Response to Margaret Wente: The Entitlement Generation
Dear Editor,
With regards to Margaret Wente’s “Inside the Entitlement Generation” column I – as a member of the generation she berates - feel the need to voice my opinion. Wente offers up the belief that today’s generation of young people are, in fact, younger then ever in nature, and that childhood is not solely reserved for children anymore. She relentlessly points a finger at our faults, and begs for a change despite being just as quick to claim that there really is no one to blame – except for the generation that raised us.
I believe that Wente’s arguments are completely valid, this generation of students is a pathetic excuse for the supposed brightest new minds entering our top universities. It’s upsetting to think that my peers are not equipped with the tools necessary to succeed in the world their parents thrust them upon without fair warning.
Wente covers a wide variety of flaws our generation possesses, but there were a few that stuck with me as the most truthful.
1. We really do believe that we are entitled to good grades without having to work for them. Why wouldn’t we when we just came from a high school where our teachers accepted assignments that were due during September on the day of the final exam?
2. We have been given all of the tools needed to succeed – but have never needed to use them. And why would we learn how to use them, when we can just look to our parents who will hold our hand while doing it for us?
3. Last but not least, as Wente points out, we are entitled to this after all. Our parents have taught us that we deserve the very best – and we are not to accept anything different.
Now, I must ask, who is to blame for this travesty? Well, it’s just as Wente writes – the generation that raised us of course. Who taught us that we deserved the best, or that our opinions were valued and should be shared and viewed as correct no matter what? The correct answer is – our innocent, unsuspecting parents of course. And how were
With regards to Margaret Wente’s “Inside the Entitlement Generation” column I – as a member of the generation she berates - feel the need to voice my opinion. Wente offers up the belief that today’s generation of young people are, in fact, younger then ever in nature, and that childhood is not solely reserved for children anymore. She relentlessly points a finger at our faults, and begs for a change despite being just as quick to claim that there really is no one to blame – except for the generation that raised us.
I believe that Wente’s arguments are completely valid, this generation of students is a pathetic excuse for the supposed brightest new minds entering our top universities. It’s upsetting to think that my peers are not equipped with the tools necessary to succeed in the world their parents thrust them upon without fair warning.
Wente covers a wide variety of flaws our generation possesses, but there were a few that stuck with me as the most truthful.
1. We really do believe that we are entitled to good grades without having to work for them. Why wouldn’t we when we just came from a high school where our teachers accepted assignments that were due during September on the day of the final exam?
2. We have been given all of the tools needed to succeed – but have never needed to use them. And why would we learn how to use them, when we can just look to our parents who will hold our hand while doing it for us?
3. Last but not least, as Wente points out, we are entitled to this after all. Our parents have taught us that we deserve the very best – and we are not to accept anything different.
Now, I must ask, who is to blame for this travesty? Well, it’s just as Wente writes – the generation that raised us of course. Who taught us that we deserved the best, or that our opinions were valued and should be shared and viewed as correct no matter what? The correct answer is – our innocent, unsuspecting parents of course. And how were