Patrick Leigh-Pemberton: What is real debt anyway?

In recent months, more and more fourth years have been exhibiting signs of stress. Understandably so, you may point out, as they have dissertations to hand in, and a degree to worry about, things which I, as a second year, could not even begin to understand. And you are right – I do not understand them, but another factor has been causing stress, and this factor I really do not understand at all. People have been tearing their hair out about getting that perfect graduate job. High fliers have nailed their application, and are very pleased with themselves, whilst those who still don’t understand the term cover letter are decried as laid back and directionless.

This upsets me. These people are young, bright, beautiful, and driven, and yet they are committing themselves at a very tender age to a career that they have decided they will be good in, and which will be good to them. Here is where I begin to not understand. I do not know about you, but I really do not relish the fact that we are the generation that will inherit the largest global debt so far amassed.

It appears likely that we will live until we are 90 or so, which, given the rising pensions crisis in most of the world, means we will end up working until we are about seventy. And these people have decided, already, that they know what they want to do for the next 45 years? I doubt it.

Sucked in by the glamour, and the promises of bonuses or assured salary rises, they have succumbed to this cultural idea that we all need to work hard and to earn hard as soon as possible. There are positions out there that are unapologetic about the fact that you will work 16 hours a day throughout your twenties, in the hopes of being one the few who are then selected to move on in the industry. These positions don’t just exist in the financial sector, but also the legal, fashion and advertising industries. Are you prepared to sign away your youth for a fleeting chance at rising to the top in any of these, when you have hardly experienced the realities of any of them before? How can you decide, at 24, which of these will serve you best, or which you will enjoy most? And how can you be certain that it is worth it?

Imagine yourself at seventy, when you have just retired. You hop in your hover car for the first considerable holiday that you have had since university and I bet you twenty techno credits (redeemable in all states throughout the Pangean Federation) that the thing you will not regret is how late you got into work. The thing you will regret is how you spent so much of your twenties in an office – that you never spent a summer falling off cliffs with nothing but a parachute and your own judgement to save you, or that you didn’t spend a winter pulling pints for South Island New Zealand farmhands, or whatever it is you dream of getting round to doing one day.

I know that many of you are sitting there, reading this, and thinking to yourselves, well it is alright for this idiot to say that, but I am going to leave this place with a considerable amount of debt, and what does he suggest I do about that? Well, it is a tricky one, isn’t it? But actually, the majority of us do not know what the threat of real debt is. If you are Scottish, well your profligate (and discriminatory) government has paid for you, if you are RUK your maximum debt is £36k in tuition and maybe the same again for living. Compare this to our friends from across the water, who can expect to leave this place with almost £100k debt, and you know what, they only have six months to find a job in order to start paying it off. It may sound idiotic to say it, but comparatively, we are blessed with our levels of fees, and whilst they are ridiculously high, and risk cutting off education from a whole tranche of society, they really aren’t life threatening as far as debt is concerned.

So use this comparative freedom to explore the world in which we live before you decide exactly how you intend to fit into it. But remember this debt, as it should remind you to behave responsibly, to try and engage in a manner which you can remember and be proud of. To use your travels to engage with and learn in different cultures, not to get out of it every night and explore different avenues of narcoterrorism, unless you feel that that is what you really want to do for a bit. And maybe, just maybe, you might find yourself thinking that actually that job you picked up for a couple of weeks as a conservation manager in a small safari park is what you want to do, or in fact that you have a lot to offer the educational industry in Afghanistan after your stint as a substitute teacher there.

These jobs may not offer such high levels of financial remuneration, but I imagine (and if you turn your mind to it as well, you will probably imagine it too) they offer more variety in your experiences. And if this doesn’t happen, which I admit is more likely, and you return to the marketplace of western capitalism, those 2/3/15 years of exploring the world and taking different bit jobs all over the place might make you far more employable. Or, they might not. They might make people more likely to be you friend, or your overtly hippy messianic preaching about how it has changed your worldview might make everyone think you are a bit of a dick.

I am not saying that this is the only thing to do, but I am saying that more people should think of it as an option. If you don’t know what you want to do now, why not take the time to go and find out using other forms of research than the milk round email. Just sayin’.