you're nothing like her. and since you're no longer children, at least officially, it's time someone tells you the facts of life. the other facts.

But dear graduates, you may not have achieved her achievements. You are no longer a child. At least someone should tell you the truth about your life:

 

Fact one is that, in our "knowledge-based" economy, knowledge counts. Yet here you are, probably the least knowledgeable graduating class in history.

First of all, knowledge is still very important in the economic environment where this Knowledge determines fate. But unfortunately, you may be a graduate with the least knowledge for so many years.

 

A few months ago, I interviewed a young man with an astonishingly high GPA from an Ivy leleague University and aspirations to write about Middle East politics. we got on the subject of the Suez crisis of 1956. he was vaguely familiar with it. but he didn't know who was President of the United States in 1956. and he didn't know who succeeded that President.

A few months ago, I interviewed a guy who graduated from an Ivy League school with an incredible GPA. He wanted to write an article about Middle East politics, so we began to talk about the-year "S"-> "->" Crisis in the S of the S "the second war in the Middle East" (the second war in the Middle East ). He only knows about this historical event, but does not know who was the then President of the United States (the involvement of the United States and the Soviet Union is the main cause of the end of the war), and who is his successor.

 

Pop quiz, class of '12: Do you?

Do you know who it is, graduates? (I think most people should still know who is China's country leader in 1956 ..)

 

Because of you have been reared on the clich é that the purpose of education isn't to stuff your head with facts but to teach you how to think. wrong. I routinely interview college students, mostly from top schools, and I notice that their brains are like old maps, with lots of blank spaces for the uncharted terrain. it's not that they lack for motivation or IQ. it's that they can't connect the dots when they don't know where the dots are in the first place.

People have always said that the purpose of education is not to stick to the memory, but to learn how to think. Believe it or not, I believe it. As I have been interviewing students for a long time, I have found that many interviewees think like old maps, and many areas are blank because they are not aware. In many cases, I don't think they lack IQ, but they cannot establish a connection between knowledge and knowledge when they don't know where the knowledge comes from.

 

Now to fact two: your competition is global. shape up. don't end your days like a man I met a few weeks ago in Florida, complaining that Richard Nixon had caused his New York City business to fail by opening up China.

Now let's talk about the second fact-the competition you face is international. Work hard. Don't complain in your life like the businessman I met in Florida two days ago that President Nixon's policy of opening up to China regretted his previous business in New York.

 

In places like Ireland, France, India and Spain, your most talented and ambitious peers are graduating into economies even more depressed than America's. unlike you, they probably speak several ages. they may also have a degree in a hard science or engineering-skills that transfer easily to the more remunerative jobs in investment banks or global consultancies.

In places like Ireland, France, India, and Spain, you have many talents and target peers who are graduating from a worse economic environment. Unlike you, they may speak many languages and have a degree in science or engineering. Their ability may be easier to help them find a well-paid job similar to investment banking or consulting.

 

I know a lot of people like this from my neighborhood in New York City, and it's a good thing they're so well-mannered because otherwise they' d be eating our lunch. but if things continue as they are, they might soon be eating yours.

There are many such people near my place where I work in New York. Fortunately, they still maintain their due courtesy and we do not feel the pressure from them. However, if the economic environment continues to grow like this, maybe they will immediately start to grab your job.

 

Which reminds me of fact three: Your prospective employers can smell BS from miles away. And most of you don't even know how badly you stink.

This reminds me of the third thing I want to talk about: your potential employer is aware of the ideas you are talking about, and can laugh without saying anything, many of you do not even know how many of your ideas are unrealistic.

 

When did puffery become the American way? Probably around the time Norman Mailer came out with "advertisements for myself." But at least that was in the service of provoking an establishment that liked to cultivate an ideal of emotional restraint and public reserve.

Since when have the Americans started to survive by bragging? Maybe it was the movie "advertisement for yourself" (a collection of articles released in 1959) by Jack MELLE )? But at least that book aims to mobilize people to cultivate personal exercises and participate in social welfare activities.

 

To read through your CVs, dear graduates, is to be assaulted by endless advertisements for myself. here you are, 21 or 22 years old, claiming to have accomplished feats in past summer internships or at your school newspaper that wocould be hard to credit in a biography of Walter Lippmann or Ernie Pyle.

Graduates, when I read your resume, all I see is endless "ads for myself ". What you did when you were 21 or 22 years old, whether it was your internship last summer or your job at school, it is even beyond the descriptions of Walter Lippman and erney pall (both well-known writers and the Prce prize winner) in their autobiography.

 

If you're not too bright, you may think this kind of nonsense goes undetected; if you're a little brighter, you probably figure everyone does it so you must as well.

Maybe you are stupid enough to think that this boast will not be noticed by people, or you are smart enough to think that since everyone is doing this, you must also start from the crowd.

 

But the best of you don't do this kind of thing at all. you have an innate sense of modesty. you're confident that your Ré sumé needs no embellishment. you understand that less is more.

But your real self will never do such a thing. Everyone's inner is humble. When you know what it is called "less is more", you will not feel confident in your resume.

 

In other words, you're probably capable of thinking for yourself. And here's fact four: there will always be a market for people who can do that.

From another perspective, you may have the ability to think. This is the fourth thing I want to talk about: For people who can think about themselves, the market demand will always exist.

 

In every generation there's a strong tendency for everyone to think like everyone else. but your generation has an especially bad case, because your mass conformism is masked by the appearance of mass nonconformism. it's a point I learned from my West Point intern, when I asked her what it was like to lead such a uniformed existence.

 

Her answer stayed with me: wearing a uniform, she said, helped her figure out what it was that really distinguished her as an individual.

For every generation of people, the cloud is a common problem. But for your generation, this problem is especially serious, because most of your many herd behaviors have taken an unusual disguise. This is what I learned when I talked to my intern at West Point about her experience in leading the prescribed exercises.

Her answer impressed me. She said to me, "wearing uniform uniforms makes her understand what really distinguishes herself from others ."

 

Now she's a second lieutenant, leading a life of meaning and honor, figuring out how to think different for the sake of a cause that counts. not enough of you will be able to follow in her precise footsteps, nor do you need to do so. but if you can just manage to tone down your egos, shape up your minds, and think unfashionable thoughts, you just might be able to do something worthy with your lives. And even get a job. Good luck!

Now she is a young lieutenant with an ideal and glory for her life, and she has a unique insight into her own life. Few of you may be able to walk in as step by step as she does. Of course, you do not have to follow others' footprints at all, but if you can put down your self-centered thoughts and think more independently, you may be able to do something that will not waste your life. Maybe even find a job. Come on!

 

Write to bstephens@wsj.com

Author: Bret steams. Wall Street Times columnist