There was a time not long ago when college toughened you up for the real world challenges ahead.
The good news is that I work with a lot of people in their 20s and 30s; plus I have three of my own in their 20s and know many of their friends. I haven’t encountered any buttercups among them — they are all hard working, disciplined, and determined to get ahead. I think we have a very noisy extreme minority here that makes the other 99% look bad.
Of course, the loud-mouthed 1% sure have outsize influence these days. Look at all the uproar over who goes to what bathroom.
“I think we have a very noisy extreme minority here that makes the other 99% look bad.”
After retiring I taught a few courses at a top 10 undergraduate business school. The tuition at this private university was $60,000 per year. About 20% of my students were foreigners, primarily Chinese and Indian. The class was required for graduation and only seniors could take the class. Unfortunately my experience suggests the snowflakes are in the minority, not the majority. Some specific observations:
1) Almost 100% of the class had at least one job offer by the middle of the second semester. By the end of the semester all of the students in my classes knew where they were going to work and most were going to blue chip corporations who recruited them aggressively.
2) The foreign students worked much harder than the American students. They were “hungry”. Most of the Americans felt entitled. Very few Americans came to class having read the material. They resented being challenged in class by the instructor.
3) The failure to master the material extended to papers, tests, and exams. As a result the university insisted I grade on a very generous curve resulting in the class average moving from a C to a B+.
4) Of the 52 students I taught, there were only two I would have hired for an entry level position. The Americans in particularly lacked internal motivation, commitment to excellence, and communications skills to be successful in a demanding and highly competitive organization.
5) The tenured faculty and administration coddled these students when they should have been toughening them up for the real world.
6) If my American and Chinese students are typical of future business leaders, the Americans will not be competitive.