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The Entitlement Generation

The Entitlement Generation

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by: BBQguy Active Indicator LED Icon 9 OP 
~ 8 years ago   Apr 29, '15 9:42pm  
addins.kwwl.com/blog s/anchormom/2015/04/ the-entitlement-gene ration“If your parents had to use a wooden spoon on you, then they clearly didn’t know how to parent you.”Yep. I got that email last night after I posted my blog.  I honestly had to laugh. Here was a stranger criticizing my parents. I tend to think they did a pretty good job. They raised three, well-rounded children. One is a successful HR exec, one is a journalist and the other is a doctor. Clearly they did something right.  And let’s be real for a minute, it wasn’t all about a wooden spoon. It was about manners and respect.I went home and was talking to my husband about it. He said, “This is why we have a generation of entitled kids.”I repeated that earlier today and someone asked in shock: “How could you say something like that?!”Because I have seen it first-hand.At my last job, there was a young woman who was interning with our station. She showed up to work one day wearing extremely short shorts and a halter top. To work. Our news director at the time said, “You have two options…you can run home and get changed and come back…or you can just go home.” Her response came quickly and loudly: “WHO THE **** ARE YOU TO TALK TO ME LIKE THAT? YOU CAN’T TELL ME TO GO HOME!!”Ahh…and there it is. The entitlement coming out. The “I have never been told no because I want to be your friend…let me give you a trophy because you signed up to play soccer even though you never come to practice, only games…I’m not going to give you a grade on this test because I don’t want you to think you’re a failure, even though you don’t study…you’re going to sit in time-out and then we will discuss why you called your mom the B-word…I can post anything I want on social media because I have freedom of speech…I won’t be held accountable at school because my parents will come and yell at the teacher for me.”I will say it until I am blue in the face: I am thankful I was raised the way I was raised in the era I was raised in.  We used the terms ma’am and sir…we said please and thank you…we wouldn’t dare look at our parents cross-eyed…if we didn’t study, we failed…if we didn’t go to practice, we didn’t play in the game…if we didn’t win, we didn’t get a trophy…if we talked back to our parents, we got the back of my mom’s hand to our mouths…if we used a bad word, we got soap in our mouths…if we acted up in school, our parents were called to the principal’s office and we served detention…if we didn’t like our dinner, then we didn’t eat…if we were late for curfew, we were grounded…if we lied, we had our toys taken away…if we misbehaved in the neighborhood, our neighbors would discipline us…if we didn’t get hired for a job, then we weren’t who they wanted.We weren’t handled with kid gloves. Our parents let us fall so we learned how to get back up.  We were told the word “NO” and told it often. It wasn’t about our parents being “our friends.” It was tough love. Why? Because they knew how tough the world is.I’m over the “entitlement era.”I’m nowhere near a perfect parent. I learn something new everyday. But I do know…I want to raise my kids the way I was. Because I don’t want to send spoiled, entitled brats into the world.There is only one thing I knew: whatever my parents did…worked.And guess who my best friends are now? Yep. My mom and dad. The ones who were “so mean” growing up.~ Anchor Mom, agoodman@kwwl.com • April 29, 2015  4951
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Safety44 Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 7:16am  
A person does have to accept that there are rules on engagement these days that limit how you can address dress code with coworkers. You can get in trouble with HR.
 
Having said that, I compliment you on taking the effort to put a stop to such. Appropriate attire is the first step towards self respect, which is the base for human behavior and a healthy work place.
 
Thanks again for standing up for principles. 4951
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lcoupert Active Indicator LED Icon 1
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 11:41am  
o
 
