Today’s Impoverished Yuppies

Quite aside from making me feel considerably better about my own situation, Sing’s revealing article served to substantiate many of the apprehensions that I have harbored concerning the desirability and virtue of upward mobility.

First, the article reaffirmed my suspicion that higher education today places far too much emphasis on technical and vocational disciplines, much to the exclusion of both the liberal and fine arts. Indeed, to the detriment of both its institutional legitimacy and national well-being, the university has chosen to abdicate its traditional responsibility as a repository of edification and intellectual curiosity, and has chosen instead to become little more than a breeding ground for technocratic exploration and Philistinism. As a consequence, many college-educated people entering today’s work force have nary an appreciation for aesthetic and cultural values and diversity, and can only gain self-realization through the accumulation of material goods.

Secondly, while the vicious web of materialism has resulted in irrational avarice and job burnout, of even greater consequence is the subversion of altruistic ideals and humanism necessary to augment social progress.

Previous generations, to be sure, were not without vice. Modern living has its attendant trappings and obligations. And yet, unlike young adults of the 1960s-1970s, current uncertainties of economic securities (a delusion, in any event) all too often preoccupy the lives of the upstart professional person and his peers. Invariably, a diminution of regard for others and, subsequently, a marked disdain for social consciousness is eminent.

JAMES M. RIVERA

Pico Rivera