When Tyler Grady got booted off American Idol last night, he did the thing I see so many students do these days.  He blamed someone else.  It wasn’t his fault for singing a tired song in a clichéd manner.  It wasn’t his fault that his performance lacked energy and sizzle.  It wasn’t his fault that people didn’t vote for him.

No, Tyler Grady blamed the judges for not giving him enough direction.  Please, excuse me while I choke down my urge to smack him.  Give me a freaking break.  I hear this crap from students all the time.  One student, who couldn’t figure out how to type on a word processor, actually blamed the program for putting a space between her last word and end punctuation.  I’ve heard students blame their parents, their siblings, their friends, their teachers, their neighbors, their communities, their environments, their computers, and complete strangers, but I rarely ever hear students hold themselves accountable for their own shortcomings.

I realize that this is nothing new.  People have tried to pass the buck for as long as we have had cognitive functions, but now, it feels like a pandemic with this generation.  They have been so coddled and pampered from conception on that they cannot accept that they are responsible for their own actions.  They are precious butterflies, unique as a snowflake.  They are all winners because if one feels like they’ve lost at something, their feelings may never recover.  How in the hell are these kids ever going to compete in the real world?  In evolutionary terms, they are weak prey, and the strong will devour them because we have weakened them with this precious butterfly nonsense.

God help us when these wimps are running the world.

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