Introduction
Academic entitlement is a momentous topic in educational research that dates back to 1944. Through discussed in the context of apartheid in 1944, the topic of academic entitlement has over the years delved into psychological, demographic and behavioral variable that characterize entitled students. Despite this increased research in the topic of academic entitlement, no common definition stands of what academic entitlement denotes. However, drawing from the definition of psychological entitlement, researchers attest that academic entitlement is a relatively stable trait that has the following facets:
- A sense of deserving more than others
- Little consideration of ones qualities (Singleton-Jackson et al, 2011)
This gives the impression that entitled students believe they deserve some high academic reward that is not justifiable based on their academic achievement. The ideal symptoms of such a student include a belief that:
- Knowledge is a right achieved with minimal effort on the student’s part
- High academic grades come not from mastering academic materials but from non-academic aspects of education
- A student’s poor performance in a test indicates the difficulty of the test rather than the difficulty in the student’s understating of the academic materials (Sparks, 2012).
In essence, academic entitlement makes student have high expectations for their academic achievements without considering their academic qualities or performance. This reduces the student’s effort in academics while leading to exasperating confrontations with teachers in the event the student attains academic grades that are lower than his or her expectations. Researchers relate the sense of academic entitlement to increased parental pressure, increased competition among peers as well as heightened sense of achievement anxiety. Consequently, the misperception that the level of effort is directly proportional to the quality of work as well contributes significantly to the rise of the sense of academic entitlement in students (Roosevelt, 2009). In light of this discussion, this paper seeks to present a persuasive argument regarding the topic of academic entitlement. In this quest, the paper highlights the significance of demystifying the sense of academic entitlement in students and helping them develop realistic expectations of academic achievement.
Academic entitlement
The sense of academic entitlement is highly associated with the youth leading to the perception that there exists an entitlement generation comprising of individuals born after 1970. However, some researchers argue that the entitlement generation comprises mainly of the millennials (Woodell, 2009). Generally referred to as the Y generation, the millennials have a high emphasis of education, a high sense of social consciousness, a high sense of entrepreneurship and a high sense of family focus, consequently, the Y generation have a high sense of entitlement coupled with high expectations. The entitlement generation is a generation that has an exaggerated sense of self-esteem thus increasing their sense of entitlement. This description of the entitlement generation provides inconsistent impressions of a generation shift fostering the argument that the entitlement generation is more of a societal shift than a generational shift. This demystifies the perception that academic entitlement is a topic pegged among the youth (Manning, 2007).
Despite this argument, the contentious issue regarding academic entitlement remains the argument whether entitlement is always bad. Jake Halpern in ‘The New Me Generation’ argues that the entitlement generation posses qualities such as smartness, brashness, arrogance as well as an authoritative sense of entitlement. On the brighter side, Jake Halpern argues that the entitlement generation comprises of freethinkers who possess the enthusiasm and desire to break the status quo and chase their dreams. In essence, the confidence brought about by the sense of entitlement makes individuals of the entitlement generation accomplish greater things. However, from an academic point of view, academic entitlement is disastrous in the sense that it influences students to equate effort with mastery or understanding of academic materials (Halpern, 2007). This has a significant impact in the student’s learning ability by influencing the feedback that teachers ought to give to such students. As Prof. Marshall Grossman attributes, entitled students have high expectations for high academic grades. In this regard, teachers need to take into consideration the implication of the feedback they provide on the student’s high self-esteem, high expectations and high sense of entitlement (Roosevelt, 2009).
An example in this is that the teacher can first attribute the student’s positive performance in the test prior to offering the correction and suggestions on how the student can improve his or her grades. In cases of extreme sense of entitlement, this application may not work as the student may fail to distinguish between his academic performance and his academic effort thus leading to irritating confrontations with the teacher. The point of emphasis in this is that academic entitlement is not ideal as it hinders a student’s learning ability. However, a tolerable sense of entitlement is ideal as it influences self-confidence in a student thus making him or her achieve greater academic performance (Woodell, 2009).
With the increasing trend of academic entitlement among the youth and particularly the millennials, there is an increased need to foster the demystification of academic entitlement. This is in favor of influencing the development of realistic expectations of academic achievement in our students. This entails enabling the students understand that academic achievement comes from the understanding of academic materials rather than ones effort in academic relates aspects. It as well entails enabling the students understand that academic tests assess ones understanding of academic materials rather than ones effort in academic related aspects. It is as well essential to ensure that teachers provide feedbacks to entitled students in a manner that considers their high expectation, high self-esteem and high sense of entitlement to avoid instances of irritating confrontations (Woodell, 2009).
Conclusion
Academic entitlement is a sense of feeling that one deserves a high reward that is inconsistent with ones academic performance or academic qualities. It is a feeling that is highly associated with the youth of the modern generation while it influences qualities such as high self-esteem as well as high expectations. The conventional perception is that academic entitlement is bad as it affects a students learning ability by hindering their understanding that academic achievement comes from understanding academic materials and mastering them. It is as well bad as it influences students into believing that they ought to attain high academic grades owing to their efforts in academic related aspects. In light of this, I argue in support of the demystification of academic entitlement among our students while supporting the need for developing realistic expectation of academic achievement in students. While academic entitlement is bad, it as well has positive elements in the sense that it influences a sense of self-confidence that fostering students in their efforts to achieve greater things. Academic entitlement is as well positive when the basis of the entitlement is justifiable academic performance rather than a belief in preferential treatment.
Works cited
Sparks, Sarah D. “Are You Enabling ‘Academic Entitlement’ in Students.” Education Week. Editorial Projects in Education. 2012. December 14, 2012. Web.
Roosevelt, M. “Student expectations seen as causing grade disputes”. New York Times. 2009. December 14, 2012. Web.
Woodell, A. “Thoughts on the ‘Entitlement Generation’.” 2008. December 14, 2012. Web.
Singleton-Jackson, Jill. et al. “Academic Entitlement: Exploring Definitions And Dimensions Of Entitled Students.” International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. 5.9 (2011): 229-236.
Halpern, Jake. The new me generation. 2007. December 14, 2012. <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/09/30/the_new_me_generat ion/>
Manning, Elizabeth. “It’s Y Time.” Officer 83.6 (2007): 37-41. Proquest
