Coles's long article focuses on senses of entitlement among affluent children. Coles relies on a lot of personal experience with kids as he makes his case. Of the stories, which struck the loudest chord for you? Which do you remember best and why? What can we lear from Cole's piece?
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The story that struck me the most was the one about the Appalachian mine-owners home. I found it intersting because the boy was talking about the explosion, and how it was the miner's fault because they get careless. This boy really looked up to his father, and knows he lives a good life. He realizes when he plays games with a friend, someone has to lose. He talks about his future, and how he wants to be an astronaut or maybe a lawyer. He talks about his dreams and what he dreams he will have someday. He seems confident about his future, and has no real sense of danger.
This story struck me the most because I found myself very focused when I started reading this part of the story. I think it is interesting to look at what a child thinks of his parents, and how he lookes up to him. I also find it intersting how this child can have so ideas of what he wants to do or be when he grows up.
From Coles piece, we can look into the minds of the children, and see what "entitlement" really means. Throught this story, I was able to realize the life that some of these kids live, and how entitlement is carried on throughout the stories of the kids.
I really thought that Entitlement was a very intersesting article. Honestly much of it stuck with me. What stuck with me most was the young boy knowing that he was going to do well because he came from sucess. From a very young age he knew that he was going to be as succesfull as his predecessors. I have seen this happen. I feel like sucess breeds sucess. I think that if you are set up in a sucessful environment at a very young age you will see what is necessary to get there. I think that this stuck with me the most because I have seen it throughout my life, from people I know personally or people that I have heard of. There are many companies that have been passed on to heirs and they have done well. People have followed in their relatives footsteps to go on and have very successfull political careers. I think that we can learn many things from Coles piece. We can see that entitlment can send you either way. It can spoil you rotten and you can end up like Paris Hilton, or it can just send you towards success.
The story that really struck a chord with me was the one describing the girl who gets chicken pox. What was interesting here is how the chicken pox affected her whole image of herself in the way that they did. The remarkable transition from being completely confident and sure of her attractiveness to seeing herself as completely unattractive is fascinating to consider. I believe that when this girl gets older, her confidence will not be able to be shaken in this way, by such a trivial matter. It is interesting to note that she is still malleable enough in her ideas that she can be profoundly affected by such a temporary issue. She has not quite taken on the unshakeable confidence that one associates with the very rich that she is bound to aquire in later years, though she is on her way.
I think that her fears can apply somewhat universally. At least for me, whenevever I used to get breakouts, or poison ivy, I had the secret worry that they would somehow never go away, that I would somehow look like this forever (though of course I knew that this was completely irrational). I think this is due in part to the fact that we have no control over these phenomena. We can control a lot of things in our life, but the things we cannot tend to be the scariest, at least for me.
I think the story that stuck with me the most was the rich girl who had chicken pox. I thought it was interesting because she believed that if she were ugly she wouldn't be as accepted in society and she was only a child when she thought this. The story starts out telling of how she used lotion for her skin, wore pretty lipstick, cared for her hair, and wore "natural" nail polish. People told her she would one day be an attractive women and her parents shown her pictures off all over the house. When she got chicken pox she knew that if she scratched them that one day they would leave marks on her body and she did not want to do that. She even told her family members not to look at her. After her pox were gone she was angry at herself for scratching at one which left a mark on her arm.
It stuck with me because beauty is so highly valued in our society that even small children often do not feel good enough about themselves; which is the lat thing a child should be thinking about.
Because of Coles story we can learn how others view their worlds which gives us an insight into our own life.
The story that hit me hardest was the one about the boy who's father was a mine owner. I thought was surprised at how content the boy was with his family and possessions. He seemed very thankful for his family's health and thanked God that his family was safe after a recent accident in one of his father's coal mines.
In the story, the boy was always an optimist. He looked forward to breakfast because he loved to hear what was going on that day. However, as the story continued, the boy started to get more and more things and began to realize that he could get or do whatever he dreamed. I feel like that is a bad thing because one day the child will fail at something and not know how to cope with it. He talks about having multiple professions, but in the future he will have to chose one and live the rest of his life with that decision.
