Today's College Students Lack Empathy

It's not really hard to understand why empathy is decreased when everything has become a competition.

In my engineering school, GPA is everything, and you rarely get a raw grade in the engineering classes, you get a normalized grade relative to how everyone else did. It's really easy to lose empathy when you realize that if everyone else does poorly, your grade gets a lot better.

Also, when you get told every day that the world is out to get you and "good luck finding a job", etc... it's very, very easy to become bitter and disenfranchised.

Add to that the stress of potentially having to pay for health insurance and social security for a lot of people, and you have an excellent recipe for completely selfish young people.

HINT: If you're not selfish, someone else will come along and try to take what's yours from you.

I hate to be that way, but honestly, if you don't look out for yourself in education, the job market, and life in general, you're going to get blindsided and end up really, really screwed.
 
Um, just for the record, economically liberal and pro-choice don't necessarily go together. For example, Catholics. Economically liberal, socially conservative. There's enough things to not like about people without lumping them all together.
 
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DariustheSandman said:
Um, just for the record, economically liberal and pro-choice don't necessarily go together. For example, Catholics. Economically liberal, socially conservative. There's enough things to not like about people without lumping them all together.
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Might have been the case 30-40 years ago, but with the new liberals (aka communists) I doubt much Catholic support will be found.
 
Lack of empathy? for some reason i just dont care....
 
Its also the generation sending a lot of their peers into the military. I think once the ones in the armed forces move on to civilian life the author will be singing a different tune.
 
One of the better articles on the intertubes.


Empathy seem to grow and mature with the individual and considering the average state of parenting, schools, and intertube activity the growth of empathy likely doesn't even start until after college.

also going on a limb with this one it could be the movies and TV in which they choose to surround them selfs with. I'm sure college kids aren't watch movies like hotel Rwanda or Shindlers list, but rather movies for retards like transformers and fast and the furious.
 
qdemn7 said:
Much of Libertarian / Republican / Conservative / Tea Party / Teabagger political rhetoric essentially boils down to:

"As long as I've got mine, screw everyone else."
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Guess that's why studies have shown that Conservatives give a much larger percentage of thier income to charity that Liberals/Progressives.
 
Monkey God said:
Massive unemployment? Tell that to all the illegal aliens working jobs "Americans" dont want. Todays generations is too good to work fast food or other "low paying" jobs.
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Except wages have been driven into the ground for these jobs because illegals don't have to pay taxes. That's why no one wants them, you can barely even (and in many cases not even) earn a living wage legally.
 
Monkey God said:
Massive unemployment? Tell that to all the illegal aliens working jobs "Americans" dont want. Todays generations is too good to work fast food or other "low paying" jobs. Public debt? While that is very saddening, it has shit to do with your personal feelings. You cant control the world, only yourself.
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So you expect college students (assuming they graduate) who have spent 4 years learning higher education and incurring student loan debt to be happy with working at McDonalds or as a day laborer? Thats absolute bullshit.

Working at fast food joints and working on peoples lawns are for unskilled laborers, high school students and anyone with an liberal arts degree.
 
The 'no student left behind' aka 'education left behind' act was implemented by Bush and supported by both sides of the politcal system. Don't try to shift the blame for this fuckup.
 
MavericK96 said:
Except wages have been driven into the ground for these jobs because illegals don't have to pay taxes. That's why no one wants them, you can barely even (and in many cases not even) earn a living wage legally.
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Bullshit. I made *minimum* wages in early 90's ($4.25/hr) and somehow managed to live in an apartment and keep a car running while I went to school and tried to improve myself. Yes, I know stuff is more expensive today, but is that $100 /mo iphone and $400/car payment and 50" LCD really necessary? The real problem is peoples minimum accepted standard of living has grown much faster than their earning potential. Whos fault is that?

Get out and work for what you want. Lower your standard of living if you have too.
 
TexasAg05 said:
It's not the possession or lack of empathy that concerns me about the kids/young adults that are currently in school.

It is the ever-increasing sense of entitlement that they seem to have. This idea of "I deserve it simply because I tried," or worse yet, "I deserve it simply because I am here," is getting out of control.
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This is due to the Liberal/Progressive teachings in the schools.

