The entitlement generation

More and more, I hear the phrase “entitlement generation.”

Here’s a definition from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/entitlement+generation:

Main Entry: Entitlement Generation

Noun: Definition: the group born between 1979 and 1994 who believe they are owed certain rights and benefits without further justification.

The entitlement generation expects higher salaries, flexible work hours, and ample time off.

We built these self-entitled, wretched young adults. They are frequently discontented, some of them bitterly unhappy, because that flexible job with the high salary, short hours and long vacations is nothing more than a pipe dream. Personally, I don’t know a single person in this country with that job, except a few college professors who are skating on past laurels. Virtually no one gets to start in that job, unless maybe they are born to Trump or other big money.

This is my message for students and former students who have not launched: Suck it up, guys. The world was not built for you. The world is not responsible for you. YOU are responsible for you.

But I apologize, too. Instead of giving you endless second chances, we should have failed you more often. When you deliberately broke the class fan, you should have been suspended. When you kept talking to your girlfriend in class, you should have been thrown out — or your parents should have been called in to sit with you for a few days in class. We treated you like you were incapable of being responsible for yourself and I’m very much afraid you may have come to believe you aren’t responsible for yourself.

If you think that, you’re wrong.

Eduhonesty: Second chances are not a right. Teachers and administrators may believe they are being kind when offering second, third, fourth, etc. chances to students who break the rules. They aren’t always being kind. Sometimes, that second chance may be deserved and a student may learn from the lecture that comes with the free pass. But too many second chances lead to an expectation that all will always be forgiven.

The world does not offer endless forgiveness. Sometimes it does not even offer second chances. The world offers opportunities and too often “opportunity only knocks once,” as the old saying goes. The world can go whizzing right by while entitled young adults wait for the right break. And wait. And wait. And wait.