I started a new job in July, after leaving a company I worked for - for 25 years. It was a tough decision but one I needed to make. One of the biggest adjustments has been to find myself in the midst of several twenty-somethings, right out of college and full of knowledge they think they have.
Sometimes I feel out of place.
My job is health care, health care I.T. to be more precise. One of my co-workers in 22 years old and her specialty is medical billing, CPT codes and all of that fun stuff. That's great but she doesn't know how any of it applies in the real world which is to be expected to some degree. But what frightens me is how she will say things so casually as if they are fact.
Before I sprayed my tea out of my nose, I managed to calmly say "No, no he doesn't. He will have to make changes to it so it can survive, but he does not want to get rid of it. And if those changes aren't made, Medicare will go broke anyway."
She looked surprised that I apparently disagreed with her "fact". I mean, wasn't this just KNOWN?
My boss, who knows me from my prior job jumped in and gently explained to my young colleague that it's generally not a good idea to talk about some things at the work place. Things like - oh - religion and politics. She seemed surprised by that too but on the other hand, this is the person who looked at me the other day and said "If you don't mind me asking, how much money do you make?"
Yikes!
People wonder why I am so concerned about the youth out there. They have been told over and over how important a college education is, but no one has told them that every scintilla of information they get there can actually be questioned. So many don't. That frightens me. Especially since most universities these days are bastions of liberal thought.
They learn, are influenced, and they vote.
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