The Promise That Never Came: The Generation That Did Everything Right and Was Left Out

Luís Júnior"

Modern society sells a fairy tale: study, work hard, follow the rules, and the world opens up before you. “Education is the key to the future,” we are told. But in the end, what does the generation that did everything right find? What does society deliver when the diploma is just a piece of paper and the effort seems to have been in vain? What happens when the promised future becomes a distant mirage? I saw many people grow up with this mantra ingrained in their minds: “Those who study, succeed.” We saw our peers and family members chasing good grades, the best universities, and specializations. We fought to reach the top, to achieve the recognition that, we were told, would be the reward for our dedication. But what did they give us in return? The same as everyone else: a saturated job market, full of closed-door opportunities. This is the reality of a generation that followed the rules, did everything "right," believed in empty promises, and still missed out. Not just on opportunities, but on dignity. Society teaches that education is the ladder to success, but those who are up there, at the top of that ladder, don't bother to reach out. They say, "Climb up! Climb up!", but the ladders are broken, the doors are locked, and opportunities, no matter how hard we try, become increasingly scarce. And worst of all, the narrative doesn't change. We continue to be taught that education is the solution to everything, when in fact, it is often just a facade. The education system does not prepare this generation for the real challenges of life; it prepares us to be consumers of failed promises, to believe that if we do the "right thing", the rewards will come. But who has access to these rewards? Those who, often, did not need to study that much. Those whose privileges are guaranteed from birth. Society, which promised the world with education, fails to deliver a fair and egalitarian future. The problem is not education, but the lack of real opportunities. The education system, at its core, serves to maintain an illusion of equality, while perpetuating de facto inequality. It is a society that asks us to run marathons, but puts obstacles in our way. And when we reach the end of the race, exhausted and with diplomas in hand, what do we see? Closed doors. A competitive job market, where experience is worth more than knowledge. Where nepotism and privilege are at play, and where those who do everything “right” continue to be excluded. Who are the winners in this society? Those who took the wrong path? Those who never needed to study but have the right connections? Or the generation that, despite all their dedication, was simply left behind? What this society tells us, in practice, is that education is not enough. It is not enough to be good, competent, dedicated. The system does not guarantee anything to those who try hard. On the contrary, it swallows the dreams of a generation and vomits them out in the form of frustration. The promise of a better future through education, which was instilled in us from an early age, is broken. We live in a society that says one thing and does another. It promises the world and delivers disappointment. Meanwhile, the generation that made the effort, that did “everything right”, continues to look for the door to their future, without realizing that it may never have existed. The world was already closed to us before we even had the chance to knock on the door. This is the tragedy of our generation: that we were educated to believe in a dream that was never ours. A dream sold as if it were the only way, but which, in the end, turned out to be an illusion.

2025/12/3