They are so worried about fairness and brusing johnny's poor ego, they fail at teaching hard work and disipline. What you end up with is a bunch of kids who don't know what failer is, and expect everyone to take care of them.

Fairness is giving everyone the same oportunity, not forcing the same outcome.
What people do with that oportunity is up to them.
 
nutzo said:
This is due to the Liberal/Progressive teachings in the schools.

They are so worried about fairness and brusing johnny's poor ego, they fail at teaching hard work and disipline. What you end up with is a bunch of kids who don't know what failer is, and expect everyone to take care of them.

Fairness is giving everyone the same oportunity, not forcing the same outcome.
What people do with that oportunity is up to them.
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Not everyone has the same opportunities. Conservatives falsely believe this is so, and that everyone is on an equal playing field - this isn't, and never will be the case.

You should also cite your sources when you make claims such as "Conservatives give more to charity than Liberals". It's quite easy for me to claim the opposite.

That said, if it's even true, so what? Liberals are willing to pay more taxes and give more support to government programs who help the less fortunate in this country. What's the difference between that and giving money to charity, exactly?
 
[Tripod]MajorPayne;1035766686 said:
HINT: If you're not selfish, someone else will come along and try to take what's yours from you.
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Think about it, what's more selfish

1. Working hard, taking care your own family, and donating to charities when you can.
or
2. Voting for a politician that will take (tax) money from others and give it to people they think deserve it.(usually people that will vote for them).
 
Keep up the good work guys...you all make me look nice.

And for the OP, typically for one to have empathy they must have a frame of reference for struggle. The philosophy of sacrificing nothing except what others have does not register such sympathy, courtesy or compassion.
 
There is a lot of wrong information here.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was largely a framework to even education across demographics. While there is language in it discussing violence, classroom disturbances and transportation, the intent was to implement a way to track student progress regardless of situation. The law also caused states to require qualifications for teachers. The biggest flaw was a lack of funding for examinations and grading, increased transportation costs if children were removed form a district over violence, etc. It was a positive step but with the lack of public understanding or support, it became a quick crutch in arguments like this. I did a research project on this junior year of college and according to statistics of 12 states from different regions, many self reported(as is required by the law and we noted), little was actually changed for better or worse. Many of these laws would serve best as steps, but it seems from reading responses that many want them to be instant fixes.

As for the Republicans donating more money, last I understood the Republican demographic also tends to be more affluent, so that doesn't necessarily equate to anything moral. Not necessarily bad, though.

I would agree with Monkey God in that the minimum accepted standard is significantly higher now, but I found from personal experience that it can fall significantly to luck. Someone else's mistakes, be it a car accident or other similar event, can instantly make it impossible to get to work or school. I got lucky, not everyone does. Regardless of any sense of entitlement, losing your job or getting lower marks in school because of some event sucks.

Also, any combining of ideals when generalizing is just bound to end in error. You can be economically, socially, fiscally, morally aligned however and based on experience it will all come together. And is anyone else tired of the words socialism/communism being thrown around with little to know context or understanding?
 
This is not the result of the internet. It is the result of network TV and the shows and commercials they choose to show. These reality TV shows are so much "screw everyone else, I want to win, and I'll do whatever it takes to do it." The commercials are all "treat yourself, think about today" and in effect push people to ignore what their actions do to others and what their actions do to their own future.

This is why I got away from TV and have gone with computer gaming, especially MMOs. I work with others to conquer aspects of the game. Much more social interaction than the boobtube, and much more thought goes into it. TV executives have become our downfall.
 
Chombo said:
So you expect college students (assuming they graduate) who have spent 4 years learning higher education and incurring student loan debt to be happy with working at McDonalds or as a day laborer? Thats absolute bullshit.
\QUOTE]

I work fast food, while working my way through college. Unlike some of my fellow student who where there on mommy & daddy's dime. Nothing like going to school full time with working 3+ hours a week to teach you what hard work is all about.

