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http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/01/0...rcissists/
... this isn't exactly political, save for the fact that it's coming from Fox (Faux) News. I had heard about that Freshman survey a year or so ago.
Now I'll be the last person to agree with this guy's politics, but unfortunately, from reading the above piece-- there are a number of things I think I agree with him about. Particularly the Fb and twitter issues -- it explains a lot of behavior that I see on a daily basis. It also sort of ties in with swampy's post below about mediocrity ... that if we treat every child, every student as if they're great just for being who they are, that they're something special for being photographed, filmed, or how many "friends" they have and tweets they produce, we're sending a very unrealistic message about where true success comes from.
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All the while, these adolescents, teens and young adults are watching a Congress that can’t control its manic, euphoric, narcissistic spending, a president that can’t see his way through to applauding genuine and extraordinary achievements in business, a society that blames mass killings on guns, not the psychotic people who wield them, and—here no surprise—a stock market that keeps rising and falling like a roller coaster as bubbles inflate and then, inevitably, burst.
Yeah, OK.
As to his point about how youth is being ruined.... sorry Mr. Dinosaur, your parents felt the same way about "Elvis the Pelvis" and their parents felt the same way about the Jitterbug... society changes and evolves, deal with it, or not.
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The politics and economics is idiotic. Perhaps I should say ignorant and self deluded. The slaps at congress and the president are weak attempts at psychologizing what is essentially a political struggle.
As for all that stuff about Twitter and Facebook, I can't say much about it because I don't do them, but I would suspect that kids play with them because they are the new toys that are available to this generation, just like hot rods were the thing for the 1950s generation and, to a certain extent, politics was for my generation.
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new toys
for the narcissist
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Not really a surprise, but then again every group of youth (and most exceptionally college Freshmen) are narcissistic self-deluded Get Off My Lawn whiny little biotches. Throughout history.
I'll also agree that the short attention span focus in the first world has exacerbated what is a common problem. And perhaps rewarded it. Youth always flittered from trend to trend. It used to take hours or days for things to change. Now it changes in the 1-2 second human reaction time window.
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Frankly PeterB, I'm more concerned about you than the kids. I fully agree with Black and see what you've posted as evidence that you are out of touch with youngsters. And further, you seem to go out of your way to post your pov that today's youth is messed up beyond repair. You seem almost bitter about it. I think you need a new vocation.
Every generation confuses and befuddles the one that proceeded theirs. And the earlier generation is always suggesting that there is something seriously wrong with the 'youth of today'... but eventually they become irrelevant old coots while the next generation takes over.
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What I don't understand about people here is why they pay attention to Fox News if they vehemently hate it so.
While I certainly understand the concept of following your enemies, I don't allow them to rile me up.
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I was curious and had a slow day in my IB class (International Baccalaureate Class) today. These students are among the brightest and the program emphasizes both creative thinking and not taking anything at face value.
So with about 20 minutes left in class, I read the column to them and asked for feedback.
To my surprise they essentially said it was right. They did fault some of it, but all said it was generally correct and was a fair assessment of their generation.
I'm still not sure whether to be proud or dismayed by that response.
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Ombligo wrote:
I was curious and had a slow day in my IB class (International Baccalaureate Class) today. These students are among the brightest and the program emphasizes both creative thinking and not taking anything at face value.
So with about 20 minutes left in class, I read the column to them and asked for feedback.
To my surprise they essentially said it was right. They did fault some of it, but all said it was generally correct and was a fair assessment of their generation.
I'm still not sure whether to be proud or dismayed by that response.
I know what you mean. Hal is simply wrong in his assessment of me. I deal with this generation on a daily basis, and while there are some elements of truth in the column I posted, I also see a lot of promise in the current generation, and am not embittered as Hal claims. (Though I will say that any teacher/instructor who is 100% convinced at all times that they are in the right vocation, isn't doing their job... there is a reason why teachers have a greater than 50% attrition rate after five years.)
Rather, I see this issue as something they need to overcome. It's precisely that I'm thinking about these things, and seeing what the issues are, that makes me in touch with their generation. Like Ombligo, I've actually asked some of them about these issues, and the surprising thing is that they agree that it is a problem with their generation and needs to be addressed. One of them even said to me that, in her opinion, social media will be the death of their generation.
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