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DrBob@lemmy.ca 3 months agoNo it’s not. My older siblings are part of Jones and with just six and eight year gaps they have had very different experiences than X. My favorite example; there were still government grants for university when they went through. They worked odd jobs during the summer knowing that grants would pay full tuition and residence. Government backed loans paid the rest. By the time I went through the grant program had been dismantled and loans were partially privatized. And I graduated into the aftermath of Black Monday.
imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
We all know people who are part of Jones. Your anecdotal evidence is unconvincing.
I’m a millenial and I received a massive amount of federal financial aid for my college tuition, so… clearly government-backed grants still exist.
Also, your elder siblings had to deal with the height of the AIDS epidemic. The first HIV medication wasn’t approved by the FDA until 1987.
Similarly, they got to enjoy of 6-8 years of additional exposure to toxic concentrations of lead as children. So lucky.
See how you can make whatever argument you like if you start cherrypicking data points?
DrBob@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
I’m not an American. Federal grants still exist in Canada as well, but the eligibility criteria changed and the program was no longer universal by the time I went to post-secondary. As I said that was an example and there are many. I also had to deal with the height of the AIDS epidemic. The first case report in the literature was 1981. And lead contaminated water was never an issue in our jurisdiction.
If you are a millenial you don’t have any lived experience from the period, so why do you question mine? I was part of the “baby bust” as they originally called it and programs and services that were available to my older siblings were not available to me.
imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works 3 months ago
My point is that your personal experience doesn’t negate the whole concept of generation jones. All the generational paradigms are based around the US anyway, it doesn’t line up perfectly with other countries.
DrBob@lemmy.ca 3 months ago
It’s all good. The generations thing comes from the boomers as well, the huge number of babies that were born in the post-war period and that covered a lot of countries. They needed a name and everything else just formed around them.
I won’t deny that someone born in 1946 had a very different experience than someone born in 1964, but from a programmatic view they all benefited from growth in programs and services aimed at children and youth. Those programs underwent a dramatic change in the 1970s as they became means tested or mothballed because of the small number of children.
Again, this is anecdotal, but I switched schools every two years before high school. Every one of them closed because there weren’t enough children in the catchment area. They were built because of the baby boom, and my Jones siblings walked to schools in the neighborhood because classes were full. I was bussed from Grade 1 onwards. And so on.