Book: College kids today are coddled, entitled, tech-savvy

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/14613764-418/college-kids-today-coddled-entitled.html

BY KARA SPAK Staff Reporter/[e-mail] August 21, 2012 12:10AM

Today’s college students boast the highest GPAs in history, thanks to grade inflation, but believe their contributions are undervalued.

They think, as individuals, they are destined for greatness but that America is headed toward disaster.

More than half of them call their parents heroes and about 40 percent communicate with them daily. If parents don’t like what they’re hearing from campus, they are quick to call university administration, leading one campus to set up an unofficial “dean of parents” position.

America’s colleges and universities are graduating a coddled, entitled group that arrive in the workplace ready to make their own rules, spend the day on Facebook, Twitter or texting on their phones and with little to no respect for more senior employees, according to “Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today’s College Student” (Jossey-Bass, $40), a new book from seasoned education researchers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

To be clear I do not necessarily agree with everything in this article. Though I do think further discussion could be productive. Or not?

Don

[Rambis]

1. Totally - Never been told NO ever!(nm)

[antigone382]

12. Yeah, just look at these spoiled kids thinking of no one but themselves!!!

[Rambis]

15. certainly not the norm(NM)

bye DU

[antigone382]

21. It is among the kids that I know.

And it seems that this generation volunteers at a rate 20% greater than its predecessors.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-23-gen-next-cover_x.htm

[drm604]

2. Hasn't this been said about every generation?

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Yes, it has

Kids today ... When I was a lad ... Blah, blah, blah.

[pnwmom]

5. Yup. That's exactly what the Bush generation was saying to the Baby Boomers.

[ZombieHorde]

29. I was going to post the same thing.

Depraved minds think alike.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

3. Good. I can't wait for them to be unleashed on the capitalist class...

"arrive in the workplace ready to make their own rules"

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. They're well positioned to be highly exploitable.

Unrealistic about their own abilities, with a huge pile of debt and no one to bail them out.

For many, college is a gateway to a lifetime of debt slavery.

No one would recommend to HS seniors that they borrow a bunch of money to invest in the stock market, but that is precisely what they do. Kids borrow a bunch of money to procure an education which is only useful in a very narrow range of economic circumstances. If the companies who employ those skills do badly, the investment is lost.

[flamingdem]

23. +1

[pnwmom]

7. Most PEOPLE today are coddled, entitled, tech-savy,

according to the generations older than they are.

Most people have TV's, cell phones, etc. From the perspective of the Depression generation, we're all a bunch of spoiled brats.

Today's college students are painfully aware of the terrible economy waiting out there. Something most of the rest of us didn't have to face when we were in college.

Yeah, their parents hear more from them, between texting and email. But when I was in college, every phone call home was a long distance call -- so most of my friends only did that once a week. I'm sure my parents would have wanted to hear from me more if it hadn't been so expensive.

[CrispyQ]

8. My experience was so not this:

More than half of them call their parents heroes and about 40 percent communicate with them daily.

I mean I loved my mom, but I didn't think of her as a hero & she was lucky to hear from me once a month. I couldn't wait to get out from under her thumb & I never looked back.

[TwilightGardener]

19. I didn't have this with my parents, either--once I moved out, they were lucky to hear from me

twice in the same week. However, we now have cell phones and texting--I may have communicated more if it had been easier. So I send my son a quick "how ya doing?" text every day to make sure he's still alive and OK. Got a smartphone for just this purpose!

[CrispyQ]

25. Yeah, with email/text I would have checked in more often.

I forgot what it was like back in the dark ages before digital!

[GoCubsGo]

9. My niece and nephew both fit a lot of that bill.

They haven't siched their parents on the university every time things don't go their way. But, they definitely have the entitlement/over-inflated self-worth thing going. My nephew recently asked my why he should even bother "busting his ass" in school, when the starting salaries in his field are a "paltry" $38,000/yr. Shit, I'd give my eye teeth for a job that pays that much at this point, and I have a masters degree and 20+ years of experience under my belt.

And, don't get me started on the lack of respect. A lot of them lack it when it comes to anyone older than them. If I had said some of the things to my aunt that my nephew has said to me, my parents would have beat the shit out of me.

[antigone382]

11. Well given that about half of graduating college seniors are not benefiting from their degree...

(at least not economically), it's possible that he's making the right decision by not going to school, if he can get the same pay without having to go into debt for it.

