Guys Just Want to Have Fun

Girl Power?

“Girls rule and boys drool.” “Girls go to college to get more knowledge but boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider.” These are just a few of the popular phrases used by adolescent girls to flaunt their gender pride, but could they be true? Barbara Ehrenreich compares the work ethics and social habits of males and females in her article from Time magazine entitled “Guys Just Want to Have Fun.” According to Ehrenreich, girls are the achievers in today’s world while we boys sit back and play, causing her to conclude that it is the females that will one day rule the world. This may have some truths to it, but gender isn’t the issue. One doesn’t need to drowned himself in a pool of text books and obsessively strive for perfect grades. The social party habits and laid back attitude of people is not going to destroy their futures. There is nothing wrong with having a little fun on your way to a college education. The fact of the matter is good grades and test scores are nothing without a personality and communication skills to back them up. It comes down to this; a person, male or female, who sit at home secluded from society with their noses buried in books will have no advantage over someone who get average grades and enjoy a highly active social lifestyle.

I have learned from personal experience that it doesn’t take a life dedicate solely to studies and work to be an achiever. My older brother was a bookworm, spending the majority of his time studying and doing homework. He came home from school and

immediately sat down at the kitchen table and wouldn’t get up until all his work was done. His hard work did pay off, earning him a spot at the top of his class. He is currently a third year engineering student at Grand Valley State University. I was as opposite as day and night. Homework was the last thing on my mind. When I got home from school I ran straight out to hang out with my friends. My studying was all done last minute after dinner and right before bed. So how did I compare to my brother’s success? Well I finished in the top twenty in my class and am attending the same university. The difference is I have obtained stronger social skills. My social habits have helped me become more confident and personable.

As time goes on and technology and social standards change, so do the skills necessary to hold a place in the workforce. Because of these changes, the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education formed the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) to study the skills needed to survive in today’s hostile work place(Skills and Competencies). This study provides information to form a three part foundation consisting of basic skills, thinking skills, and personal qualities. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are considered to be basic qualities, while creative thinking, problem solving, and decision making make up the thinking skills. The all important personal qualities are such traits as sociability, self-esteem, and self-management.

An over-achieving person who lacked any sort of real social life may only possess basic and thinking skills, but not the third component. On the other hand, a person who made it through life with average effort and active social life will still learn the basic and thinking skills as well as develop the personal qualities needed. Given the

choice between a potential employee who meets two of the three qualifications and one who meets them all, who is more likely to be chosen? It looks like Ehrenreich was correct when she sarcastically stated “So the best preparation for that all-important personality test may well be a college career spent playing poker and doing tequila shots.”

As previously stated, the corporate world is more often favoring people who have effective social skills and strong personal qualities(Skills and Competencies). Ehrenreich’s attitude suggests that it is the crazy party lifestyle that is favored, but it is not the lifestyle, rather it is the affects of that lifestyle. One doesn’t have to participate in the poker games and Tuesday Night Beer Pong League to become a socially skilled person; there are plenty of alternatives, such as clubs, athletics and organizations. Simply interacting with others on a regular basis will help develop the personal qualities the employers are looking for(Skills and Competencies). Another theme in Ehrenreich’s article