The kids and young adults of today have found themselves in quite an odd conundrum: growing up their entire lives with the notion that they deserve the very best, and in some cases, a consolation prize as a substitute for actually winning.
They feel privileged, like they deserve everything they can possibly want for doing little to nothing.
Perhaps we can think back to a time when we were little, playing soccer with other first graders, or swinging on our Little League teams. And at the end of the season, we were given a gold plastic trophy and a satin ribbon. These little prizes were the pinnacle of playing on the team- we had won something!
It didn’t matter how many goals we scored, or how many home runs we hit. It didn’t matter if we were the best or the worst on the team. The playing field was leveled when we were given the trophies, setting us all equal to each other despite our skill level. Because of this, we had no reason to be jealous of others, but this conditioning also has us expecting a trophy for simply showing up, an ugly mindset following many people into their adult lives.
It can be argued that the “millennial” generation is the greediest yet, expecting everything to go their way, believing that all their needs will be delivered to them in a shiny package wrapped with a bow.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2014, 22.3% of high school students worked during their high school years, but the majority of high schoolers still do not hold a job today. Granted, their excuses are primarily valid, such as having to take AP classes, a program that is fairly recent, having only taken off around the 1970s and 1980s. The work load has increased by a considerable amount, and the competition between students to succeed in high school, as well as adding in the pressure to be accepted into a college, results in some pretty stressed kids.
Nevertheless, a large chunk of this millennial generation is so used to leeching off of their parents, the older generation, that when faced with having to solve their own problems and work for their own pay, they quickly turn to whining, pointing fingers at anyone other than themselves. They’re simply not used to working hard to get something in return, and fall back onto a coping strategy that they have used since being on that Little League team- one that includes excessive complaining, stomping their feet and throwing a tantrum until they get their desired end product.
Surprisingly, a large part of this attitude is due in part to their parents. They don’t want to see their kid discriminated against or left out, so they present the desired reward to them, the accomplishment received with a smug look of satisfaction and the continuation of the knowledge that they will, in fact, get whatever they admire without having to lift a finger.
This generation has been sheltered- someone was there at all times to catch them when they fell, and they were presented a shiny participation award no matter the quality of their performance- both actions that make up an all-inclusive package deal to cushy living, and one that gives them a feeling of superiority, an attitude that is in-turn severely hurting their will to work, and their overall motivation concerning work, school, or social lives.
Stereotypes of this generation- adjectives that come to mind when someone merely mentions the millennial generation: entitled, lazy, narcissistic, privileged and selfish, immediately bring forth an overwhelmingly negative connotation, but maybe this young generation is simply trying to figure out how to function in society without the life experience that older generations had. They are slowly realizing that their shiny plastic medals aren’t worth much in the real world, and are working twice as hard to make it in today’s society, shedding both the weight of those dime-a-dozen awards and the invalid assumption that they are simply the “trophy generation”.
as you stated in the article, you believe that participation trophies have caused millennials to be “leeching off of their parents, when faced with having to solve their own problems.” While it is true that many young adults live with their parents, you fail to provide adequate information. For example, you severely understate the problems that we face. The cost of college tuition has risen drastically since 1980, far outpacing inflation. In addition to this, minimum wage hasn’t kept up either. As a result, it is now nearly impossible to get an education without taking out student loans, causing massive debt at a young age, before one even has a solid career to support them. While crippling student loans are a huge problem, the costs of healthcare and housing have gone up, without wages going up as well.
Even of participation trophies were to blame for these”lazy, entitled children,” was it not the previous generation who started giving them out? They have no right to complain about this non-issue, when the real reason is an increased wealth inequality coupled with an increased cost of living. Blaming the trophies is simply a way for baby boomers to both shift the blame away from themselves and ignore the actual problems.
I am writing this response for an English assignment. I have to disagree with your opinion about the so called “trophy generation” due to the fact that everyone deserves a chance to at least feel included, and while they may not mean getting a trophy, everyone deserves something. You can argue that this generation is a bit more sensitive than others when it comes to being included, and that’s true. The people with the opinion that the idea that “everyone deserves a trophy” tend to be those who are at the top, and those who are used to /always/ winning. Those of us at the bottom appreciate occasional recognition for a good try here and there. You have a good point on the tantrum throwers and the trophy for just showing up, and I would agree. However with out these kind of awards, it quickly turns into smothering the top players or winners -those with exception skills or natural gifts- with rewards and recognition over and over again, steping over and overlooking those who are as talented as the best. That is why I believe there is a balance to be found between participation rewards and best of the best kind of rewards. Yes, a reward for just showing up nulls the notion of a trophy or reward, but everyone deserves recognition or a place in the spotlight every once and a while.