<p>Well this is coming from fox remember… they pride themselves on “non elitist educations.”</p>
<p>My kids got me a “queen” sweatshirt.</p>
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<p>That is so not true, I have done textbooks for comparable courses from Indian/Chinese colleges and high schools and they are of the same level if not easier than the courses I take in the US. Also, I have cousins that live in both India and China, and their homework is child’s play compared to the homework I get…</p>
<p>Well, I have a “Queen” shirt but it’s referring to the band…</p>
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<p>When I worked, I never spent any of my paycheck, unless it was a withdrawal later for a videogame or videocard. I think I’ve spent ~400 of the 4500 I’ve made since December 2006, all on the aforementioned items.</p>
<p>seriously? no hw a day? id die for that. I get at least 5 hrs of hw every day… each subject is an hr. plus projects and extrac curriculars and im only in middle school!!!</p>
<p>I agree with the suggestion that the widespread use of anti-depressants in our culture–so widespread that these drugs are now contaminating our drinking water–is tied to our society’s propagation of unrealistic expectations for success in life, combined with the over-stimulation of our children’s self-esteem. </p>
<p>I think societal attitudes began changing with the Dr. Spock laissez-faire parenting books. Both my husband and I received a small dose of “Our family is classier/smarter/nicer than most other people’s” and “You, my child, are smarter, more attractive, and more talented than other people’s children.” This didn’t do me any good, I assure you. I soon learned I was not that special, and it WAS depressing for me. But at least our parents ignored some of Spock’s philosophy and still believed in discipline and corporal punishment when necessary. So we grew up feeling slightly superior, but our parents never bragged about us, and we were well-bred enough to behave cooperatively and modestly. </p>
<p>Today’s parents think nothing of announcing loudly at back to school night that their little darling is more advanced than the rest of the kids in the class, and why does he have to tolerate such low-level academic work? And this, after the principal has stressed that discussions of one’s individual child should be saved for another time, such as parent-teacher conferences. You can’t believe how many future Div. I athletes play on our town’s soccer teams. Practically every child, and their parents are counting down the days until the whole world will be told how wonderfully talented they already know their children are. A major league ball player graduated high school with my sister, and his talent was never publicly flaunted like it would be today.</p>
<p>Our kids want to be the best, and have been taught by society that anything less than the best is unacceptable. Is it any wonder so many engage in drug use, binge drinking–alarming statistics on that, and promiscuity? They’re looking to make themselves feel better, because their overly-high expectations have set them up for disappointment once they reach high school and college and suddenly there are no “second winners,” not everyone gets a trophy, and not everyone gets a part in the play or gets crowned Homecoming Queen.</p>
<p>This is a paper about the psychological study of over-confident people:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf[/url]”>Internal Server Error;
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<p>Huh? Really?</p>
<p>regarding the drinking water…anybody old enough to remember the “Dr. Strangelove” scene with the general ranting about flouride in the drinking water?</p>
<p>No it’s true about the drinking water thing. I live in Boulder, CO and the fish are changing sex in our streams because of all the estrogen compounds. They can see a noticeable change in estrogen levels when students go home for the summer because of a reduction in birth control that seeps into the water. All perscription drugs are now in our water stream. Scary huh?</p>
<p>Since I don’t have the patience to actually read through all 8 pages of this, I’m just going to respond to the article.
As far as my own high school experience goes (I’m a junior) I can say that I’m not overwhelmed. It can be a lot of work sometimes, but I maintain my A average pretty easily. I’m also on my schools honors track, which is harder than the lower level track, but isn’t too challenging in my opinion. However from what I know of the lower level track most of those students are not the sharpest tools in the toolshed. I also take AP’s and I don’t think they’re all that strenuous either, and I only seem tog et maybe 1-2 hours of homework a night. However I don’t find myself to exude confidence either. I think i can get in to at least two of my top five without much worry, however I also know that in order to get into my reach school I have to work extra hard. I also second guess myself on my future all the time. </p>
<p>Concerning the point about parents and teacher being overpraising, I can also say that I don’t get that much. When I bring home my grades I get a “well done” but nothing more than that. Also, I know that I’m probably harder on myself than either of my parents, and my fellow peers in the honors track are the same way. Maybe it’s just my school, and I, but I can tell you I truly disagree.</p>
<p>@Baelor: You said, "Ah, I forgot to say that the indoctrination of self-esteem leads to feelings of entitlement. For proof, read Twenge’s book. I’m not deferring to her; I’m just saying that the studies are there – and unlike the ones in the article, they’re indisputable. This sense of entitlement…“Why should I be getting an A? I deserve an A without doing this busywork because it’s useless…etc.”</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but you’ve read this one book by Twenge, and it’s “proof” that feelings of self-esteem lead to a sense of entitlement?