After graduation and moving on to a better job, I always work overtime when I could. I actually had people ask my "how could you stand working so many hours" to which I would reply "It's alot less hours than when I was in school & working full time"
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omegadot said:
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was largely a framework to even education across demographics. While there is language in it discussing violence, classroom disturbances and transportation, the intent was to implement a way to track student progress regardless of situation. The law also caused states to require qualifications for teachers. The biggest flaw was a lack of funding for examinations and grading, increased transportation costs if children were removed form a district over violence, etc. It was a positive step but with the lack of public understanding or support, it became a quick crutch in arguments like this.
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The lack of understanding was largely the fault of the major news stations. They chose to leave out much of the information on how it worked, and criticize just because the Republicans were behind it.

On top of that, it put a lot of teachers in a position of either doing their jobs or losing them, which the teacher union vehemently opposed. I've known far too many teachers who never deserved to keep their jobs but did, only because of the union: most of these being English teachers. Even their fellow teachers didn't like their work habits, but there was nothing to do to get rid of them.
 
i think another thing that is making people more jaded and less empathetic is the whole lack of job security thing... before if you got a city/county/government job you were set for life, you retired from there... now, not so much, local governments here have been laying off people like crazy..

additionally the attitude that a lot of employers have of "well you should be happy you have a job" is really really aggravating when you work for years without pay increases and such... because after all, if you leave theres 10 other people waiting to take your place
 
raz-0 said:
You want to know why todays youth don't score well on empathy self-inventories?

Because they ask you questions about "do you often try to imagine what your friends are feeling?"

You know what, when your friends are blathering every frikin detail of their moods into the ether via social networking, texting, blogging, etc. You don't HAVE to imagine what they are thinking. Hell, you probably want to be able to do the opposite, and imagine what it would be like to not have to be privy to half that useless crap they spew.
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Ditto. Because when half the girls on the list (and sometimes guys) are blathering on about the useless shit, you don't care anywhere near as much when something they say is actually serious.

It's like the boy who cried wolf, same concept.
 
steal said:
Not everyone has the same opportunities. Conservatives falsely believe this is so.
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Not true, nobody is saying that everyone has the same opportunities.
Life isn't fair, but that doesn't change anything, the sooner you learn that the better.
Some people may have to work twice as hard, but that's life, get over it.

I had to pay my own way through college, while others had rich parents to pay their way.
I've seen a lot of these rich kids waste their parents money instead of working hard to graduate.



"You should also cite your sources when you make claims such as "Conservatives give more to charity than Liberals". It's quite easy for me to claim the opposite."

A simple goggle search will show I'm right. There are several studies & books that have been written on this subject, including one a few years ago that was written by some who was very liberal and was shocked by the results. Also, look at the % of income the past several presidents gave to charity (before they became candidates and had their $ in the limelight)

steal said:
That said, if it's even true, so what? Liberals are willing to pay more taxes and give more support to government programs who help the less fortunate in this country. What's the difference between that and giving money to charity, exactly?
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If you don't know the difference between Charities and Government your beyond reasoning with... (Try voluntary vs. force to start with)
 
dgingeri said:
The lack of understanding was largely the fault of the major news stations. They chose to leave out much of the information on how it worked, and criticize just because the Republicans were behind it.

On top of that, it put a lot of teachers in a position of either doing their jobs or losing them, which the teacher union vehemently opposed. I've known far too many teachers who never deserved to keep their jobs but did, only because of the union: most of these being English teachers. Even their fellow teachers didn't like their work habits, but there was nothing to do to get rid of them.
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I agree that it put too much pressure on educators, which is why I see it as a positive step and certainly not a good end-state. I think a lot more problems are caused by the media than can ever be easily fixed.

Good point about the unions as well. Something else that was a positive step but grew in a terrible direction, in some situations.
 
Monkey God said:
Bullshit. I made *minimum* wages in early 90's ($4.25/hr) and somehow managed to live in an apartment and keep a car running while I went to school and tried to improve myself. Yes, I know stuff is more expensive today, but is that $100 /mo iphone and $400/car payment and 50" LCD really necessary? The real problem is peoples minimum accepted standard of living has grown much faster than their earning potential. Whos fault is that?

