Class of '12 is graduating into a better world than ever before

In May, I will graduate, along with more than 18,000 other students in the IU system.

And, despite what we have been told, the world we are graduating into isn’t all that bad. In fact, it is a better world than any class of seniors before us in human history has had the privilege of entering.

On the day of our graduation, the infant mortality rate will be at its lowest in recorded history, while life expectancy will be at its highest.

Those infants who make it past birth can expect to live until their 69th birthdays — up from an average of 52 years in 1960.

More people than ever will also have access to clean drinking water. The target set by the United Nations of ensuring that 89 percent of the world’s population has access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015 was met this year. This represents an increase of 12 percent since 1990.

We have also seen a considerable decline in the number of people living in poverty. According to projections from the World Bank, the overall poverty rate is expected to dip below 15 percent by 2015, a decrease from the 46 percent rate in 1990 and 27 percent rate in 2005.

Corresponding with the decline in the overall poverty rate is an increase in the percentage of school-age students who complete a full course of primary schooling. In 1999, 82 percent of these students had; in 2009, that number had risen to 89 percent.

And in the United States, of those people considered living in poverty by the government, 80 percent have air conditioning, 75 percent have cars, 33 percent have wide-screen plasma or LCD televisions and half own computers.

We also hear about the growing income inequality in our country, which is supposed to scare us. Yes, the richer are getting richer, but so are the poor. Between 1979 and 2007, those with an income that put them within the 21st through 80th percentile range of earners saw an after-tax income increase of 40 percent, and the bottom 20 percent of earners saw an 18-percent increase, adjusting for inflation.

But even if you are among the lowest 20 percent of earners, your chances of moving into a higher income group have never been better. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, “Roughly half of taxpayers who began in the bottom income quintile in 1996 moved up to a higher income group by 2005.”

What about metrics that are harder to measure, such as tolerance of racial minorities and people of differing sexual orientations?

Though we still have much work to do in this area, it is hard to argue that we do not live within the most tolerant society the world has ever seen.

Is it even necessary to mention the technological strides we have made in the last decade, if not the last two years? We are the most connected generation ever.

Not only can I get in contact with anyone I’d like anywhere with the click of a mouse, but I can usually do it for free.

And if I need access to a bit of information, I typically don’t need to go to a library or call up a friend. I can visit Google and within seconds figure out whatever I needed to know. For free. I can also order any product I might need or want within seconds without leaving my house.

Though there is no shortage of people willing to scare you with unemployment or debt statistics, just remember: You live in a healthier, richer, easier, more tolerant world than anyone who has come before you.

And for that, we should all be thankful.

­— nperrino@indiana.edu