Neat. But it might just be a gimmick.

The last "diversity training" I went to, in the ageism section, talked about how the recent generation of graduates was more technology-oriented and less focused on customer-service. These sorts of differences could very well be what this conference is about instead of a "sense of entitlement and higher pay" - which, as a recent graduate, I have definitely not seen in my friends or fellow graduates. Maybe because I went to a liberal arts school and none of us expected to graduate to a high-paying job?

I don't get the poor work ethic steregotype! Falling in the 'millennial' category myself, I am quite offended at all this talk. I am putting myself through graduate school and working full-time all at once... and I put a hell of a lot of effort and time into both! It seems that every generation is viewed by those older as lazier and less-deserving.

Newsflash for diversity trainers: There were people born between 1965 and 1990, believe it or not... and we walk among you! And some of us are even able to speak to Boomers AND Millennials with equal fluency, no training required.

I'm a little annoyed. Just because I'm young and will soon be a recent college graduate does not mean I'm lazy, or conceited, or have some unusual sense of entitlement. what crap.

Doesn't EVERY generation think the upcoming one is lazy, has no work ethic and massive entitlement issues, likes horrible music that they play way too loud, and needs to stay off their damn lawn?

I work in higher education, and there has been much discussion at our school over the years about the Millennial Generation. These discussions are informed by a mix journal articles and observations, and are facilitated in the hopes of better understanding the needs of our students.
Here are a summary of the trends that are talked about, as I remember them offhand:

High levels of parental involvement (AKA "Helicopter Parenting"): Students keep in much more frequent contact with parents than in the past. Rather than calling parents once a week or less, some students are on their cell phones with their parents every day. Parents more frequently call our offices to resolve student issues, and they are more and more getting involved in decisions about class schedules, meal plans, and other matters that have traditionally been resolved by students.

An increase in entitlement: Students coming to college have not had much experience hearing the word "no", and are surprised or offended when they hear it.

An increase in pressure to succeed / maintain higher GPAs: A large number of students are placing an unhealthy amount of pressure on themselves to maintain high GPAs.

A movement towards viewing higher education from the standpoint of a consumer (for both parents and students): The value of a school's education, including the services provided, is compared to the costs of attendance in a way more direct than it has been in the past. In our area specifically, students and parents are likely to point out the price they pay to attend/send their children to our institution, and juxtapose that with the service they are dissatisfied in.

Less likely to be involved with bias related incidents (incidents of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.)/Less likely to recognize or acknowledge certain bias incidents: It seems that, on the whole, Millenials are much more tolerant. However, they also seem more likely to dismiss less severe bias incidents, such as choice of language ("that's so gay"), or offensive joking, as harmless.

I have plenty of ancidotal evidence to support each of these stereotypes, but that doesn't mean they are true. Personally, I believe these trends exist, and that there's something to them. However, I think we (in our area) overlook the fact that our student body is narrow (White, Middle to Upper-Middle class), and that these trends might be tied closely to class and race, not just age.

Interestingly enough, students our last two classes seem to be marking a departure from the behaviors we've come to assign as Millennial, so perhaps we're seeing a new micro-generation come down the pipe. Or, perhaps our system of understanding was never accurate to begin with.

@pkdk, Emily, Al, and Sara,
If these stereotypes are accurate, perhaps you are all simply outliers. For all my ancidotal evidence to support the idea of a Millenial Student, I don't believe I've ever met "the typical Millenial Student". These stereotypes have come about as the result of millions of staff-student interactions, backed up by hundreds of articles articulating and giving name to the shared experiences.

That's, of course, not to say you shouldn't take offense. Consider one last possibility, however: I was born too late to be a proper member of Generation X, too early to be a proper Millenial. I believe that people my age, with similar backgrounds (mostly white, middle class US Citicens form the middle to Northern East Coast region) have similar mind sets, and are experiencing shared events in similar ways due to the unique way in which we were informed about the world. This is not to say we're all carbon copies, just that I notice similarities, and more to the point; I only noticed these similarities once I started interacting regularly with people outside of my peer group. Perhaps you don't notice traits you share with your peers because of a lack of contrasting perspective.

crc7173 well said

Every time I hear of baby-boomers complaining that there is a sense of 'entitlement' among younger people I laugh and I laugh and I laugh....

and then I think about the collapse of social security, record personal and national debt, Global Warming and SUVs and I start to wimper...

