Are we all useless?

A stereotype that young students are constantly faced with is the fact that elder generations feel that we are nothing more than lazy, substance abusing narcissists who have none of our priorities in order. Of course this cliché is very hard to combat considering the portrayal of young college kids in film and television. The characters are generally over-drinking womanizing fraternity brothers and submissive and vain sorority sisters. And the fact is, many times those stereotypes hold to be true. We, and I am certainly included, are holding on to our last breath of youth before we have to enter the real world and be faced with the same complex issues that we have seen our parents bare since we were born. Many of us do not want to face the world, but I’d say more of us are trying to enjoy these four years prior to them being over, and when living amongst a culture where alcohol and even drugs are so commonplace, there are of course going to be casualties.
The fact is, students today are clocking more studying time and working hours than any generation prior to us. The elder generation can raise their nose but the fact is, those of them went to college had far less competition than we do today. They also seem to ignore the fact that this is their future generation; we will be the ones holding this ultimately damaged country up long after their gone, so why continue to write us off as lazy underachievers when they will one day rely on our accomplishments? Four days a week I leave for campus at 7 a.m, and generally do work until 7 at night. My mind is constantly exhausted and yet I am still able to produce quality journalism, as well as even create short stories that seem to be improving by the day. And yet I am looked at with disdain for wanting to drink beer and smoke grass on the weekends? Is this something that makes me a bad person? Hardly. It makes me a normal person. The mind can only take so much stimulation before it needs to kick back and enjoy these twilight years of my youth.