Gen Z
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Ai is a small part of the issue (disclaimer: I work for IBM). I have been a hiring manager for 30+ years now on Wall Street and now at IBM. I have seen the college grad over that time span get dumber, lazier, more self-absorbed, more confident in knowing nothing, more entitled, more psychologically fragile and unable to handle the sometimes raucous give-and-take of the office environment.

They will not stand to be corrected, even when the result says they are clearly wrong. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the excuse “but my professor never taught me that…”, I have had their parents call me after I’ve corrected their overgrown children or given young employees advice or a project that they’d rather not take on. They insist on using emojis in e-mails, using unclear language and then complain that no one understands them.
They are a victim…of everything. Not surprising when their educational experience has been — boys are bad, white boys are even badder, girls are victims of everything and if they haven’t been to this point, they certainly will be soon. Just showing up is good enough; 60% success is fabulous, you get a trophy for coming in last. Your very existence is a threat to all living things on this planet, you should live in shame about everything…even the stuff you didn’t do.

Unless you’re an “oppressed minority” in which case, swinging from the chandeliers, assaulting fellow workers over minor disagreements, theft, using foul and racist language isn’t unprofessional; it’s your birthright, and everything you don’t like is automatically racist.

It is perfectly acceptable to be functionally illiterate and innumerate, despite the fact that you use calculators and have word processing programs that have spelling and grammar checkers in them. These can be safely ignored. I DARE any modern “educator” to get on an airplane or cross a bridge designed by someone who only knows Common Core Math.

I am not your friend, I am not your parent, nor am I your minister, camp counsellor or psychotherapist, but rather YOUR BOSS, and no, I will not care about your feelz, except to give them the most minimal consideration necessary to motivate you to come to work and excel. If you can’t excel, understand there is no reward, we don’t give out raises for “adequate”; we already pay you for that. We give out raises and promotions for excellence. You don’t get brownie points for just showing up.

The problem is we have created a generation of self-absorbed, truly stupid, mentally-fragile, ego-driven, often neurotic, mollycoddled brats who are glued to a hand-held dopamine generator (smart phone) all day, who are incapable of understanding context, always defensive, always afraid that someone is getting something they aren’t, who will narc one another out at the drop of a hat like they’re Stasi informants, who can cry on command, make excuses for everything in an instant and who believe a piece of paper they incurred $250k in debt for (but which gave them no practical experience) makes them smarter — and better — than anyone else in the room.

You paid for a credential; not an education. The education starts on your first day and, if you’re lucky, never ends until you retire. In the meantime, earn your rewards, the respect you all crave so much but never seem to give, pay your dues like generations of your betters did before you and then STFU.

https://www.campusreform.org/article/gen-z-right-facing-big-problem-no-previous-generation-encountered/28270