Are Millennials overly sensitive?
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 37,541
Likes: 6,355
From: bolton
Regarding the participation trophies.
I coached soccer. I hated them, early on their were "non-competitive games" because a 6 year old isn't smart enough to count goals.
The kids knew who won. They trophies were for the mom's who couldn't accept that their little Joey was a spaz.
Regarding competition, I was referring to the very local class room variety. True global competition is very real, and I'm not sure it's a problem exclusive to the millennial domain.
Growing up we had jam packed classrooms as school districts struggled to keep up with the growth.
We also had tracking. The grade would be stratified by academic capability smart with smart, average with average, dumb with dumb.
From the first grade on, You had to work your butt off to stay in the top tracks.
It's a very different experience for the younger folks. There are different challenges.
I know my kids got "partnered". They were both very bright and it became their job to become the teachers aid for a slow kid.
If the dummy didn't get it, the bright kids would be the ones who caught grief for it.
I firmly believe in the idea that the high school diploma, blue collar job earning a decent living wage is a distant memory. ( but I'll leave that since we don't want this in politics.)
In large part, the majority of any generation is the same.
It's the exceptions that are different and can portray a generation.
There weren't all that many "hippies" in the 60's but they defined the flower child generation.
One thing our generation did give you is the Helicopter parents.
I honestly feel a deep sense of loss for the youth of the last 25-30 years.
Any vint will tell you about their day getting home after school.
We got home, through the books in the house and disappeared until we got called for dinner.
On weekends we'd be gone for hours on end. Our parents didn't know what we were doing or exactly where we were.
"it's a gorgeous day, OUT!!!" was the normal refrain.
there were no play dates. No scheduled activities. go find something to do.
It was freedom and in a lot of respects it was boring.
Now the media has terrorized ( sometimes with good cause) parents who are aware of all of the evil out there.
They control virtually every minute of a kids growth and then they don't understand when they don't display the same level of maturity they had as a kid.
I coached soccer. I hated them, early on their were "non-competitive games" because a 6 year old isn't smart enough to count goals.
The kids knew who won. They trophies were for the mom's who couldn't accept that their little Joey was a spaz.
Regarding competition, I was referring to the very local class room variety. True global competition is very real, and I'm not sure it's a problem exclusive to the millennial domain.
Growing up we had jam packed classrooms as school districts struggled to keep up with the growth.
We also had tracking. The grade would be stratified by academic capability smart with smart, average with average, dumb with dumb.
From the first grade on, You had to work your butt off to stay in the top tracks.
It's a very different experience for the younger folks. There are different challenges.
I know my kids got "partnered". They were both very bright and it became their job to become the teachers aid for a slow kid.
If the dummy didn't get it, the bright kids would be the ones who caught grief for it.
I firmly believe in the idea that the high school diploma, blue collar job earning a decent living wage is a distant memory. ( but I'll leave that since we don't want this in politics.)
In large part, the majority of any generation is the same.
It's the exceptions that are different and can portray a generation.
There weren't all that many "hippies" in the 60's but they defined the flower child generation.
One thing our generation did give you is the Helicopter parents.
I honestly feel a deep sense of loss for the youth of the last 25-30 years.
Any vint will tell you about their day getting home after school.
We got home, through the books in the house and disappeared until we got called for dinner.
On weekends we'd be gone for hours on end. Our parents didn't know what we were doing or exactly where we were.
"it's a gorgeous day, OUT!!!" was the normal refrain.
there were no play dates. No scheduled activities. go find something to do.
It was freedom and in a lot of respects it was boring.
Now the media has terrorized ( sometimes with good cause) parents who are aware of all of the evil out there.
They control virtually every minute of a kids growth and then they don't understand when they don't display the same level of maturity they had as a kid.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 34,131
Likes: 126
From: Canton, MA
I agree wholeheartedly with Cody regarding where any "blame" belongs for anything that I might criticize about Millennials. It all starts (and ends) with the baby-boomers and Gen-Xers who decided to apply a heavy dose of socially engineered oversight to their kids.
Jerry points out some of the big differences in child raising above, many of which I agree with, but some of which I do not. In fact, some of them are likely the root cause of whatever stereotypes might actually exist in Millennials. Most telling is his "firm belief" that the high school educated blue collar worker earning a decent living is a distant memory. His "firm belief" is belied every day when you encounter a technician with nothing more than a high school education who is repairing your car, your plumbing, your electricity, etc, etc. Unfortunately we continue to ignore the truth that is right before our eyes and hold to the "selling points" we hear about the future of our children and the need for a college education. It is propaganda, of course, but enough folks like Jerry believe it wholeheartedly and raise their children accordingly. It is only one example but there are many others that I agree would send the discussion into politics.