Get out and work for what you want. Lower your standard of living if you have too.
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Okay so, apparently it's my fault that, even not having all of those expenses that you listed, working minimum wage is barely/not enough to pay rent/electricity/living expenses if you live near the city where the few jobs are? Alright, buddy. :rolleyes:

nutzo said:
After graduation and moving on to a better job
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Well, lucky you, you actually got a better job after college. A lot of us haven't been so fortunate.
 
nutzo said:
A simple goggle search will show I'm right. There are several studies & books that have been written on this subject, including one a few years ago that was written by some who was very liberal and was shocked by the results. Also, look at the % of income the past several presidents gave to charity (before they became candidates and had their $ in the limelight)
)
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That does ignore the issue that candidates usually follow a fairly common path through politics to the White House and they know that their money will be in the limelight if it wasn't already. That said, money to charity usually is a good thing, depending on how much actually gets to the needy folk, animals, organization, whatever.
 
What a load of crap. Young and old people have ALWAYS been self-centered, entitlement-minded twits, and there is no good evidence to suggest that any given generation is any worse than another.

The exception is the Baby Boomer generation, which, in the brief span of time it's had enough power to control the course of the nation, has managed to cause a meltdown of both the financial and real economy through reckless over-borrowing, distorted incentives, and a national belief in the wisdom of industry self-regulation (aka foxes guarding the henhouse). This is the generation that demanded 8,000 sq ft McMansions with 4 car garages containing oversized SUV's, situated in subdivisions with 1 entry and exit and no sidewalks, borrowing against their children and grandchildrens' futures to finance it all. They now fight tooth and nail against even the most modest reforms to curb spending growth on Medicare and Social Security that threatens to literally backrupt the nation, and yet complain endlessly about the generation THEY RAISED having an entitlement complex. Unbelievable.

I have nothing against any individual boomer (my parents are both boomers), but as a generation they're really the most irresponsible and destructive of the last 100 years. Let's also not forget that even though they are all about telling others to take personal responsibility nowadays, this was the generation that spawned the hippies 40 years ago, possibly the social movement with the least per-person productivity in history (other unproductive movements were at least much smaller as a proportion of the population).
 
Of course life isn't fair, but you take what you can get and do the best you can with it.

There have always been people who were bad (or just plain stupid) with their money. Look at the "pro" athletes who make mega bucks but are bankrupt. Its all about having a level head on your shoulders and keeping your eye on whats really important.
 
Dirk13 said:
The 'no student left behind' aka 'education left behind' act was implemented by Bush and supported by both sides of the politcal system. Don't try to shift the blame for this fuckup.
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Conservatives weren't happy with Bush's domestic programs. They certainly don't praise him like Reagan.

It's more accurate to say that not everyone has the same starting point. Conservatism says that the person who started with less can achieve far more than someone who began with "more opportunities" but didn't care enough to try to take advantage of that. The conservative wishes to see that the homeless guy pulls himself out of the gutter. Sure they can donate to charity and help the poor, but they are most happy when they hear of these success stories. The liberal just accepts that the homeless guy won't pull himself out of the gutter, and figures that the government is adequate for his situation.

steal said:
Not everyone has the same opportunities. Conservatives falsely believe this is so, and that everyone is on an equal playing field - this isn't, and never will be the case.

You should also cite your sources when you make claims such as "Conservatives give more to charity than Liberals". It's quite easy for me to claim the opposite.

That said, if it's even true, so what? Liberals are willing to pay more taxes and give more support to government programs who help the less fortunate in this country. What's the difference between that and giving money to charity, exactly?
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Try reading Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism

One of the most evil conservatives (Rush Limbaugh) gives a lot to charity. I think top 10 of celebs for a year. And he never talks about it on his show.

Merely some liberals are willing to pay more taxes. Maybe 50%+? think they won't get taxed since they aren't uber rich. The difference between government and charity, is that government is far less efficient. It also takes away the benevolent spirit of giving. When a liberal thinks taxes should go to the poor, they are thinking that someone else's taxes, namely the rich should go to the poor. When a conservative gives from his/her wallet, the conservative is the active participant. The giving comes from the giver, and not from someone else.
 
