Entitled

     So a friend and I were dishing over Popeye burgers (think spinach) at a local diner and the talk turned, as it does with those of us who are dinosaurs, or at least mastodons, to the younger generation. 

     My friend, a college professor, was lamenting that some of her students seem to lack focus. She's normally very positive about her classes, but this semester has apparently spawned a crop of unmotivated students. She noted this could be at least partially attributed to the  number of classes snowed out, but she was pretty sure that wasn't the entire problem. She thinks part of the problem is they are simply not prepared for college.

     As we were leaving the diner, a young girl, not wearing a coat in the near-zero weather, is standing on the sidewalk. She accosts us and berates by friend for being critical of her generation.

     Excuse me?

     Here's this kid who blatantly eavesdrops on a private conversation from the next table. Then she tells a tenured college professor (full professor that is) she has no "right" to say some of her students are "slow." That she as no right to discuss problems in her classes -- without mentioning names -- with a friend over dinner.

     Well she sure proved us right about her generation. Talk about a stereotype proving true: rude with a sense of entitlement. 

     I can just see her childhood. She grew up in a world where she got trophies just for showing up. Where she wasn't disciplined for misbehaving. Where her parents didn't back up the teachers who tried to make her behave or required her to work hard. 

     Which means, it really isn't her fault. She was probably taught she can't do anything wrong. She probably wasn't taught to be respectful of her teachers. Or adults in general. To stand on her own two feet. To apply herself if she wants to get ahead. 

     So we really were talking about the wrong generation, weren't we? We should have been talking about her parents, not her.