Jerry points out some of the big differences in child raising above, many of which I agree with, but some of which I do not. In fact, some of them are likely the root cause of whatever stereotypes might actually exist in Millennials. Most telling is his "firm belief" that the high school educated blue collar worker earning a decent living is a distant memory. His "firm belief" is belied every day when you encounter a technician with nothing more than a high school education who is repairing your car, your plumbing, your electricity, etc, etc. Unfortunately we continue to ignore the truth that is right before our eyes and hold to the "selling points" we hear about the future of our children and the need for a college education. It is propaganda, of course, but enough folks like Jerry believe it wholeheartedly and raise their children accordingly. It is only one example but there are many others that I agree would send the discussion into politics.
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 2,868
Likes: 467
I agree wholeheartedly with Cody regarding where any "blame" belongs for anything that I might criticize about Millennials. It all starts (and ends) with the baby-boomers and Gen-Xers who decided to apply a heavy dose of socially engineered oversight to their kids.
Jerry points out some of the big differences in child raising above, many of which I agree with, but some of which I do not. In fact, some of them are likely the root cause of whatever stereotypes might actually exist in Millennials. Most telling is his "firm belief" that the high school educated blue collar worker earning a decent living is a distant memory. His "firm belief" is belied every day when you encounter a technician with nothing more than a high school education who is repairing your car, your plumbing, your electricity, etc, etc. Unfortunately we continue to ignore the truth that is right before our eyes and hold to the "selling points" we hear about the future of our children and the need for a college education. It is propaganda, of course, but enough folks like Jerry believe it wholeheartedly and raise their children accordingly. It is only one example but there are many others that I agree would send the discussion into politics.
Jerry points out some of the big differences in child raising above, many of which I agree with, but some of which I do not. In fact, some of them are likely the root cause of whatever stereotypes might actually exist in Millennials. Most telling is his "firm belief" that the high school educated blue collar worker earning a decent living is a distant memory. His "firm belief" is belied every day when you encounter a technician with nothing more than a high school education who is repairing your car, your plumbing, your electricity, etc, etc. Unfortunately we continue to ignore the truth that is right before our eyes and hold to the "selling points" we hear about the future of our children and the need for a college education. It is propaganda, of course, but enough folks like Jerry believe it wholeheartedly and raise their children accordingly. It is only one example but there are many others that I agree would send the discussion into politics.
Regarding the participation trophies.
I coached soccer. I hated them, early on their were "non-competitive games" because a 6 year old isn't smart enough to count goals.
The kids knew who won. They trophies were for the mom's who couldn't accept that their little Joey was a spaz.
Regarding competition, I was referring to the very local class room variety. True global competition is very real, and I'm not sure it's a problem exclusive to the millennial domain.
Growing up we had jam packed classrooms as school districts struggled to keep up with the growth.
We also had tracking. The grade would be stratified by academic capability smart with smart, average with average, dumb with dumb.
From the first grade on, You had to work your butt off to stay in the top tracks.
It's a very different experience for the younger folks. There are different challenges.
I know my kids got "partnered". They were both very bright and it became their job to become the teachers aid for a slow kid.
If the dummy didn't get it, the bright kids would be the ones who caught grief for it.
I firmly believe in the idea that the high school diploma, blue collar job earning a decent living wage is a distant memory. ( but I'll leave that since we don't want this in politics.)
In large part, the majority of any generation is the same.
It's the exceptions that are different and can portray a generation.
There weren't all that many "hippies" in the 60's but they defined the flower child generation.
One thing our generation did give you is the Helicopter parents.
I honestly feel a deep sense of loss for the youth of the last 25-30 years.
Any vint will tell you about their day getting home after school.
We got home, through the books in the house and disappeared until we got called for dinner.
On weekends we'd be gone for hours on end. Our parents didn't know what we were doing or exactly where we were.
"it's a gorgeous day, OUT!!!" was the normal refrain.
there were no play dates. No scheduled activities. go find something to do.
It was freedom and in a lot of respects it was boring.
Now the media has terrorized ( sometimes with good cause) parents who are aware of all of the evil out there.
They control virtually every minute of a kids growth and then they don't understand when they don't display the same level of maturity they had as a kid.
I coached soccer. I hated them, early on their were "non-competitive games" because a 6 year old isn't smart enough to count goals.
The kids knew who won. They trophies were for the mom's who couldn't accept that their little Joey was a spaz.
