How's this for entitlement?

The NYTimes ran a story on Feb. 17 that talked about an article, published last year in the Journal of Youth and Adolescents entitled: Self-Entitled College Students: Contributions of Personality, Parenting, and Motivational Factors by Ellen Greenberger. This study looked at causal factors for why college students seem to have developed a strong sense of entitlement not previously seen. Hmm... why would people possibly feel entitled to good grades? Could it be the same phenomena that causes people to think they can sing well enough to try out for American Idol even though they can't even hold a tune? Don't get the reference? Oh, okay, because they've never been told NO! Parents who tell their kids they can sing when they so obviously can't aren't being kind to their children, they are being destructive enablers, but this is the kind of attitude many parents have had following the "you can't discipline your child" mentality of the 60s-80s. Is it any wonder that many kids now think they should be given a grade of B, just for showing up to class and doing what was required? When I was growing up, I knew there had to be a result in order to get a good grade and it had to be a good result. When I was told to write a 20 page paper, I knew it had better make a good point and that I'd better be able to back it up in order to get a good grade, but that's not the attitude of a whopping 40 percent of college students according to this study. Here's a quote from one student: "I think putting in a lot of effort should merit a high grade," Mr. Greenwood said. "What else is there really than the effort that you put in?" Effort? How about a RESULT Mr. Greenwood. Effort is great and is often included in grading, usually like 10 percent for participation etc. is where teachers place effort. The rest of your grade actually requires you to do something of substance, not just put in the effort. Putting in effort is great, but according to Mr. Greenwood, putting in 2 years of effort on an overpass that collapses before it can open means the contractor should be paid. After all, they put in all that work, right? Uh, no. The result was unacceptable and therefore they don't need to pay them. Hello?! What are we teaching our kids? Is it any wonder that people are calling this latest generation, generation ME? Okay, maybe Mr. Greenwood is the exception? How's this: James Hogge, associate dean of the Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University, said: "Students often confuse the level of effort with the quality of work. There is a mentality in students that ‘if I work hard, I deserve a high grade.’" Again, really?! Okay, here's one from another student: Sarah Kinn, a junior English major at the University of Vermont, agreed [with Mr. Greenwood above], saying, "I feel that if I do all of the readings and attend class regularly that I should be able to achieve a grade of at least a B." What? I read the books and went to class. How'd you do on the tests. Did you write the required paper and was it any good? Where do they get this idea from?! I'm astonished and shocked really. There's not really much more to say. Our entitlement society has now reached down to the youngest in our society. When that happens and everyone begins to think they are entitled to something, what happens to personal responsibility? Oh wait, our government has been doing nothing for the last year except saying to everyone in the world that there is no such thing as personal responsibility, that if you mess up, the government will help you. No wonder our kids don't get the message.