You owe me!

Today a few of my younger FB friends were stating their anger over not getting a better grade. They are upset because their grades are a few percentage points under what they needed to get the next higher grade. Their professors "SUCK" and are "HEARTLESS" because they won't round up. What is heartless about getting a grade that you earned? I can think of many reasons a professor might suck... but giving you the grade that you earned is not one of them.

I don't really have a lot to say about this particular subject right now, I'm just pondering the sense of entitlement that so many people seem to have these days.

I recall a conversation I had with my daughter nearly 10 years ago, as she was about to become a licensed driver. I said to her, "It seems that you EXPECT your dad and I to buy you a car, as if it's your right to own a car now that you'll be getting your license." After some thought on her part she said, "You know, I think you're right. I almost DO expect it... everyone I know is getting a car from their parents, it just seems like a normal part of a parent's 'job', to buy a car for their kid." The cool part for me as a parent, is that at that moment she realized that it wasn't her "right" to have us buy her a car, and that in the long run it would probably be better for her if she wasn't handed everything she wanted.

A neighbor of ours used to buy things for her children if they behaved well in school. An acquaintance of mine told me of an experience in which they were one hour late for an appointment because it took them nearly that long to get their grand-daughter to agree to being in the car seat. I'm sure my hubby and I have at one time or another been guilty of bribing our children to get the behavior we wanted from them.

But I'd like to think that we saved those times for things that weren't really important for the character building of our children.

There are exceptions to almost every rule, and there are certainly instances when a student may get an unfair grade... but I sure would love it if I would see FB comments that went something like this: Damn! I was only .32 % away from the next grade up... I suck!"