Recent articles in the news

A couple of items in the news caught my eye the other day. See what you think. I'll tell you at the end what connection these two articles have for me.


Item number one: the self-confidence of young people today. The Associated Press reports on a new survey that finds "college students and others their age are more self-centered--narcissistic, even--than past generations." That's hardly a surprise to me. Just last semester I had a student sitting in class, hiding behind a backpack, working his cell phone. His obvious message to me was simple: "What I'm doing is far more important than what you are talking about."


Here are the specifics about this survey. Researchers found that a larger percentage of incoming college freshmen rated themselves as "above average'' in several categories compared with college freshmen who were surveyed in the 1960s. When it came to social self-confidence, about half of freshmen questioned in 2009 said they were above average, compared with fewer than a third in 1966. Meanwhile, 60 percent in 2009 rated their intellectual self-confidence as above average, compared with 39 percent in 1966, the first year the survey was given.


That's really sad. So many of these people are not getting a good education, but they don't recognize this. Part of it is their fault, but I blame the society for much of this attitude. We tell the young people over and over how great they are so we don't hurt their self-esteem. We say they just aren't good at math, that it's a built-in problem rather than a lack of discipline. We don't require them to tackle difficult things. We keep them living in an warm-and-fuzzy adolescent world where they reinforce each other's values.


The second article had to do with a national union leader's comments. Remember how the left chastised the conservatives for tough language? Remember how liberals clucked about the violent rhetoric that needed to be toned down, forgetting all the venom that had spewed from the left? Here's another case where the hypocrisy just smacks one between the eyes. It was reported that a national union leader went nuclear on Gov. Chris Christie, calling him a Nazi over and over, according to Newark's Star-Ledger . The following message was delivered: "Welcome to Nazi Germany," Christopher Shelton, a top official at the Communication Workers of America, told thousands of protesters today outside the Statehouse in Trenton, the capital of New Jersey. "The first thing that the Nazis and Adolf Hitler did was go after the unions." So I guess this man didn't get the memo that pleaded for political rhetoric to be calmed down. Can we all agree that politics is a tough business and that nobody has the moral high ground here?


Is there a connection for these two newspaper accounts? I suggest liberal attitudes are on display here. They have done a poor job with our schools in the first case since they are the ones who urge sensitivity rather than results. In the Trenton affair, we see the vaunted sensitivity voiced by the liberals doesn't apply to those they disagree with.