King Makers

One of the perils of current intergenerational interaction is the tendency for the previous generation to set up rules and regulations as barriers against the newer generation, hurdles that they themselves never had to surmount. Corporations in the past hired from within, promoted, trained, but with the rise of private education and the ballooning cost of schooling, the burden of training has fallen upon the individual. Yet there are certain skills that can only be gained form actual experience, and when entry level positions require five or more years of previous work, there is not entry point for the new generation. Granted, every age group has its own set of irregularities, rough edges, that other groups may find appalling, but in previous eras these differences were washed over due to the necessity of turnover. With the advent of advanced medical care and postponed retirement, we are now seeing the formation of a great glass ceiling hanging over anyone under thirty-five. A younger generation can never meet the expectations of the older, if no chance will be given in the first place.