👶 'The Kids Are Too Soft'

'Complaining about the work ethic of the next generation is a time-worn tradition.' Anne Helen Petersen argues that the critique of younger generations is really a sublimated critique of a generation's own parenting: no one wants to admit that the decisions they made produced the workers they now find objectionable. Hence 'the kids want participation trophies' instead of 'we gave the kids participation trophies.' The real question: do we not want people to suffer what we suffered — or do we secretly think our suffering was foundational to good work?