Weblog
This man knows his college students.
I don’t know about you, but when I think of college life, the first thing that comes to mind is the Cable News Network (CNN); that Larry King has such a youthful glow about him. With that said, CNN.com just published the an article entitled “Vanity on the Rise among College Students.” It reports on a recent study that found today’s college students to be “more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors.” Huh.
Apparently, a psychologist by the name of Jean Twenge went over the results of a test entitled the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and it revealed to her that (horror of horrors!) kids think they”re special. And as if that weren’t bad enough, Twenge also decided that today’s young people have an increased commitment to things like volunteer work due solely to the pressure to list it on a college application.
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.”
While some of this may be true (volunteering is great for the resume and college applications), it certainly doesn’t negate the good our generation is doing with the world we inherited. So here’s the deal, the way I see it; yes, I know a few people who need to be knocked down a few pegs. And yes, maybe we are a more narcissistic generation. But why is that a bad thing? Not all of our relationships crumble, not all of us are violent, and not all of us “lack emotional warmth.”
If anything, thinking we”re so special enables us to believe we have more power in the world, including the power to change it for the better. Medical advancements, volunteering, business innovations; our generation is full of these things. I think we can make this whole narcissism thing work to our advantage. What do you think?