Sure, an overinflated self-image could result in a sense of entitlement.
Can Professor Twenge authoritatively declare that this correlation implies causation?
I think not. The woman uses personal anecdotes to back up her argument; this is a disgrace to empiricism. She spent 14 years administering surveys to babyboomers and Gen-me’ers… if you’ve ever taken a statistics course, SURVEYS CANNOT PROVE CAUSATION, ONLY CORRELATION.</p>
<p>I want to go to a respected university and major in political science… and I’m talking top 60 or 70 universities, not Harvard or anything. After that I want to go to law school, hopefully of an equal or better caliber than the college I go to. I want to get a good job and advance my career the best I can, and be wise about handling my money. Finally, I want to get into politics some time… maybe state level representative or something… </p>
<p>I don’t consider that to be a “wildly unrealistic expectation.”
Not to mention, what’s wrong with having big dreams? People with big imaginations and high goals are the people who drive humanity forward.</p>
<p>“I don’t consider that to be a “wildly unrealistic expectation.”
Not to mention, what’s wrong with having big dreams? People with big imaginations and high goals are the people who drive humanity forward.”</p>
<p>As a current senior in high school, I think what this article is trying to get at is that, unlike you and others who work hard and plan out what your going to do, the rest of our generation thinks life is going to be handed to them on a silver platter. They only set high expectations for themselves because all they see is the money that is associated with it. </p>
<p>Its annoying seeing people who don’t even challenge themselves or throw a fit when(i dont attent a competitive high school) when the teacher gives them a worksheet or an hours worth of homework then they say they want to be one of the big four</p>
<p>a) a doctor
b) a nurse
c) a lawyer
d) an engineer</p>
<p>My opinion on the topic: I’m a B+ student who plans to attend college to major in history or political science and depending on how confident I feel in myself, try law school. My parents work in the criminal justice field so its grown on me.</p>
<p>^ Yeah, you may be right. And I agree with you in that it seems like everyone is waiting for some sort of handout, and that they don’t expect anything to be filled with hard work. I think people don’t realize that some of the most popular and respected careers (like the ones you mentioned) pay well and are respected because the ARE filled with hard work and it takes a long time to get there.</p>
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<p>I saw Dr. Strangelove on DVD over a year ago and remember the scene about the ranting although not the particulars. Wasn’t that guy just a paranoid conspiracy theorist?</p>
<p>in response to the article, i agree somewhat, but not 100%</p>
<p>A lot of the overconfident kids at my school are not in the top 25% of the class, and overconfidence proliferates among those who are less successful at my school, mostly the the kids ranging from the bottom to above average. These kids think “Oh so i didn’t take 100 AP’s and dont have a 5.00, so what! I should be fine.” The truth is that a lot of these kids barely have above a 3.5 gpa and have never taken a single honors/AP class in their life. They mostly leech from their hardworking middle class parents, and usually end up at the community college. </p>
<p>However, I think that the top students in my class realize what is possible and what isn’t, and are sometimes under confident in their abilities and future success. A lot of them have the notion that if they don’t get into a good college (im not talking about ivies, but colleges with a 40%-60% admission rate), then they’re going to end up working at some fast food joint.</p>
<p>Overall, teens IN GENERAL may be much more overconfident, but most of the teens who are academically successful have realistic expectations.</p>
<p>The article provides survey results that points to high self-esteem, that’s all. The researcher (or maybe Fox News) then makes the jump from high self-esteem to mean over-confidence, they then make another jump from over-confidence to unrealistic expectations. As far as I can see, there is no mention or arguments made to validate these two contentious inferences, they were just asserted plainly. I see it as either the researchers’ ploy to gain attention, or the media’s ploy at sensationalism.</p>
<p>The problem lies not with the bright hard-workers who have high goals for themselves that might prove too high for them to attain. You can label that a hepful and encouraging optimism that promotes industriousness in the pursuit of an objective. The problem, at polihist points out, is that there are plenty of kids who don’t put in the work, and think that miraculously they can be a C student taking the easiest classes and end up getting into an Ivy and becoming a doctor or lawyer. It just isn’t consistent with the facts.</p>
<p>Parents fall prey to this too. They want their little darlings to always be comfortable and happy, and not have to work hard. Somehow, though, they imagine their children will reap the benefits of hard work. I have a friend who is looking for “a good college where my daughter doesn’t have to work too hard.” I tried to explain that usually good colleges gain reputations as good colleges precisely because the academics are challenging and kids DO work hard.</p>