Generation Z Needs a New Way to Engage in the World

Last year, I had an opportunity to write a blog post for IGCC reflecting on the global challenges that Generation Z is facing, their unique ability to engage in these issues, and why I think it’s important to commit to public service. This article meant a lot to me to write because it came out during the wave of campus protests sparked by the Israel-Palestine conflict, specifically affecting UC San Diego. My blogpost got enough clicks that I was asked to write another one. Maybe people really connected with this message at a time when tensions were high, or maybe I just convinced enough of my family and friends to give it a read.

Since then, the landscape and feelings have changed, and my overall message has also changed.

Last year, I stressed the importance of engaging in issues you care about, especially for my generation. I said that we need to be a part of changing the world for the better. This engagement, small or big, could still leave a lasting impact.

Today, students are paying a heavy price for engagement. International students are having visas revoked in waves, with some being targeted because of their pro-Palestinian activism. With threats being made to even American citizens, it’s hard to predict who is safe and what people can actually safely engage in.

For Gen Z, this feels particularly hard to deal with. Universities, generally places where students can connect, learn, and be active in the issues they care about, are losing funding, diversity, autonomy, and students. With a difficult job market and a federal hiring freeze, there isn’t much optimism to go into the workforce, let alone to participate in bigger endeavors.

All this uncertainty is creating an environment that requires a lot of resilience. This uncertainty has been a consistent pattern in a lot of Gen Z’s adult life, having begun in the COVID-19 era when many of us were just starting out.

My message from my first piece stressed engaging in any way possible. But this simply can’t be the case anymore. It’s a message I don’t feel comfortable enough to promote, given the risks it involves. We have to find alternative and comfortable ways to engage with issues we care about and learn how we can help.

I spent last summer interning at the U.S. State Department in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, and I head to Thailand in June for the final part of that program—a program that has now been revoked. I’ve wanted to work at the heart of U.S. diplomacy ever since I started college, and working for IGCC these past two years has only pushed me further to want to contribute to something positive in this area.

As a graduating senior at UC San Diego studying international relations and political science, I have gotten to learn the reasoning behind policy, world relations, and the international order, and how this has changed throughout history. My education hasn’t told me what I should or shouldn’t believe in, but it has helped me understand what laws and historical factors shape how a country is run. This education has driven me to be more aware of the things going on around me and to point out when an issue violates human rights or the law. Furthermore, education has kept me grounded amid the great uncertainty I have grown up in. It’s helped me learn to live with unpredictability and, more hopefully, prepared me for living in times where things won’t be so uncertain, whatever that may look like.

My generation is being forced to rethink how we engage with the world. We can start by actively educating ourselves about the issues the world faces. It might be tempting to simply check out and resign ourselves to the problems. But that’s not the road we should take. We have to keep going—we have to keep trying. Learning about civics is a not-so-small way to start making sense of what is going on in the world and in our country.

Engagement will always be the most important tool to shape the world and the issues that we care about. Education can inform and empower engagement to be even more impactful. However, at a time when this engagement may not be possible to everyone, education is a meaningful and safe avenue to stay involved in the things you care about.

 
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