Academic Entitlement And The Self Esteem Movement Essay

Educational experiences have differed generationally. In this generation of current college students, academic entitlement and the self-esteem movement have both changed the education standards. While academic entitlement is typically expressed by narcissistic individuals, the self-esteem movement is geared towards gaining a high self-esteem. These two movements may seem contradictory, so where is the middle ground? According to the Canadian Journal of Education (2012), academic entitlement is defined as the “tendency to possess an expectation of academic success without taking personal responsibility for achieving that success.” In other words, some students believe that they are entitled to good grades in school without any work on their part. In the past thirty years, students in the “generation me” have shown “significant increases in narcissism and entitlement.” Could this level of entitlement have developed from the self-esteem movement? Considering that both of these movements occurred in similar time frames, it could be argued that is has. As stated in USA Today (2011), the self-esteem movement “became popular in the 1980s” and “urged parents and teachers to bolster children’s confidence by being quick to praise and slow to criticize.” The students of “generation me” were likely being raised as the self-esteem movement developed. With teachers, parents, coaches, etc. giving praise to children who put in little effort, is it any surprise that academic entitlement…