BrianGarst.com

For anyone who’s been observing the absurd fads in education and parenting that have taken place over the years, and bothered to think about how they might affect society, this should come as little surprise:

College students think they’re so special

Today?s college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.

?We need to stop endlessly repeating ?You?re special? and having children repeat that back,? said the study?s lead author, Professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. ?Kids are self-centered enough already.?

Twenge and her colleagues, in findings to be presented at a workshop Tuesday in San Diego on the generation gap, examined the responses of 16,475 college students nationwide who completed an evaluation called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006.

The standardized inventory, known as the NPI, asks for responses to such statements as ?If I ruled the world, it would be a better place,? ?I think I am a special person? and ?I can live my life any way I want to.?

. . . Campbell said the narcissism upsurge seemed so pronounced that he was unsure if there were obvious remedies.

?Permissiveness seems to be a component,? he said. ?A potential antidote would be more authoritative parenting. Less indulgence might be called for.?

. . .Yet students, while acknowledging some legitimacy to such findings, don?t necessarily accept negative generalizations about their generation.

I do. As a member of this self-indulgent generation, I can say very easily that these results match quite well with my own observations. A student in the article goes on to claim that being “politically active” means these students are not “overly self-centered”. The problem is that most of their “activism” is little more than an extension of their need for attention. For instance, rallying against “sweat shops” in poor countries makes these people feel good about themselves as well as look good in front of their contemporaries. But it does absolutely nothing to help anything. In fact, it isn’t even supported by the people they claim to be concerned about, the workers. They just want jobs, and they sure as hell don’t want a bunch of self-absorbed, spoiled Americans to take away their rare opportunities at a better life in the name of “compassion”. Such “activist” students might understand this if they occasionally thought about something other than their need for attention.