It's All Their Parents' Fault
Evan Wayne thought he was prepared for anything during a recent interview for a job in radio sales. Then the interviewer hit the 24-year-old Chicagoan with this: "So, we call you guys the 'Entitlement Generation,' " the baby boomer executive said, expressing an oft-heard view of today's young work force. "You think you're entitled to everything."
I, too, have noted this attitude in discussions with my twenty-something friends. But I think it will be okay in the end, though....just wait until they have kids of their own.
posted by Presley Bennett @ 6/27/2005
4 comments
4 Comments:
I've occasionally referred to this as the 'Me Now' generation.
As a member of this alleged "entitlement generation," I have to say that I don't feel entitled; just betrayed. School costs up, deficeits higher than ever before (someone's going to have to pay it off) and a mounting wave of neo-Puritainism trying to impose backwards mores on us... ok I got a little carried away there.
My point is, speaking for me, I don't feel entitled to anything in particular... and I don't expect anything either.
There are always exceptions - many people don't fit the labels placed on specific "generations". I have not observed the 20 somethings as being deserving of this label. Personally, my experience with highschool kids tells me that THEY are the ones who think they are entitled to everything, without having to work or earn it. You should see some of the looks I get when they find out that they are expected to do hw and that they have to actually study to earn good grades, or when I ask them to clean up their mess or pick up the trash they left on the table, they look at me like I have 7 heads! Very few of today's parents are doing parenting. Many want to be their child's friend and can't say "NO" when the child demands something because it might upset them. Many expect us, the teachers to raise their children and some even think that schools are just free daycare. Like I said at the beginning, there are always exceptions. Interesting post - I wasn't aware that the 20 somethings had been given this label.
Of course you can't just label an entire generation as this or that and not find reasons to say it isn't true. That being said, I have noticed at least in my work environment that my younger colleagues, 25-30, do seem to have an expectation that other people are supposed to help solve their problems. Whether that's a sense of entitlement, I don't know...it seems more like an expectation that someone else should be willing to step in and clean up whatever mess they've created. I did ask one of my co-workers about this, why do you always think someone's going to come to your rescue? where's the sense of responsibility? and she thought about it for a minute and then said, well, I guess I figure I'm entitled to it...her word, not mine! And then there's the continuing to live with mom and dad even after college graduation, etc. Actually I think every generation after the "greatest generation" has been found deficient in some way...just the price I guess of not having a World War to fight.
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