Coles story showed me many different points of view from children and their ideas of entitlement. I think that entitled children do not fully understand the real world and it is not until they are older that they find out what life is all about. When they are young, life seems care-free, but as they grow they experience many new things and people and find out that life isn't as glamorous as they think it is.
I really liked the story of the boy whose father owned a coal mining business. He sees his father as sort of a hero figure, which I always thought of both my parents when I was young. He looks at many different paths for his life even though he knows in his mind exactly where he is going. This character really connected with me. I love the part where he is playing war and has the discussion with his sister. He shows that he understands her side and her literal minded view, but that he also wants to have a little imagination in his game as well.
I think it really highlights the way kids look at life. Everything they have or do is automatically the best, but they slowly come to realize that is not always the case and that everyone can make mistakes and that not everyone is the best at the same things.
I think coles peice really shows how different children in different circumstances feel entitled to certain things and how it affects what is most important to them.
The story about the boy who knew he would be successful because he came from success. His extreme self confidence was borderline hubris. He felt that everything would work out for him no matter what. He was high expectations and it did not worry him at the least. Was it because he was young and naive? I do not know.
We can learn that those whom have it all at the beginning have more opportunities to succeed. Children can be spoiled very easily and become lazy. Children of entitlement often feel a sense of duty to exceed their parents wealth and power and other times they grow up not caring and blowing family fortunes. Often the rich are intelligent and they breed intelligence allowing offspring to amass more fortune.
The last two stories are the ones that I remember the most mainly because I. The Last story about the grower and the son stood out because spoke of a child who felt entitled to be rewarded for being good and at first his father was upset with the him until the father realized that the boy had acquired the skill of speaking up for himself for what he thought was right. From Coles piece we can learn that entitlement comes in many forms and thus result in many after effects which can misconstude the mentalities of poeple and children.
Most of what Coles article expressed struck me in man ways. I guess the one about the boy that was going to do well because he came from success is the one i best remember. Its hard not to be successful hen you grow up in a successful environment like this boy did. I have many friends whose families are successful and they also grow up to be successful or will be. Most children with wealthy families are led to be successful. They are bred that way. Entitlement can have a lot of perspectives for poeple. You can be successful or be spoiled.
The story I remember most is about the young ten year old boy from Westchester County. Although his parents were civil rights activists, the boy still went to a private school. Although he told his father that he wished he went to a public school so he could speak his mind, his father told him that he needed to do what was best for himself first and then do for others. This seems senseless to me because you could do both things at once. It is even a little hypocritical to have the father put the child in a position where it is not acceptable to consider yourself equal to blacks. The child was still learning that he was better than others in that he was told he needed to further his education first before assisting others. Many of the children in the article seemed to know things beyond their years, and this was not necessarily a good thing. Children are supposed to be carefree when they are young, not worry about what they will inherit upon adulthood or what their place in society is supposed to be.
The story that struck the loudest chord for me was the story about the children whose dad was having surgery. It was interesting to see how they expected that everything would be fine. Cole's explanation for why they believed that was very interesting and is why I remember this story the most. He states that people who have never had a reason not to believe that everything would work out, generally believe all will be okay. I readily believe that is a plausible explanation for why some people expect life to work out their way. From Cole's piece, I believe we learn that feeling entitlement does not necessarily mean one is spoiled rotten; therefore we can not always look at the well-to-do with the "narcissistic" entitlement stereotype.
The story that I remember the most was the one about the boy who knew that he would be successful because his family was. Since he came from success, he knew what it took to be successful and he also had the means of getting an education. Having someone to look up to makes it much easier o do good. Successful people for the most part had successful parents and so on. If your parents are successful then they will have just as high of expectations that their parents had for them. This will push you to do good. Surrounding yourself with people who have the same goals as you will help you reach those goals easier.
The young boy expected to be successful because that is all he has known. He will get an education and a job, because that is what is expected of him.