@Frank: Lol

@7173
I think its definitely a class thing. The difference in my classmates from community college to university is astounding.

As usual, I'll second the motion for "its definitely a class thing." More disturbingly, my first reaction to this discussion (especially 7173's comment) was, "Yeah, totally. Kids my age are like that." But then once I got thinking about class, and the kids that I grew up with and how they are now (working class), they're quite a bit different than the ones that make up my current medium (upper range bougie).

I wonder if I thought a bit about it, if I couldn't come up with some films set in the 70s that portray the things we're talkign about back then too. The Graduate comes to mind, so does Animal House, but I'm not sure that they get us there. The Graduate is extraordinarily middle class though.

Sorry, should read: "The Graduate is extraordinarily UPPER middle class though."

I think crc7173 pretty much explains it - I've know some students working on campus who fall into the "millineal" age range, and I DO see some characteristics among them mentioned in the ad. So-called millineals have their parents call to speak to their bosses once leaving college to settle employer/employee work disputes!

It just appears that a growing number of young-adults are simply not adult in their actions and expectations of the world (Btw - I'm only from the last end of Gen X, so it's weird to me to look at things some of these younger people do and shake my head, but I find myself doing it). Another term I've heard to describe this generation is "Trophy Kids".

Parents of each generation have taken pains to make sure their children don't have things as rough as they did - which is a great thing in itself - unfortunately we have taken it too far so that now EVERY kid has to have a trophy, even if they didn't win the race, even if they came in dead last. Even if you don't complete a task, you get an award. Even if you don't try, you get an award.

It's resulting in a Harrison Bergeron-ification of our culture, where everyone MUST be equal in all things so NO ONE feel out of place or bad ever (if you've read the story, you know what I mean). The fact is that there are almost always people better or worse than you at any given task. It's like art - I'm not a horrible artist - I can draw fairly well, and better than most people I know, in fact it's how I make a living... but among my friends, there are a few who I would claim are great artists, who have way more talent/ability/skill than I do. And they understand there are people in the world who are even better than them, which give us all something to strive for.

If everyone is told they do just as well as the next person, what's the point of striving? If we're all going to get the same prize, why put any extra effort into anything?

It's the idea that no one should be allowed to fail, so they won't feel bad about not succeeding, regardless of their effort, regardless of their ability. Keeping people from ever failing as children results in adults who can't deal with the simple fact that you don't always get your way, you don't always win - these are lessons you're supposed to learn young, so you gain coping skills by the time you're an adult. Instead, we have a newer generation that has a mindset as a young adult that would be comparable to a teenager in an earlier era.

Keeping people from failing teaches them that life is easy, mom and dad will ALWAYS fix things, everything should always be fair and you should always get your way. I'm sorry, but that's just not the way things are, and unfortunately, I DO see a larger number of people displaying "millineal" or Trophy Kid ideals on the campus at which I work. When things don't work for them, when they get repremanded at work or in class, they stall. They become balky, and can't bounce back from the situation. They get mom or dad to talk to the boss or teacher. They don't appear to take an adult-type of responsibility for their lives.

Also, it's an attitude that's obviously not just found people born in the last 2 decades or so if you look at this bail-out mess we're in. Talk about a sense of entitlement.

An interesting aspect of this that occurred to me is that pamphlets like this seem to be based on the assumption that the older people that the young people are being held up against have stayed the same throughout their lives, with the same expectations as they had when THEY were young. But obviously, this is not necessarily true, especially when you take into account the malleability of memory. If we looked at it more accurately, I think we would see that the young people of today are mostly different from the current older generation's own nostalgic beliefs about themselves as young people.