Have We Raised A Generation Of Narcissists?

reason ^ | May 21, 2007 | Steve Chapman

[NeoCaveman]

People will be voting in 2008 who were not even alive when the Berlin Wall came down.

Scary indeed.

[cammie]

Correction. Leftist, feminist baby boomers. Don't blame this on the mothers alone. By and large it's the men who made the bulk of the money, and thus have ultimate responsibility for giving these kids everything they could ever want without the kids working for it.

[angcat]

I’m 42 and my kids are 12 and 3.

[LadyNavyVet]

I’m a Baby Boomer and my youngest child is 10.

[SoftballMominVA]

My husband and I are baby boomers - We have a 20 year old and a 17 year old. The baby boomer generation spans 15 years - lots of room there for different ages of kids. That being said, we are both towards the tail end of that generation.

[AppyPappy]

True story. I toured the local university stadium and the guide told us that the biggest donor was given seats closest to the 50 yard line which was on the far left of the box seating(250 seats). After the first game, the donor’s wife demanded to be moved farther from the 50 yard line because “people can’t see me down there”.

[LadyNavyVet]

Fear not. When your generation gets good jobs and starts making a few bucks that attitude will change. They’ll figure out that the Dems consider them the taxable “rich” and they’ll switch to Republicans. That’s what happens to each generation—they grow up, have kids, get a mortgage, and start voting to protect what they’ve worked for. Which is why the Dems have to constantly work to create a new underclass (illegals) or barring that, a crisis de jour (global warming) to maintain power.

[Night Hides Not]

The baby boomers trying to pass themselves off as the parents of 20 year olds is hilariously egotistical.

I won't be able to say that for two more months.

I started late...my first child was born when I was 33. She'll be 20 in July, and I have two boys, 18 and 5 (that's right, five!).

I don't feel my age, and I sure don't recognize the gray haired dude I see in the mirror.

[-=SoylentSquirrel=-]

"...Maybe when they hold a high opinion of themselves, it's because they've earned it through diligence and self-restraint..."

That has not been my experience with today's youts.

[napscoordinator]

she currently intends to join the military when she finishes high school and become a mechanic. Look out, world

That is outstanding. This obviously has a lot to do with how well you parent. Your daughter giving herself to her country selflessly is a gift. You should and know that you are proud. Good job raising a nice girl!!!!

[Sicon]

Some remarkably poor analysis in this piece:

This year, Harvard accepted only 9 percent of undergraduate applicants, the lowest figure in its history, down from 18 percent in 1983. The same trend is evident at other selective schools

The author seems to think that this is because the schools have become more selective. Possibly, but it is also possible (and more likely) that more of the students applying these days are so poorly educated in grade school that they don't meet admission requirements that are probably lower than they used to be. In other words, the schools aren't expecting more from the kids, the kids are offering less - swindled by a liberal education system and society that has told them all that they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, even when they are complete ignoramouses.

In 1977, 29 percent of high-school seniors smoked cigarettes daily. By 2006, only 12 percent did. The number of high-school seniors who regularly use illicit drugs declined by 43 percent during that period, while the number who regularly consume alcohol dropped by more than a third. Over the last quarter-century, the juvenile arrest rate has fallen as well. Teenage girls are far less likely today than before to get pregnant or to have abortions.

Again, these all might be due to more responsible kids, better decision-making, etc. Then again, what was the relative cost of cigarettes in 1977? A lot of kids today can't afford to be regular smokers, so it may not be that they're choosing not to, but that they are less able to. Besides, where can they smoke without being harassed constantly? Had the kids of the 70's been subjected to the expense and harrasment that smokers are today, I suspect a lot less of them would have smoked too. Ditto for illegal drugs. And as far as teenage pregnancy and abortions... well, I suppose they learned something from Bill Clinton.

I'm not saying that today's kids are better or worse than any others, just that this writer's analysis of the statistics he cites is sketchy. Correlation is not causation and all that.

[Tax-chick]

Thanks! She may change her mind in the next couple of years (or decide to go to college and ROTC and become an officer) but I think fixing engines for your country is a good plan.

[estrogen]

I am on the cusp of the boomers....born two months shy of that classification.

My children are 39 and 40...so I don’t see this being off base at all.

[tacticalogic]

Generation Y will never be as bad as the digusting Baby Boomers who seriously ruined the nation!

They, and the subsequent generations, are the product of a culture of entitlement and government dependence given to us by "The Greatest Generation" - the New Deal.

[Porterville]

Narcissist are great for competition, they are easily beaten, outpaced, and taken advantage of.