The best part about being human is the ability to learn from mistakes. It is hard to teach younger generations how to avoid these pitfalls and still pass on the message gained from journeying through the hardship. This difficulty doesn’t imply impossibility, just that parents must overlook their instinct to coddle and protect their children in order to teach a meaningful lesson. The Baby Boomers changed many aspects of adolescent behavior and parental guidelines. Jean Twenge in “An Army of One: Me” sights down the ripples of change the Baby Boomers created to examine the effects the changes had on their children “Gen Me”. Gladwell’s “Broken Window” theory, from “The Power of Context”, helps explain both the changes of interaction between the Baby Boomers, their elders, and “Gen Me”. The largest of these changes would be the adaption of a sense of ones self. “Gen Me’s” title is earned by taking “self” too far in the form of self-esteem. Extremes cases would include narcissism, entitlement and ignorance which are traits responsible for many epidemics and wars in history. Generation “Me” needs to learn from their mistakes in order to prevent passing down these destructive characteristics to their children.

The violence and degradation of New York City in the 80’s and 90’s was generated by the grown up Baby Boomers. The end of WWII brought a brief period of peace and prosperity. However the children born of this era were the first generation that would not be able to surpass the previous generation. This transition from inheriting success to just inheriting genes left the Baby Boomers searching for a meaning to existence. “Boomers took only the first tentative steps in the right direction of self-focus, but it was not forced down their throats at birth” (Twenge 759). Generation Me parents were Baby Boomers that had created the high self-esteem environment. When compared to the the parents of the Baby Boomers, it is easy to notice how different the context of childhood was. “Back then, respect for others was more important than respect for yourself and your marriage was arranged, your profession determined by your parents, your actions dictated by strict religious standards” (Twenge 756,757). After WWII these strict religious and gender roles fell apart with women earning equal right by entering the work force and acceptance of other religious views. The parents had no idea how to be supportive of their children which in turn distanced the Baby Boomers from their families. “The Boomers sound like people driving around in circles in the dark, desperately searching for something” (Twenge 758). Many different forms of expression arose from this journey, this search for self fulfillment. The Baby Boomers may have been centered on the self but the “Boomers followed in the footsteps of their community-minded elders—almost everything was done in groups” (Twenge 759). Freedom of expression led to the hippie movement, the music movement, and the graffiti movement. These forms of rebellion needed a group to reach others with their message and effect society is some way. As Baby Boomers become the new adults they “poured their wealth into things like cooking equipment” to start invest in their self and planning their families (Twenge 758). However the residue of their lackadaisical past and acceptance of individual expression shine into the context of New York City before Guiliani became mayor. It would make sense that a culture against war and killing of American soldiers would focus the police force on solving murder cases and other large crimes. Gladwell after studying the effect of the “Broken Window theory” on New York City says “human beings invariably make the mistake of overestimating the importance of fundamental character traits and underestimating the importance of the situation and context” (Gladwell 245). The Baby Boomers have residue of their parents’ generation’s high morals and standards, but in their rebellion from congregation to individualism, they overlooked the context that promotes civility and ethics. Such as the graffiti in the subway cars and the fare beater in the station (Gladwell 248). The importance of context is evident in the course of action of the Baby Boomer Generation and much would have been different if the adult generation had any idea on how to change their parenting skills so the interactions between them were not so distant. The Baby Boomers had finished their self discovery and fulfillment to give birth to generation “ME”.

