Blaming Mr. Rogers for Young Adults Feeling Entitled? That’s Just Ridiculous.
July 6th, 2007

I read “Why Young Adults Feel So Entitled” by Jeff Zaslow in the July 5th issue of the Wall Street Journal. I read the most ridiculous excuse on why young adults are “entitled.” According to Don Chance, a finance professor at Louisiana State University, “They [Chance’s students] felt so entitled,” Chance recalls, “and it just hit me. We can blame Mr. Rogers.”

Really? Blame Mr. Rogers? Come on! Where do parents fit in? This is a big leap in assuming why there’s a sense of entitlement among the college age population. Zaslow’s article was most likely prompted by the Associated Press’ press release titled, “Why young adults feel so entitled.” Here’s an excerpt by the Associated Press on the issue:

Fred Rogers, the late TV icon, told several generations of children that they were “special” just for being whoever they were. He meant well, and he was a sterling role model in many ways. But what often got lost in his self-esteem-building patter was the idea that being special comes from working hard and having high expectations for yourself.

Now Mr. Rogers, like Dr. Spock before him, has been targeted for re-evaluation. And he’s not the only one. As educators and researchers struggle to define the new parameters of parenting, circa 2007, some are revisiting the language of child ego-boosting. What are the downsides of telling kids they’re special? Is it a mistake to have children call us by our first names? When we focus all conversations on our children’s lives, are we denying them the insights found when adults talk about adult things?

This notion is one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard. Personally, I grew up on Mr. Rogers. And I don’t feel entitled. I didn’t ask for special favors or even call adults by the first names as a child. My parents were the primary reason for why I believe in working hard. I learned that feeling special resulted from working hard, not because Mr. Rogers told me that “I was special.” I remember feeling good about myself when Mr. Rogers said that I should feel good about myself, but that’s all.

Zaslow continues his article by mentioning, “Signs of narcissism among college students have been rising for 25 years, according to a recent study led by a San Diego State University psychologist. Obviously, Mr. Rogers alone can’t be blamed for this. But as Prof. Chance sees it, “he’s representative of a culture of excessive doting.” At least, this study is pointing in the right direction, perhaps at the parents, rather than Mr. Rogers or even Sesame Street?

Here’s a radical idea: someone should do a longitudinal study comparing a large sample of Mr. Rogers viewers to non-Mr. Rogers viewers over a twenty-year time period, so they can discover if Mr. Rogers really is to blame for this sense of entitlement. Until this study is done, I recommend we leave the memory of Mr. Rogers alone. Is he really the reason why young adults believe they should get special favors? I doubt it. How you can you blame anyone who was kind enough to tell children, “You know, you don’t have to look like everybody else to be acceptable and to feel acceptable.”


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