My usual field to till is entrepreneurship and behavioral economics.<\/p>\n
But allow me a bit of circular travel.\u00a0 I belong to a \u201clunch bunch\u201d that consists of 12 to 15 old white men who gather twice a month (dressing on the side) and discuss the world.\u00a0 A recent topic was the SAT exams and where they should play in the realm of college admissions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
As you can imagine, given that the average age of this gaggle is 75+ and that all of them have college degrees (some MDs and some PhDs), they came down pretty clearly on the classic measure of scholastic aptitude.\u00a0 According to a recent article in Forbes, \u201cOne in eight freshmen at UCSD place below high-school levels in math.\u201d\u00a0 A report from the UCSD Senate-Administration Workgroup said that \u201c8.5% of 2025 freshmen\u2019s math skills fell below 8th grade level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Point made.<\/p>\n
A recent New York Times guest essay<\/a> by Emi Nietfeld, 34, makes the case that \u201cGen Z has fallen out of love with work, and it\u2019s easy to see why.\u201d\u00a0 She went to Harvard, majored in computer science, got a job at Google and then quit to write a book, \u201cAcceptance.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Nietfeld is a millennial, and she argues that Gen Z\u2019s (1997 \u2013 2012) prevailing sentiment is \u201cthat basically nobody under 40 right now expects good things to happen ever again.\u201d\u00a0 There is uncertainty in the world (look, life is what happens while you\u2019re making other plans), and she says that generation \u201cfeels it is pointless to prepare for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Now there is some nuance here.\u00a0 It is not a complete stretch to see certain segments of the economy as nothing more than a casino.\u00a0 Windfalls are given quickly and taken away just as fast.\u00a0 Catch a hot stock startup or an influencer gig, and the world begins to seem like a lottery ticket.<\/p>\n Her article goes on to say that many young people consider \u201cowning a business to be the key to unlimited opportunity.\u201d\u00a0 That is the spark that connects a generation to entrepreneurship and its twin sister, ambition.<\/p>\n Now back to the old folks at the lunch.\u00a0 Every one of them started out somewhere between lower middle and middle class.\u00a0 No trust fund babies.\u00a0 So where did they find the ambition, which Nietfeld argues is diminishing in the Gen Z cohort.<\/p>\n