WASHINGTON — While placing a high value on higher education, the generation of young Americans now in their late teens can also be described as highly entrepreneurial and self-directed, a new national poll has found. On Tuesday, Northeastern University officials unveiled wide-ranging survey results detailing the life aspirations and social views held by Generation Z, or 16- to 19-year-old Americans.
The “Meet Generation Z” poll, conducted this past October for the Boston-based university’s fourth national Innovation Imperative survey on higher education and the economy, labels the teenage cohort as the “Self-Starter Generation” owing to their “strong desire to work for themselves, learn about entrepreneurship and design their own programs of study in college.”
Poll results derived from a national sample of 1,015 16- to 19-year-olds include their views on higher education, civic engagement, public policy, technology, financial literacy and personal aspirations.
Forty-two percent of those surveyed expect to work for themselves during their career, a figure that is nearly four times larger than the rate of self-employed Americans. Nearly two-thirds, or 63 percent, declared that it is important for colleges to teach entrepreneurship and almost three-fourths, or 72 percent, indicated that they believe that colleges should permit students to design their major, or course of study.
In addition, minorities reported high levels of interest in entrepreneurship. Sixty percent of 60 percent of African-Americans and 59 percent of Latino respondents say they are most likely to expect to work for themselves later in life.
With respect to higher education, 81 percent of respondents said college is very or extremely important to having their intended career. In contrast, 74 percent of the general public has a similar view about the importance of college. Nearly two-thirds, or 65 percent, of respondents say college is worthwhile and believe that its benefits will outweigh the costs.