I thought entitlement was a very good story that had several very good points. I thought that the boy whose father owned a mine was very advanced in his thoughts. I think he had a sense of the world beyond what he should at that age. He also seemed to have a larger understanding of things than what he grew up with would give him. Growing up with a family that was well off but not necessarily well educated doesn't always create the best environment for encouraging advanced education. The thought that would come to my mind is that if my father was able to do well without higher education why would I need it. But this boy goes beyond that and realizes he can accomplish more than his father did. I think that requires a lot of motivation and thought. I found this impressive because although I am motivated for higher learning both my parents graduated college and my mother obtained a masters degree. I can't imagine thinking to become a lawyer or doctor had my parents only graduated high school. I found this boy to be impressive and somewhat inspiring.
Like others, I found the young girl with chicken pox as an example that stuck with me the most. What was most shocking about this story is how something so ordinary in childhood, such as the chicken poxs, could be considered a flaw. This thinking directly correlated to the views of her mother. She even says that her mother put scales in each of their bathroom so that her children would learn a healthy habit. Children learn that the only way to be liked or achieve their goals is to be beautiful and skinny. This young girl saw the chicken pox as a sign that she was not beautiful; therefore, she resulted in nothing. She compares her mother's gray hair to her having the chicken pox. However, in no way in the young girl to blame as she is only a direct image of what her parents teach her.
The story that stuck with me the most was the one about the little boy that was raised in Westchester. He went to a private catholic school and was the outcast. His parents would not let him go to a public school, even though the little boy wanted to. He felt trapped in his private school because he has so much he wanted to say and felt like he could not say what he believed do to his school. The main reason why he wanted to attend a public school was because he thought it would be a lot easier for him to speak his mind.
I don't really understand this that much because I went to private catholic schooling all my life and they encouraged speaking your mind and saying what you believe. I found this story interesting because I could relate to the little boy a little but then again I could not.
The story that i remember the most is the girl getting the chicken pox. To me it just showed how much society really does care about a persons beauty more than whats on the inside.
It just made me think about my 4 year old niece and how even at her age she still thinks about how she looks, she will say she wants to put lipstick on to look beautiful. I just think it says a lot about our society as a whole.
I think when kids pay enough attention to how they look its time for society to change how they view looks. The fact that the girl wouldn't scratch the chicken pox because she was told it would leave scars which aren't attractive is amazing to me.
The story that most appealed to me was the story about the young boy who anticipated easy success because of his wealthy upbringing. I agree that wealthy families typically stay wealthy, but at times once so much wealth is accumulated, there is no longer a sense of urgency to actually do work, but just reap the benefits. I think I identified with this story so much because I know a lot of people whose attitudes are based on the belief that if they mess up, struggle, or fail, it doesn't matter because their families will be there to pick them up.
On the other hand, children brought up in families that teach their children how to be successful by diligence and hard dedicated work throughout their lives are more geared towards being successful when they are older by either inheriting their families companies and continuing their growth and achievement, or by starting from the ground up and using their prior knowledge to nurture a successful entrepreneurship.
the story that grabbed my attention the most was the one where he talked about the boy that grew up knowing e was going to be a successful person. I found it very interesting that the boy felt this way even from such a young age. he had such great confidence but i feel like if everyone felt that way the world would be so much more successful as a whole .
through Cole essay y eyes were truly opened to what entitlement really is, and i made me think about how entitlement is in existence.
I remember the girl with chicken pox. I remember it because I could relate to the minimal amount of suffering she went through from my own experiences. I couldn't believe how bratty she was about it all. It seemed so strange to me that a girl that young would be so worried about a scar from a chicken pox. It was also interesting how her father related her to her mother but she couldn't understand that.
I remember the story of the maid who took care of two rich kids. She said that she went into the job expecting bratty kids, but was then suprised. These kids were better mannered and more respectful then her own. She even said that she wished her kids acted like them sometimes.
I think I remember this becuase it was just kind of ironic. The maid had pre-judged what these kids would be like. When she saw how the kids really were, she had new opinions on the "high class".
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