I'm sorry your nephew is so disrespectful. However, no generation has ever felt that the next generation had enough respect for them. Ask Socrates about it some time. Based on the other data in the article, it seems that a large portion of the emerging generation of young people actually have far more respect and a much more harmonious relationship with their parents.

[GoCubsGo]

20. Oh, he's in school.

He just thinks he's entitled to a fat salary once he finishes; Like many college kids, he doesn't have a realistic idea of what are starting salaries. And, yeah, he has a great relationship with both parents, and he's respectful of his grandparents. But, I think he gets the disrespect from his father, who has become a right-wing dick over the years. Used to be a good kid at one time.

[hughee99]

10. This should certainly appeal to the "You kids get off my lawn" crowd. n/t

[NNN0LHI]

13. Y'all should have clicked on the link and read the entire article. Here is the best part

There were some bright spots in the research. Today’s students are the first group of “digital natives” that came of age in a world where cellphones and personal computers were commonplace. Their social groups are more multiracial than ever before

“They bring all kinds of digital skills and knowledge that the workplace definitely needs and by which the country will progress,” Levine said. “The capacity to work together across racial lines is an extraordinary plus.”

[Lisa D]

14. Same as it ever was...

“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.” --Socrates

[Yavin4]

16. In my day, You used a pay phone to call someone.

You rented video tapes from the video store, and you were fined if you returned them late and unrewound.

If you wanted to hear music, you listened to the radio and a DJ would determine what you listened to and when you listened to it.

Then, we'd tie an onion to our belts because that was the style back then.

[KurtNYC]

17. So self-esteem, love, parental involvement and a feeling of self-worth

are terrible things ?!

Demanding that a university give you the education you will be paying for for years is a problem for the authors of this book? Wanting a wage that you can live on ?

I have hired a couple of college kids recently. Both exceeded my expectations -- great verbal and tech skills, great writing and research, and honest as the day is long.

[antigone382]

22. Thank you for recognizing the many good things this generation has to offer.

The kids I know are all very helpful, very committed to practical, simple actions that can build a better and more sustainable society, and make it a point to maintain good relationships with their peers and their elders. I honestly think this is one of the most sincere, aware and respectful of differences, and positive-intentioned group of young people this nation has ever been blessed to produce.

[KurtNYC]

28. I agree and think the more interesting story is that inspite of economics,

crappy expensive healthcare, the housing bubble and a host other downward pressures on families for the last 20 years the Millennials turned out pretty damned good. Props to their parents and to THEM.

I find that the generation which is now 18 to 30 YO have been exposed to and have instant access to all of the art, history and music of the last 100 years or so. They aren't passive in their approach to entertainment (or life). They (can) have excellent verbal and integration skills because they have had tons of practice. Texting, collaborating, multi-tasking. Thanks to Twitter and Facebook every kid in America is now (for better or worse) their own PR agency and photographer. They are documentarians and journalists and fact checkers.

The bad news is they're going to need all those skills because the world is, same as it ever was, f-d up.

[Posteritatis]

18. "Kids these days suck!" - Every generation ever. (nt)

[flamingdem]

24. Whatevuh, as long as they vote Democratic! n/t

[Jennicut]

26. Isn't every young generation put down by some of their elders?

I am a Gen Xer and we were told we were slackers and that we were lazy. This is nothing new. Young people get put down every time they come of age. It's like a right of passage. It will pass, when they get in their 30's and a new generation will come along to be judged.
Our problems are not generational difference but the politicians that want to exploit those differences to keep people in line.

[Posteritatis]

30. Right back to Sumer and probably before. (nt)

[Warpy]

27. Perhaps Kara might have interviewed some of those quiet kids

meaning the working and middle class students rushing to class and then rushing to a patchwork of part time jobs, trying to keep their grades up to keep their patchwork of student aid instead of sleeping, and worrying about finding any job at all after graduation because they know that even with working and financial aid, the debt load will be huge.

I guess the hurried kids in tacky clothes with bags under their eyes weren't as attractive as the kids texting merrily away as they sunned themselves in the quad.

There are two Americas in colleges these days, too: the 1%ers whose parents are wealthy enough to pay their way and the 99%ers who take ten years to graduate because they keep having to quit and work to build up enough savings to continue or who graduate in four years with enough debt that they'll struggle all their lives just to stay afloat, good job or not.

[marmar]

31. ...... and in massive amounts of debt with poor job prospects.

nt