Please forgive me if I'm wrong but it seems as though a lot of younger students have a sense of entitlement. What happened to earning things you want instead of begging for them? What happened to putting in the work and effort into school instead of feeling like you should get a grade just because you asked for it ?
I'm sure there are people like this in all age groups but I have started to notice this more and more with people in my generation.
Before I get flamed because I know I will...this is coming from a member of the younger generation ( I'm 22 years old).
I am 22 and have lost that sense of entitlement. Yes I used to be this way. When I first started working at 16 I was the type to (silently) say "I am doing you a favor by working here. I can quit today and you all are screwed cause no one works this front counter like I can. " I was an idiot. I don't know what clicked but something sure did. I wasn't fired or anything but I realize that when you leave a job there will be someone there to replace you at any given time. My brother is 19 and still thinks he's entitled to the world. He's mad that opportunites aren't shoved in his but that he actually has to find them and work on getting what he wants. He actually told his manager that he wasn't going to do something because he felt like doing something else and he is still confused as to why he got fired. Tsk Tsk. We didn't grow up in the same environment but something very similar and I'm pretty sure it's not always the "parents". Things weren't easy for me growing and yet I still had that attitude. I really understood when I started living on my own at age 18 (2 weeks before my 19th birthday). I was making less than minimum wage and really had to work to make ends meet. No one helped me. I had to learn that you had to work hard to get what you want. I then made life goals and here I am still on my own, working, going to school, and making great decisions (if I must say so myself) just so that I can make a better living for myself. Nothing is handed to me and nothing ever will be. Now if I can just get through to my hard-headed brother.
I AGREE with the OP!! I became a CNA at 17 and graduated early, i can remember girls my age laughing at me and saying i had to wipe a** and they would make fun of my job, cheapo car i paid for along with my "brick" of a cell phone i bought and paid for myself. It was hard and i cryed myself to sleep many nights but now im 20 with a BS in BIO with a 3.9 and start PA school in Jan, they are living at home with kids that their parents rais and support, i work in the local ED and cant help but LOL when i see them in there with the friends after a drinking all night, and "I" the ass-wiper give them their IV. No matter how much money i have my children will never get handed things and will be expected to work for things they want. Its like people in my gen have EVERYTHING handed to them, they have kids and they expect their parents to take care of them and they do! I agree parents have a lot to do with it. It's sad to say the least....*SIGH* lol..i totally see where to OP is coming from!
Stereotyping based off of age, gender, race, etc is a dangerous game to play in my opinion, it causes the world to be much smaller. The cut of "I want it now!" goes much deeper in our society than any specific age.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
The problem, in my humble opinion, is that too many of today's young adults are blissfully living within their protracted adolescences. Too many people in the 18 to 35 year-old age group are emotionally, developmentally, and physically living like younger teenagers or even preteens.
A few years back, a guy who had been romantically interested in me was wondering why I had rejected him. He was almost 30 years old and was perfectly happy with his protracted adolescence: lived in a room in the home of his mother and stepfather, worked a part-time minimum wage job at a hobby shop, was not attending school to better himself, approached life as if he was a preteen, and generally had no ambition for anything better in life. He would have been pleased to live this way until old age.
Young people emotionally matured faster in previous generations. However, many of the members of my generation (Generation Y) are taking longer to mature and stand up on their own feet. I am fiercely independent and cringe when I see how heavily dependent my peers are on their parents for food, shelter, financial support, and self esteem.
Well I was the youngest in my LPN class so I can only speak for myself.
I was always smart when I applied myself and gave 100%, but I was never naturally smart.
I went to a University, my teachers who also taught the BSN program said they were giving us the same education as the BSN, but in a more condensed version, we got many of the same tests and what not.
So I really had to dig into my books and had basically no social life, oh and I worked 40 hours a week for the 1st semester. I graduated as the Salutatorian of my class, paid for my schooling ALL ON MY OWN with no help from my parents (because I refused to ask for any), I did not qualify for financial aid so I did not recieve any, and I did not take out any student loans.
So yes I graduated at the age of 22 and did not feel entitled to anything, but worked my butt of to make my dream come true.
I think a lot of us do XD I'm 24yrs old and I don't like the idea that sometimes I may think myself entitled. Eg. Going to my mums and making myself something to eat or getting a coffee with little thought that she'd mind, or asking to borrow something and not thinking she'd ever say no.
I did some research on this and they say generation Y is this way because generation X lived with a birth rate 'bust' where they had a big drop in children born. Unlike the Baby Boomers and Builder generations they had an increase in two parent working households. This resulting in the parent's time spent home from work spoiling children and being less discipline focused. As they see their children far less and want to do enjoyable things with them, over getting angry because they hadn't done something. Whilst not wanting to give them lots of chores because it would take away the time the X parent and Y child would spend together. This in comparison to the previous two generations who generally had one stay at home parent.
So in essence yes I'd say I was more spoilt by my mum, then she was ever spoilt by her mother. My mum works full time and has four kids and when she came home she only wanted to talk with us and do things with us. Chores or work was not in her vocabulary. lol but maybe that's just my family life growing up.
Also its found Gen X's are allowing their children to stay home longer till mid 20's, compared to the boomers who had their children generally out of home at 18yrs. (--.-- Don't worry I have brought a house, left home to do university at 17yrs this isn't me, but just statistics)
I think parent upbringing and the increased cost of living and requirement for both parents to really work to survive and give their family what they need is a big impact on their children feeling entitled. As if their parents give them whatever they ask for why would someone think its wrong to ask for it?
I have to say though that whole slapping thing is hideous I was brought up with Christian values and respect for my elders.
In a way people are seeing the X and Y generation as being very very close relationship wise, well all my friends my age, they are super close to their parents, while my aunts and uncles or older co-workers alot (not all) aren't. But again that can just be my situation not others.
I recall my parents (born in 1906 and 1912) having this same conversation about my (Baby Boomer) generation. I think it's more about parenting style and maturity. Some teenagers are mature; some 30-year-olds aren't.
The ability to defer gratification is a hallmark of maturity and its the one thing I see in even the finest of young people. And there are fine young people.
chorkle
228 Posts
OP--there is a Zen concept which says that the question contains its own answer.
merrythoughts--eloquent, very well written post in response.