Expecting a day full of fun with friends, music and parties, Patrick Clark and his friends ended up spending the day in handcuffs — but of course, “it wasn’t their fault.”
Waiting in line on a cloudless day, the group of friends was anxiously waiting for 10Fest. After setting down a case of beer, Clark and his friends were approached by an undercover police officer and were arrested for underage alcohol possession.
Clark, a junior studying finance at Ohio University, is contesting the charge, claiming he did nothing wrong.
“He had no reason to come up and handcuff us,” Clark said. “I wasn’t drunk, the (beer) case wasn’t opened and they didn’t even breathalize me.”
According to Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me, much of today’s youth — such as Clark — believe that they are exceptions to the rule, special or free of any responsibility. The author said the children of the new millennium are the first group in American history encouraged to be or do anything they want.
The youth “take for granted that the self comes first,” she said, labeling Generation Me as a “narcissism epidemic.”
Ryan Lombardi, OU’s interim vice president for Student Affairs, on the other hand, said he doesn’t believe it’s narcissism so much as an inability to accept responsibility for mistakes. Though, the official said he does acknowledge a difference in the generations.
“I feel sometimes there’s this sense of unwillingness to accept responsibility in today’s society, and we try to find blame in a situation. It’s always someone’s fault,” he said. “I could count 30–40 times where a student has sat in my office pleading not to go home after multiple offenses. They say, ‘I didn’t think you were serious,’ or ‘I didn’t think about it,’ or ‘I didn’t think it was the case this time.’”
In addition, a recent report led by Sara Konrath, a researcher at the University of Michigan for Social Research, came to a similar conclusion after comparing the tendencies among college students during the last 30 years. Her findings stated that today’s college students are 40 percent lower in empathy compared to students 20–30 years ago.
“We are living in the age of entitlement,” Konrath wrote. “(The current generation) is one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history … It’s not surprising that this growing emphasis on the self is accompanied by a corresponding devaluing of others.”
She blames this “epidemic” on the increase of exposure to media, violence, video games and film.
Despite these allegations, Zach Eckles, a representative for Students Defending Students and a senior studying political science, said he believes most of the tendencies developed by the generation are a direct result of fear of failure.
“I don’t think that we’re more absorbed. We might be more absorbed with materialistic things,” he said. “As far as pushing the blame on others, I could see that too. But, most of the time when (students) make excuses or blame someone, it’s more out of them being afraid about their future, because there is so much pressure to do well.”
Sheila Williams, a licensed professional clinical counselor at OU, said she has noticed a striking difference between generations compared to the days when classrooms were void of calculators and cell phones. She attributes the contrasts to a lack of opportunity and a rise in stereotype.
“I think that there are less types of jobs … My daughter (as a Candy Striper) was expected to act in a responsible manner,” she said. “But because of certain things that have happened over the years, they had to eliminate things like Candy Stripers, which not only fostered independence but a sense of responsibility as well.”
The counselor attributed the generational divergences to a multitude of factors, including technology, parenting, expectations and accessibility.
“When I went to school, there was a big debate as to whether a calculator would be used in the classroom,” she said. “Now, I think it’s not so much that (younger generations) are expected to know less; I think that the accessibility requires less effort, but the amount of knowledge that is required is greater.”
Williams also pointed out a difference in parental involvement.
“When I first started working at the counseling center over 10 years ago, it was rare to get a call from a parent, and that’s not an unusual occurrence today,” she said. “I think that the way that certain things have evolved … make it more difficult for young people to establish independence early on compared to previous generations.”
Ardy Gonyer, the director of the university’s community standards and student responsibility staff, advises students to become acquainted with the college’s policies in hopes of avoiding a judicial situation.
“It depends on each individual student,” he said. “Certainly there are students that have had challenges coping with problems, and there are others who are well adjusted and take responsibility. But, if you know the policies, that will likely prevent problems.”
Williams has a similar outlook, emphasizing the variation in values in each generation in relation to education, race, war and activism.
“Students simply appear to have different things that are important to them,” she said.
lf328610@ohiou.edu
