<p>"... even those who can't read, write, or barely study ... Study reveals rocketing sense of entitlement on U.S. campuses ... Young people's unprecedented level of self-infatuation was revealed in a new analysis of the American Freshman Survey, which has been asking students to rate themselves compared to their peers since 1966." ...</p>
<p>Does your college student think s/he is special?</p>
<p>Where is the study?</p>
<p>I think the paper is
[Generational Increases in Agentic Self-evaluations among American College Students, 19662009
by Jean M. Twenge, W. Keith Campbell & Brittany Gentile
Self and Identity
Volume 11, Issue 4, 2012](<a href=“http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2011.576820”>http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2011.576820</a>)
which can be downloaded from [Brittany</a> Gentile - Psychology | Mendeley](<a href=“http://www.mendeley.com/profiles/brittany-gentile/]Brittany”>http://www.mendeley.com/profiles/brittany-gentile/) . From the abstract:</p>
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<p>Figures…</p>
<p>Well, the “Greatest Generation” told their kids they “could be and do great things” and that generation told their kids “you are great.”</p>
<p>How dare those students…be self-confident and proud of their achievements?</p>
<p>That is why so many of these kids feel “entry” level jobs are beneath them. They also want the lifestyle afforded by their parents, without the work. That’s why you have so many post college kids, still living with mommy and daddy. I even know parents who won’t send their kids away from home because they would miss them too much. Those parents need to get a life and let their children build their own.</p>
<p>Interesting study encompassing the past 40 years of students. I can see where kids today are more confident with several of these areas-public speaking and writing especially. Our kids started in pre-school having to talk in front of their class. It’s just natural for them where we didn’t really have to do that until high school speech class. Our kids have to do way more writing in all classes then we did too. We wrote English papers and then one a semester maybe in Social studies, never in math or science classes though. Our kids have 2 page papers due at least a couple times/week for each of their classes-not so much math but everything else.</p>
<p>The point is that they think they are great without any achievements. They think they are better when objectively, they are not and worse in a few areas.</p>
<p>The article explains the problems of this. Anxiety, depression, failed relationships, unfulfilled expectations.</p>
<p>I see this all the time. I work with a lot of young folks who are completely lost. Their expectations and hopes and dreams are crushed by reality. I’m talking good and great kids who believed a fallacy which is now letting them down massively. It’s sad to see. Confronted with reality, they lose their identity, making changing a lot harder. These kids smoked the self esteem crack pipe and find the withdrawal devastating. They want to go back to the pipe but can’t get the high they got when sheltered from every consequence and truth by mom and dad.</p>
<p>Many young folks are some of the best kids I know and the best among us so Im not accusing a generation. I do agree that too many are totally let down by reality at 18-20 years old. It took until I was at least 40 for that to happen, lol.</p>
<p>While H and I are older parents and came of age and graduated from college and spent out early working years during recession after recession into the early 80s many of this young people have parents who came of age during the rock ‘n roll 80s when unemployment was ridiculously low, you could double your money in no time and life was pretty darn good. Sometimes for some kids I think this their parents’ reflection. When times are tough it’s a different world and while the 70s was not the depression of my parents’ youth it was not easy until the mid-80s.</p>
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<p>Haha…where is the like button?</p>
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<p>This is what bugged me about much of the article. I can’t set my expectations too high for the Daily Mail, though.</p>
<p>Just based off of the abstract I see a problem with some of their metrics. It seems difficult to compare SAT scores when you consider recentering and the changes made to the test in 2005. Trying to compare study time is also difficult to do considering how much easier research and writing is these days. I have yet to read the whole study, so some of my concerns could be addressed there.</p>
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<p>I would understand if they had autistic kids but, in the case of autistic kids, it’s perhaps because their parents believe they are too immature to be sent away from home.</p>
<p>I tend to agree with some of the findings of this study. My generation definitely thinks highly of those between the ages of about 18 and 30 (which, in some cases, is moronic). WRT the entry-level jobs thing, I legitimately wonder how some of these kids are skewing unemployment numbers in the long-term: I can point to several young people (under 30) who had many opportunities for employment, but chose to reject them because they wanted the “perfect” job. <em>sigh</em> Personally, if someone offered me a job (especially a job in my field, which these were), I’d take it (of course, this is very anecdotal, but I know the people and these were legitimately decent jobs they turned down). </p>
<p>I know I’m in the minority (amongst people my age, that is), but I think my generation has a LOT to learn and a lot of shaping up to do.</p>
<p>This is what comes of every child getting a shiny trophy for “participation” instead of for actual achievement…</p>
<p>GMTplus7, right on. Goodness knows we don’t want to hurt their “self esteem”. I guess many or most of these “entitlement” kids are now finding out that life isn’t the proverbial “bowl of cherries”.</p>
<p>I don’t really understand the idea that having the kids around after college is somehow…lame. After all, it’s what people did for most of living history, is it not? At least until marriage, and even then as in Chinese society, the bride would go to live with the all of the groom’s family. </p>
<p>We need to get it out of our heads that living with your family is somehow neutering.</p>
<p>Hmmm
I thought the schools beat all of the pride and US exceptionalism out of this generation.
Good to know that all of their efforts to minimize achievers have not succeeded.</p>
<p>@hobbithill: I agree with that part…to an extent. There are some really dysfunctional people living at home. On the flip side, my family is more traditional in the sense that most people lived at (or continue to live at) home for years after college. One of my uncles lived at home until he was about 30, then he built his own home…and, for reasons too complex to just explain on CC, my grandparents eventually moved in with HIM! No complaints. </p>
<p>Still, living at home should not be a crutch to avoid the “real world” (although I don’t think you meant that at all).</p>
<p>Wot, Dailymail dot uk, mate? Usually my primary source for finding out what Kim Kardashian is wearing/dating/surgically-implanting. Also, psych stats in search of a reason to exist.</p>