@BBQguy: Very well said, I agree 100%
4951
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Ebola Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 11:50am  
My mother would put me in the corner. If we moved out of it she would spank us. 4951
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mattem Active Indicator LED Icon 5
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 12:48pm  
Then us teachers have to battle these entitled kids in school and so they have zero. Respect for us. So thAnk you to the parents who teach respect and rule following. There's nothing wrong with healthy fear! 4951
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TXSG Active Indicator LED Icon 1
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 1:20pm  
Burbank Junior High School, Houston, 195(?. I can still see the little old teacher, in her 60s, take the girl,who would not quit talking, interrupting the class, out into the hall. There was a dress code then and she was wearing a tight fitting skirt and white blouse. There was a minute or two of silence, then we all heard the sound of wood on a butt, three times. When they returned to the classroom, the girl was trying to not cry. She never did interrupt the class for the remainder of the year. Imagine if that happened today. 4951
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Retired_Engineer Active Indicator LED Icon 13
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 1:40pm  
There was an article recently in the paper.  Students in a class at UT-Galveston have been cursing and threatening the Professor.  The administration won't do anything about it, so he decided to give the entire class an F.  I suspect he will quit or be fired for taking a stand.  The crap we let kids get away with in the grade schools continues on into college and into adult life.I remember a case from a few years ago where a college student got a lower grade than she felt she deserved so she got her wealthy father to sue the Professor and the school. 4951
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Spork Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 6:02pm  
Are we now at that phase in our life where we do like every generation before us and bash the younger generation with generalizations about them based on amusing anecdotes?In my opinion, this “entitlement generation” is more of a myth than a reality, but maybe it’s better stated that it’s a more of a symptom of youthfulness that they will grow out of as they grow into gradual independence (just as every generation before them did).My beef with the older crowd who think poorly of the alleged “everybody gets a trophy” mentality of the younger generation is that it actually reflects poorly on the people saying this. Are we supposed to believe that there was something unique to the younger generation that caused all these kids to want trophies for showing up? The truth is that even if this generalization were true and widespread, the kids could not have implemented this rule for themselves. It took an older generation that was in power. It was an older generation that had to feel strongly enough about it in order to impose it on the youth. It was simply a belief not based in fact and held by an older generation that had to change the rules and purchase the trophies while making a big deal of it. So why do we give the generation that caused it a pass while blaming the younger generation for the results?It seems obvious to me that the “everybody gets a trophy” generation was created by the “avoiding responsibility” generation (see national debt, see financial crisis…). 4951
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BooBear Active Indicator LED Icon 16
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 6:30pm  
@spork I think I have told you before...no logic or facts here please. 4951
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Retired_Engineer Active Indicator LED Icon 13
~ 8 years ago   Apr 30, '15 7:08pm  
Are we now at that phase in our life where we do like every generation before us and bash the younger generation with generalizations about them based on amusing anecdotes?In my opinion, this “entitlement generation” is more of a myth than a reality, but maybe it’s better stated that it’s a more of a symptom of youthfulness that they will grow out of as they grow into gradual independence (just as every generation before them did).My beef with the older crowd who think poorly of the alleged “everybody gets a trophy” mentality of the younger generation is that it actually reflects poorly on the people saying this. Are we supposed to believe that there was something unique to the younger generation that caused all these kids to want trophies for showing up? The truth is that even if this generalization were true and widespread, the kids could not have implemented this rule for themselves. It took an older generation that was in power. It was an older generation that had to feel strongly enough about it in order to impose it on the youth. It was simply a belief not based in fact and held by an older generation that had to change the rules and purchase the trophies while making a big deal of it. So why do we give the generation that caused it a pass while blaming the younger generation for the results?It seems obvious to me that the “everybody gets a trophy” generation was created by the “avoiding responsibility” generation (see national debt, see financial crisis…).
 
@Spork:  I usually don't like generalizations, but I have to agree with most of what you said.  I've seen decades of parents spoil their children rotten, not made them responsible, and have the "everyone gets a trophy" attitude.  The children didn't just learn it on their own.   All that has done is create a large pool of youngsters and young adults that have an unjustified, over-inflated sense of self-esteem as well as an issue "avoiding responsibility".  This was about the same time that our school systems also got real touchy-feely about students self-esteem.  With no adults telling them "NO", they often grow up into irresponsible adults.Your examples of "avoiding responsibility" indicate the issues in our political system than of a generation.  Not all of our young suffer from this problem, just as not all older adults have the "avoiding responsibility" problem.  But the ones who do give this country a little less character.
4951
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Spork Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 8 years ago   May 1, '15 7:13am  
I was hoping the conversation would go there, so kudos on pointing out that connection.
 