Regarding competition, I was referring to the very local class room variety. True global competition is very real, and I'm not sure it's a problem exclusive to the millennial domain.
Growing up we had jam packed classrooms as school districts struggled to keep up with the growth.
We also had tracking. The grade would be stratified by academic capability smart with smart, average with average, dumb with dumb.
From the first grade on, You had to work your butt off to stay in the top tracks.
It's a very different experience for the younger folks. There are different challenges.
I know my kids got "partnered". They were both very bright and it became their job to become the teachers aid for a slow kid.
If the dummy didn't get it, the bright kids would be the ones who caught grief for it.
I firmly believe in the idea that the high school diploma, blue collar job earning a decent living wage is a distant memory. ( but I'll leave that since we don't want this in politics.)
In large part, the majority of any generation is the same.
It's the exceptions that are different and can portray a generation.
There weren't all that many "hippies" in the 60's but they defined the flower child generation.
One thing our generation did give you is the Helicopter parents.
I honestly feel a deep sense of loss for the youth of the last 25-30 years.
Any vint will tell you about their day getting home after school.
We got home, through the books in the house and disappeared until we got called for dinner.
On weekends we'd be gone for hours on end. Our parents didn't know what we were doing or exactly where we were.
"it's a gorgeous day, OUT!!!" was the normal refrain.
there were no play dates. No scheduled activities. go find something to do.
It was freedom and in a lot of respects it was boring.
Now the media has terrorized ( sometimes with good cause) parents who are aware of all of the evil out there.
They control virtually every minute of a kids growth and then they don't understand when they don't display the same level of maturity they had as a kid.
Regarding class room experiences, we still had accelerated/advanced programs in my public schools. I was taking high school math & spanish in middle school, was in advanced English courses all through middle school, etc. The only time I ever had an essential (math, science, language) course with people outside of the advanced group was when I was blocked from AP English in high school as a result of the teacher disliking me (sleeping through his class every day the prior year & still getting an A will do that it seems).
There are certainly still HS diploma skilled labor jobs out there, just not as proliferated, for better or worse.
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 37,541
Likes: 6,355
From: bolton
Jerry points out some of the big differences in child raising above, many of which I agree with, but some of which I do not. In fact, some of them are likely the root cause of whatever stereotypes might actually exist in Millennials. Most telling is his "firm belief" that the high school educated blue collar worker earning a decent living is a distant memory. His "firm belief" is belied every day when you encounter a technician with nothing more than a high school education who is repairing your car, your plumbing, your electricity, etc, etc. Unfortunately we continue to ignore the truth that is right before our eyes and hold to the "selling points" we hear about the future of our children and the need for a college education. It is propaganda, of course, but enough folks like Jerry believe it wholeheartedly and raise their children accordingly. It is only one example but there are many others that I agree would send the discussion into politics.
I was referring to the get out of high school and go to work at the plant jobs.
There are absolutely a lot of technician jobs out there, I would take issue with the "only a high school education" part though. These folks had a lot of trade school or journeyman work to get their jobs.
The difference is, a large plant could employ thousands a site. Where as those techs a far more diverse and distributed out in society.
I'm not asserting that the work activities aren't still at the factory but they are not factory jobs. They are robotic assembly.
They are engineers doing their own memos. They are payroll programs replacing rooms of staff. They are web pages handling HR functions.
In the aggregate, those changes removed a huge segment from the workforce that previously be done my semi skilled, high school diploma folks.
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 34,131
Likes: 126
From: Canton, MA
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 37,541
Likes: 6,355
From: bolton
dredging this back up...
since here has been more supporting press about the topic.
Technology is accelerating.
Uber is testing self driving cabs in pittsburg. How many cabbies will be displaced by this technology?
Mercedes has begun testing on self driving big rigs. I did a quick google. 3.5 million drivers earn their income this way.
That's a lot of drivers that will be looking for a new job.
Amazon is automating their warehouse picking operation to be robotic. how many folks won't have those jobs.
we're on the next wave of automation, smart automation, learning machines.
part of me is glad I'll be retiring soon. but who'll be working to fund the system?
since here has been more supporting press about the topic.
Technology is accelerating.
Uber is testing self driving cabs in pittsburg. How many cabbies will be displaced by this technology?
Mercedes has begun testing on self driving big rigs. I did a quick google. 3.5 million drivers earn their income this way.
That's a lot of drivers that will be looking for a new job.
Amazon is automating their warehouse picking operation to be robotic. how many folks won't have those jobs.
we're on the next wave of automation, smart automation, learning machines.
part of me is glad I'll be retiring soon. but who'll be working to fund the system?