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Younger people have no time
Author: Mark
Date: 05-25-2007 - 21:57
Younger people don't have time to actively be a part of organizations, especially when they are expected to make a contribution to the group. When you work two or three jobs to support your family, you don't have time to be attending meetings or to be doing chores for the group.
Another thing that discourages younger people (and it's been going on for years) is when these groups will hold their regular meetings. Wednesdays at 7:00pm just doesn't work for younger people. In fact 7:00pm on any work night is bad. I suspect a lot of younger workers are barely home from work at 7:00pm because the traffic just keeps getting worse on the freeways. Factor in time for their kids, eating dinner, some time to relax and there's no way possible to make a 7:00pm meeting. For high schoolers and college students, they probably are bombarded with homework or attend classes at night after work. The homework factor shouldn't be underestimated either. When kids spend 8 hours at school and come home for 5 hours of homework every night it's no wonder they avoid most interests that are intellectual in nature. Their brains are fried.
One last thing that was touched on earlier. The older guys do a great job of discouraging the younger ones. We had a new member join the railroad museum group I belong to about a year ago. He was 31 years old and employed as a CPA. Within 2 weeks of joining the club, a number of the retired guys were pressuring him to take over as treasurer. Sure enough, that was the final straw. He never came back.
Another thing that discourages younger people (and it's been going on for years) is when these groups will hold their regular meetings. Wednesdays at 7:00pm just doesn't work for younger people. In fact 7:00pm on any work night is bad. I suspect a lot of younger workers are barely home from work at 7:00pm because the traffic just keeps getting worse on the freeways. Factor in time for their kids, eating dinner, some time to relax and there's no way possible to make a 7:00pm meeting. For high schoolers and college students, they probably are bombarded with homework or attend classes at night after work. The homework factor shouldn't be underestimated either. When kids spend 8 hours at school and come home for 5 hours of homework every night it's no wonder they avoid most interests that are intellectual in nature. Their brains are fried.
One last thing that was touched on earlier. The older guys do a great job of discouraging the younger ones. We had a new member join the railroad museum group I belong to about a year ago. He was 31 years old and employed as a CPA. Within 2 weeks of joining the club, a number of the retired guys were pressuring him to take over as treasurer. Sure enough, that was the final straw. He never came back.
