<p>^And it’s disappointing to see legitimate comments on the topic portrayed as “thinking the worst about college students.” That’s an exaggeration. There are generational failings in every age group. The ones afflicting current college students aren’t worse than those of previous generations; they’re different. That is what we’re discussing–the change.</p>
<p>Obviously, narcissism and self-absorption date back to the beginning of humanity, but there are new ways for these traits to manifest in every generation. For example, teenagers today are really into documenting every single moment of their lives, no matter how trivial or superficial, on Twitter, FaceBook, etc. The photos in the referenced article are silly, but they point to a youth culture where teens do spend a lot of time taking and posting pictures of themselves for public consumption. Often they work to construct a shot in order to present a certain image of themselves as sexy, popular, etc. In contrast, many people my age and older have never once taken a photo of themselves and find the practice odd, regardless of the fact that today’s technology makes it easy to do. My generation can be accused of other types of narcissism.</p>
<p>Plenty of the posts here are constructive, and you’re right – they shouldn’t be lumped together. I do think there are comments here that are quick to portray this generation in a negative light. A few:</p>
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<p>The last two being interesting, because if you honestly think that young people haven’t achieved anything, you’re not using the same CC I’ve been using.</p>
<p>I’m not certain if we’re reading the same article and study, but I actually don’t see anything about photography or social media, which would be interesting. This is about a survey of students evaluating their academic ability, self-confidence, and performance in areas relevant to future success. I’d love to read an article about narcissism and social media instead of one claiming that students who rate their abilities highly are self-infatuated, entitled, and believe themselves to be “special.”</p>
<p>American students are more prone to over-estimate their abilities than kids from other cultures, like East Asia. American kids rate themselves higher in math ability than Asian students rate themselves yet perform worse on international math exams. This has real educational impact, since in a study American students were shown to work longer on things in which they had had prior success whereas East Asian students worked longer on the areas in which they had previously done poorly. ([Why</a> we overestimate our competence](<a href=“http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/overestimate.aspx]Why”>http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/overestimate.aspx)) </p>
<p>To the extent that inflated self-esteem is academically demotivating, it’s a problem worthy of discussion, IMO.</p>
<p>I thought about social media because the article posted in the OP, at least on my computer, shows lots of teens posing and primping.</p>
<p>I believe social media plays a large part. Facebook and Twitter are no better than reality tv shows where it becomes very important that every move one makes, every thought one has must be perceived as “likable,” noteworthy or important. The most mundane experiences are put up for all to see - “just got new glasses” etc. with a million pictures to follow with the intention of soliciting comments back about something ordinary.</p>
<p>^This.
I can’t see past gens being so self absorbed.
One chick on my fb posts a pic of herself pre and post a visit to the gym…every single time. It’s an excess of exposure.
Don’t even get me started on Instagram.</p>
<p>At work I have a trainee. He is 6 years younger than me but he thinks I’m ancient. He thinks he is such a star that he doesn’t have to complete work projects. For example today I gave him enough work for 2-3 days. About half an hour later he came and told me he’d done as much work as needed. He had badly completed one piece of work out of 3 and decided the rest of the work was beneath him! Criticism (and also all instructions) is ignored and he believes he is perfect. An absolute nightmare (and my trainee is not American). Hope he reads the Daily Wail.</p>
<p>If you look at the actual study the Mail is quoting , it seems to me that the greatest increase in student self esteem occurred in the early 80s, not recently.</p>
<p>Rating ‘higher’ doesn’t necessarily mean being self-infatuated or overly confident. It could mean students are getting more realistic. In this thread’s study, the number students who believe they’re “above average” in writing is just under 50%… that’s about where it should be.</p>
<p>As for the example from TheGFG. Maybe the Asian students are under-estimating their ability while the US students are more realistic. Also these student populations are comparing themselves with their peers. If the Asians are higher on average, it would make sense for each set of students to give themselves the same rating while Asians still score better.</p>
<p>I do know a good number of student for whom making impressive plans/assertions about the future makes them believe that they have a high “drive to achieve.”
Oh, you took an intro to engineering class? You must be right on track for two PhDs and an impressive undergrad and grad school!</p>
<p>It’s really just this generation in general. It’s the same reason why professors get mad when students say “You gave me this grade,” or “I deserve this grade.” Bad things aren’t our fault, and we are entitled to good things. That’s the way we’ve been raised, unfortunately.</p>
<p>I have witnessed many a self presumed and self announced “special one” fail miserably in the actual world. But I have always felt a little guilty about myself for getting a warm-and-fuzzy on their overdue comeuppance. And then I forgive myself. </p>
<p>It’s not just this generation. Gen X classmates were doing the same thing back when I was an undergrad in the mid-late '90s. </p>
<p>Moreover, I’ve heard from several elite U profs…including some who taught at Harvard for decades that some past wealthy entitled students even resorted to having parents hire lawyers to threaten lawsuits against them/college for not giving them a “good enough” grade. </p>
<p>Fortunately, the colleges concerned had the wherewithal to laugh off these threats…but spoiled entitled behavior did exist in older generations. </p>
<p>Only difference I’ve noticed is that back in my undergrad days and before, it was almost exclusively student vs Prof before turning to the parents. Nowadays, I’m hearing from Prof/TA friends that parents would sometimes call/come in person to complain about their child’s grades…sometimes without the child’s knowledge or endorsement. That was unheard of back when I was in college. </p>
<p>I doubt those parents are part of the “special snowflake” current generation of college undergrads.</p>
<p>“My grades are based on how well I did on teats, quizzes, and homework.” . . . and the babies benefit from the mothers’ passing on the antibodies ;)</p>
<p>Why shouldn’t they feel “entitled”, after all, we are now living in the land of entitlements and it’s only going to get worse over the next four years.</p>
I’m another who is not convinced that there has been any significant change in this. I think it’s just as we get older, we forget how we used to think and behave, and start to think and behave just as our own elders did. We can point to changes in technology to claim that things really are different, but human nature doesn’t really change, and that’s what we’re really talking about.</p>