From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Wed Jun 27 2001 - 15:45:14 MDT
Are they "anti-globalists" or are they "a generation of brats"?
--J. R.
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Sage advice for a generation of brats
Society is fostering young people's foolish expectations
http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20010626/601197.html
Diane Francis
Financial Post
The biggest single problem facing Canada and other wealthy societies is
"spoiled brattism" or a culture that has indulged its children. Children are
to be cherished and protected and there's nothing wrong with heaping material
benefits on them.
But there's great harm in heaping attitudes on them, at home and in schools,
that set them up for failure and end up subjecting society to their
unrealistic, unfair demands.
These are manifested at the political level, but also at the business level.
For instance, protesters in Seattle, Quebec City and elsewhere have turned the
Multinational Corporation into the bogeyman of their generation.
They have turned the Multinational into a surrogate parent/teacher and are
holding each one responsible for life's injustices, for cleaning up the
environment, lifting the world's six billion people out of poverty, as well as
eradicating corruption, dictatorships, greed, misery and cultural inadequacies
such as child labour and the wholesale abuse of women.
Such injustices exist and should be addressed. But the blame is totally
misplaced by these rich kids from rich societies.
The blame rests with leaders in poor countries, both political and religious,
who keep their followers barefoot and pregnant and superstitious. Until these
cultures or countries get their acts together there will be nothing but
increasing and widespread poverty and pollution on this planet.
The new let's-protect-globalization subculture simply manifests the New
Ideology of Entitlement, or spoiled brattism.
My suspicions are that this ideology grew out of my generation, the original
Baby Boomers, who were the most indulged and idealistic generation in history.
Once we became educators, we institutionalized our attitudes. That's when
schools in developed countries began shifting away from the basics toward
teaching other "values."
Years later, the result is the fossilization of spoiled brat attitudes which,
when taught to young minds, simply set them up for failure, both economically
and attitudinally.
Ranking member of this generation, Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill
Gates, eventually grew up as did most of us. And I was sent a wonderful list
of rules, attributed to Mr. Gates, that hits the target when it comes to the
type of wrong-headed attitudes schools have propagated.
The list is allegedly part of a speech given by Mr. Gates at a high school
convocation. Regardless of whether or not Mr. Gates authored this, the rules
articulately debunk the brattism that plagues public policy and business
issues.
It addresses why feel-good, politically correct teachings set up young people
for failure in the real world and lead them to completely misunderstand what
governments and businesses should be held accountable for.
RULE #1 Life is not fair. Get used to it.
RULE #2 The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you
to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
RULE #3 You will not make $40,000 a year right out of high school. You won't
be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
RULE #4 If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss. He
doesn't have tenure.
RULE #5 Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a
different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity.
RULE #6 If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about
your mistakes. Learn from them.
RULE #7 Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now.
They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening
to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from
the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your
own room.
RULE #8 Your school may have done away with winners and losers but life has
not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you
as many times as you want to get the right answer.
This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
RULE #9 Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very
few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that on your own
time.
RULE #10 Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
*********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE ***********
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The views expressed in the forwarded article(s) are provided for information
and do not necessarily represent those of the sender.
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τΏτ
Stay hungry,
--J. R.
Useless hypotheses:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism
Everything that can happen has already happened, not just once,
but an infinite number of times, and will continue to do so forever.
(Everything that can happen = more than anyone can imagine.)
http://www.kartoo.com/cgi-bin/k.cgi?q=virtropy&l=0&m=1
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