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[king_ghidorah]

The author of "What Went Wrong" uses this statement early on in her first-person to describe

" the students -- those overprotected, excessively nurtured, coddled millennials -- simply expect too much of our institutions, setting themselves up for disappointment and disillusion."

Why is it every generation sees the younger generation as "excessively nurtured, coddled," lazy, crazy, whatever? 

And maybe it's a difference in where we teach, but many of the students who I see don't seem to expect that much from our higher ed.  Rather, I think a great many are forced into college by the lack of economic prospects without a college degree - not by pie-in-the-sky hopes for academia.  If they fail, it's because college is challenging and they didn't really want to be there in the first place.

[the_honey_badger]

That describes most of mine: I asked some my first semester why they were in college if they weren't too interested in things. Their reply was: "that's what you do after high school" or "my parents made me" or "I can't make good money unless I get a good degree"

[larryc]

Why is it every generation sees the younger generation as "excessively nurtured, coddled," lazy, crazy, whatever? 

It is just old guy BS, and it is old as the hills.

[felix_unger]

That describes most of mine: I asked some my first semester why they were in college if they weren't too interested in things. Their reply was: "that's what you do after high school" or "my parents made me" or "I can't make good money unless I get a good degree"

All these were exactly the reasons I went to college. Plus meeting guys.

[spork]

That describes most of mine: I asked some my first semester why they were in college if they weren't too interested in things. Their reply was: "that's what you do after high school" or "my parents made me" or "I can't make good money unless I get a good degree"

All these were exactly the reasons I went to college. Plus meeting guys.

It's obviously the fault of the baby boomers.  The folks who grew up during the Great Depression, survived WWII, and then went to college on the GI Bill were a lot more productive and lot less whiny then succeeding generations.  Or at least that's what sociological expert Tom Brokaw tells us.

I would prefer a mandatory 2 year waiting period between high school and college.  Give youngsters time to be independent for a while and maybe the in loco parentis approach for undergraduate education would disappear.

[expatinuk]

I would prefer a mandatory 2 year waiting period between high school and college.  Give youngsters time to be independent for a while and maybe the in loco parentis approach for undergraduate education would disappear.

Yes, I've come to believe that there should be two years of required National Service. No I don't mean military service (although that would count) but rather National Service... working in a National Park, doing day care, working with seniors etc that kind of thing.

It would certainly help the country, and allow the 'kids' to mature.

[mignon]

I think kids are a lot more serious now than when I was in college.  They have to work their behinds off, for one thing.  Plus they like/respect their parents, and some even like/respect their teachers.

We (in the 70s/80s) didn't work hard.  We were too stoned, and we hated adults.  Many academics-to-be were exceptions to this generational norm, but as a person who came late to academia (and to seriousness) I can tell you most of us had red eyes and it wasn't from reading.

[oldfullprof]

I was a stoned out hippy who still managed to read everything assigned as an undergrad.  Worked 20 hours too.  This generation is worse than we were academically-- in my major practically zero interest in the subject.  Being in the military did help-- it makes you serious.  Brocaw is not a sociologist.  Trust me.  He is a pompous little guy.