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Originally Posted by schoy
+1. The myth that today's younger generation is somehow less hard-working and more self-entitled is a load of crock. If anything they are MORE hard-working and feel less self-entitled than our generation.
Even though I'm twice their age, I interact with college students from our local college (and high school students occasionally) on a weekly basis (not part of my day-to-day job; just something I do on the side), and I constantly marvel just how hard they work (and worked in high school) to get where they are. Kids nowadays know how competitive the job market is, and that they have to do every little "extra" (extra studying, extra activities, etc.) to distinguish them from their peers. Back in our day, straight "As" in high school virtually guaranteed admission into any UC, including UC Berkeley. Nowadays, straight As only get you into a mid-level UC (like UC Irvine, possibly UC Davis).
Of course there have always been kids that were slackers or felt self-entitled. Moreover, every kid (myself included, and 99.99% you as well) has at one time or another complained about working hard. It's just that back then, you only complained to your parents and your friends. Nowadays, you can complain to the world over social media, and if enough kids voice their complaints, it sounds like every kid feels "self-entitled", when the actual fact is completely the opposite.
Finally, for those decrying the value of a college education: A college degree has always been, still is, and probably will always be, the best indicator of financial success. Virtually every high-paying job requires a college degree. Lawyer? Doctor? Computer programmer? Engineer? All of them. I would also hazard a guess that 95-99% of all Fortune 500 executives have a college degree as well (I know all the ones in my company do).
Now is it true that you need a college education for success? Of course not, there are exceptions. But even in the exceptions, many of these people were smart enough that they would have been (or were) accepted into a college had they decided to go this route. Zuckerburg? Accepted into Harvard before dropping out sophomore year. Wozniak and Jobs? Former went to UC Berkeley; latter went to Reed College. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer? Harvard (Gates dropped out early).
Now are there majors in college that don't equate to financial success? Of course. But most kids know this before they choose their major; they take the risk of high student loans to enter a field that they really enjoy (like teaching, museum curating, writing, etc.). It's no different than an entrepreneur getting a bank loan or VC funding on a wing and prayer, and then crashing out in bankruptcy when the idea dies. It's the exact same analysis.
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I feel like you have a very one sided view. I also work with college kids as part of a mentoring program of the director board I sit on. All of the kids I see through that program are indeed hard working.
However, that is far from the normal. I also know a lot of the kids (my brother was one of them) that have a weird sense of self entitlement. Saying that since they are only getting $70k as a new hire out of college they are underpaid because they heard one person in a different city was getting paid $90k out of college.
For the grades not going as far as they used to... it is because it is much easier to get a 4.0 now than it was when we were in school. My wife is a teacher and they are not allowed to flunk people unless they jump through more hoops than it takes to fire someone. All of the students can just retake tests they didn't do well on at a later time and having up to a 5.0 when graduating is not that abnormal.
I will say that she mentions the kindergartners are further ahead academically than we were in kindergarten so perhaps they are just ahead throughout school now - but that is to be expected over time. I am sure we learned at a much faster pace than our parents as well, the scales just updated to reflect this new normal pace.