Edit, typo... the quote:

It's more accurate to say that not everyone has the same starting point. Conservatism says that the person who started with less can achieve far more than someone who began with "more opportunities" but didn't care enough to try to take advantage of that. The conservative wishes to see that the homeless guy pulls himself out of the gutter. Sure they can donate to charity and help the poor, but they are most happy when they hear of these success stories. The liberal just accepts that the homeless guy won't pull himself out of the gutter, and figures that the government is adequate for his situation.
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was supposed to be in response to steal's post, not Dirk13's.
 
Motivation.jpg


But seriously...
the-one1 said:
Tell me about it. "Americans" don't want illegals here but they (Americans) won't do the jobs the illegals do. So who is going to do them? Beuller, Beuller?
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A friend of mine use to be a supervisor on a blueberry farm (plantation/hatchery/whatever you want to call it).
All of the laborers were from Mexico and all of them had work visas. Meaning they were all here legally.

I remember a local news story a few years back about motels & hotels in the area having a staffing shortage.
To remedy that, they flew in students from Russia & Ukraine to work for the summer.
Once again, all of those people were here legally.

There is a legal solution to the problem, we don't need people here illegally.
 
On charitable giving, take the giving percentage of Obama and Biden before they campaigned for Pres/vice and compare it to their republican counterparts.
 
Parmenides said:
On charitable giving, take the giving percentage of Obama and Biden before they campaigned for Pres/vice and compare it to their republican counterparts.
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So we get 1 example of Democrat compared to multiple examples of Republicans for one isntance? How can you even think that is a meaningful number.
 
AdamNesvick said:
Might have been the case 30-40 years ago, but with the new liberals (aka communists) I doubt much Catholic support will be found.
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I don't need to be a *communist* :rolleyes: to hate Catholics and all other massed religions, I just need common sense.
 
MavericK96 said:
Okay so, apparently it's my fault that, even not having all of those expenses that you listed, working minimum wage is barely/not enough to pay rent/electricity/living expenses if you live near the city where the few jobs are? Alright, buddy. :rolleyes:
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you can thank your liberal buddies for driving up the costs of things like electricity (forcing electric companies to have a certain % of wind power, which has driven up my electricity bill to triple what it was in the late 90's.) and natural gas (by limiting the offshore drilling, we now have to import more and more natural gas, which has driven up the cost) and rent (you don't think apartment owners just reduce their profit, which is minimal, when the property taxes go up, do you? no, they pass on those increases to their renters.)

The fact of the matter is many liberal plots have driven up our costs across the board. Mandatory safety features on cars drive up car costs to, adjusted for inflation, triple the costs of cars back in the 70's. Eco terrorists have limited the wood that can be harvested, driving up the costs of house building to more than 10 times the costs in the 70s, even adjusted for inflation. Mandatory renewable electricity from the power stations has driven up the costs of that as well. Sure, they don't show up on the individual kWHr costs, but they come up with other costs to cover it anyway. Look for a "Electrical Commodity cost" entry on your bill. Mine is more than half my electricity bill now. Back in the 90's, I was paying $35-40 per bill, even with my AC on constantly, and now I'm paying over $110 with my AC and computer off most of the time. If the eco-nuts would back off the lies about nuclear power plants, we'd cut the cost of electricity back down to where it should be.

Then there is the increase in costs of gasoline from the liberal side...


MavericK96 said:
Well, lucky you, you actually got a better job after college. A lot of us haven't been so fortunate.
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You should have thought ahead and majored in something that was actually in demand. your English degree isn't going create a new writer or teacher job magically. Go back to school for computer security and you'll have a guaranteed job when you get out. That's what I'm doing.
 
Parmenides said:
On charitable giving, take the giving percentage of Obama and Biden before they campaigned for Pres/vice and compare it to their republican counterparts.
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Better yet, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. I'm not so sure why this topic is so politicized, but lets not pretend the silly liberals don't give charitably.
 
nutzo said:
Guess that's why studies have shown that Conservatives give a much larger percentage of thier income to charity that Liberals/Progressives.
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Lets us not forget that Conservatives start more wars, create bullshit religion oh and they also love to hold back progress whether it be female, homosexual or minorities rights.
 
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