It is true that what shapes national character starts with those we put in office. This was a point well made by author Angelo Codevilla in what I think is his best work in The Character of Nations. 4951
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shodan66 Active Indicator LED Icon 15
~ 8 years ago   May 1, '15 8:44am  

- - - - - - - -
>> Are we now at that phase in our life where we do like every generation before us and bash the younger generation with generalizations about them based on amusing anecdotes?In my opinion, this “entitlement generation” is more of a myth than a reality, but maybe it’s better stated that it’s a more of a symptom of youthfulness that they will grow out of as they grow into gradual independence (just as every generation before them did).My beef with the older crowd who think poorly of the alleged “everybody gets a trophy” mentality of the younger generation is that it actually reflects poorly on the people saying this. Are we supposed to believe that there was something unique to the younger generation that caused all these kids to want trophies for showing up? The truth is that even if this generalization were true and widespread, the kids could not have implemented this rule for themselves. It took an older generation that was in power. It was an older generation that had to feel strongly enough about it in order to impose it on the youth. It was simply a belief not based in fact and held by an older generation that had to change the rules and purchase the trophies while making a big deal of it. So why do we give the generation that caused it a pass while blaming the younger generation for the results?It seems obvious to me that the “everybody gets a trophy” generation was created by the “avoiding responsibility” generation (see national debt, see financial crisis…).
 
@Spork:  I usually don't like generalizations, but I have to agree with most of what you said.  I've seen decades of parents spoil their children rotten, not made them responsible, and have the "everyone gets a trophy" attitude.  The children didn't just learn it on their own.   All that has done is create a large pool of youngsters and young adults that have an unjustified, over-inflated sense of self-esteem as well as an issue "avoiding responsibility".  This was about the same time that our school systems also got real touchy-feely about students self-esteem.  With no adults telling them "NO", they often grow up into irresponsible adults.Your examples of "avoiding responsibility" indicate the issues in our political system than of a generation.  Not all of our young suffer from this problem, just as not all older adults have the "avoiding responsibility" problem.  But the ones who do give this country a little less character.
 
@Retired_Engineer: My father graduated high school in 1963 and has talked for years about the horrible adults raised by the children of the 60's.  Long before he fit in the get-off-my-grass grumpy old man demographic he was pointing out that his generation's fight and hatred for all authority was rearing a generation that had no accountability and were neither given nor desired responsibility.  I recall him telling me circa 1985 that "the children of the children of the 60's will be this nation's downfall."  Of course he realized then and would admit now his use of generalizations...but it still might have been the most astute observation he's ever made. 4951
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shodan66 Active Indicator LED Icon 15
~ 8 years ago   May 1, '15 8:48am  
I was hoping the conversation would go there, so kudos on pointing out that connection.
 
It is true that what shapes national character starts with those we put in office. This was a point well made by author Angelo Codevilla in what I think is his best work in The Character of Nations.
 
@Spork: And again with reference to my father's long-time observation...we've been being led by the children of the 60s for some time now.
4951
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ctl74 Active Indicator LED Icon 10
~ 8 years ago   May 1, '15 8:56am  
4951
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ForeCPA90 Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 8 years ago   May 1, '15 9:15am  
I have been hearing and reading stories for years now about helicopter parents, kids taking phone calls in the middle of an interview, parents showing up with their college grad kids for professional interviews along with all kinds of "this generation" rhetoric.  I hear all the horror stories, and have yet to see even one.  For the most part, my experience with the younger generation in the work place has been positive.  More often than not all of the recent grads I interview are smart, intelligent, and professional.  I read about how companies can't find young people due to the entitlement generation, and I have come to the conclusion that this may have been at least partially fabricated.  My experience is that it is usually hard to choose between several qualified candidates, all of whom interviewed well.  I have no doubt that some of these stories are true, I just think they are outliers being presented as the norm. 4951
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ForeCPA90 Active Indicator LED Icon 9
~ 8 years ago   May 1, '15 9:22am  
Then us teachers have to battle these entitled kids in school and so they have zero. Respect for us. So thAnk you to the parents who teach respect and rule following. There's nothing wrong with healthy fear!
 
@mattem: This is a fault of the parents, not the kids.  Kids will be disrespectful if allowed, the problem is not that a kid is disrespectful, the problem is that disrespect is not only allowed, but effectively endorsed by parents who think their snowflake does no wrong. 
4951
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