Generation “Me”’s super saturated self-esteem will not lead them as a whole to be more successful then either their parent’s Baby Boomer generation or their grandparent’s generation. Generation “Me” was “born into a world that celebrated the individual” (Twenge 760). This constant context that self-respect and self-esteem come first has many negative outcomes: narcissism, entitlement, and unconditional validation. “Unconditional validation means feeling good about yourself no matter how you act or whether you learn anything or not” (Twenge 766). School promotion of self-image is self-destructive for education. “Self esteem does not lead to better grades, improved work performance, decreased violence, or less cheating” (Twenge 772). Other countries overlook self-esteem because they know that it is earned through performance. American students feel that they are good in school but “their actual math performance is only mediocre, with other countries’ youth routinely outranking American children” (Twenge 771). Besides missing demand placed on actually learning the material, Generation “Me” is unprepared for the non self-esteem promoting world outside of elementary school. “The self-esteem emphasis leaves kids ill-prepared for the inevitable criticism and occasional failure that is real life. There is no self esteem movement in the work world” (Twenge 774). Deborah Tannen describes grad school as a “culture of critique” and mentions that some students drop out of graduate school because they are not prepared for the harshness. The change in context between mandatory education and graduate school did not affect the drop outs changing them into debate champions but as a whole most graduate students feel entitled to attack creditable work to earn their degree. The self-esteem movement maybe responsible for many young adults being unprepared for the criticism of the real world but regardless of whether these young adults are prepared high self-esteem makes them all feel entitled to success.

The self-esteem movement tells all youth they are of high value and deserve success, but success is earned through hard work and accomplishments. Generation “Me” is missing these accomplishments but still “young employees expect too much too soon and have very high expectation for salary and promotions” (Twenge 775). Self reflecting questions such as “Why should you leave the unfulfilling relationship; quit the boring job; tell off your mother-in-law” are norms of Generation “Me” (Twenge 761). The entitlement of Generation “Me” causes a constant state of “the greener grass is on the other side”; never taking time to water their own, they feel entitled to receive their own green lawn and McMansion. The fact Generation “Me” is not complacent is the spark the Baby Boomers wanted to instill in their children so they can become successful but this is were esteem falls apart. Generation “Me” will not have success because their education actually lacked learning. Generation “Me’s” inflated ego will promote local conflicts and maybe even wars. “Wars are usually rooted in too much love of self, land, and nation—not too little” (Twenge 767). Gladwell would suggest a change of context but where should the change occur and who should be given the power? The adult generation, the Baby Boomers caused Generation’s “Me’s” ego. Are we doomed to wait for a war or an impoverished nation?

Generation “Me” will not be the downfall of humanity. Gladwell would say this Prozac epidemic can be tipped by “special kinds of people, people of extraordinary personal connection, [which he calls] The Law of the Few” (Gladwell 248). Those who stand up and take hold of context can tinker with the context of American education and can stimulate a change. The Baby Boomers noticed that there was a need to change educational and parenting habits but they made a ‘wrong turn’. High self-esteem does raise moral but when it is copiously handed out for no reason, it will have a negative effect. Baby Boomers lavished their children with the attention their own parents never gave them but missed the importance of self control. “Children high in self control make better grades and finish more years of education, and they’re less likely to use drugs or have a teenage pregnancy” (Twenge 773). Focusing on self-control in the classroom and at the same time leaving self-esteem to parents alone will increase retention of knowledge, create students prepared for the hardships of the working and critical world. “We can fix broken windows and change the signals” that promote narcissism and can improve American education (Gladwell 248). The Millennium Generation might be able to surpass their parents and maybe grandparents or great-grandparents because their parents have already noticed the error of Generation “Me’s” education and Baby Boomer parenting methods. Baby Boomers as parents exhibited self control and focus on improving their selves through household appliances and connecting with/coddling their children. However, the Baby Boomers’ self control was not just handed to them by their parents. Baby Boomers earned self control by trial and error, earned through the journey to find their sense of self. Treating some of the pitfalls the Baby Boomers generation hit as land mines destroyed Generation “Me’s” chance to journey and find their true sense of self and self-control. A few Baby Boomers never shaped up and earned self control. Their children may be exposed to alcoholism, sex, and drugs but these children can turn out successful. Self-esteem enthusiast would say these children are going to be left behind because they will never recover from these “set backs”. Yet, often children of these backgrounds have excellent self control because they either see first hand from their parents why they need to be successful or they exert self-control to dabble with these so called “land mines” and still be successful. This is not to say that parents who have no self control raise better children. Just that some of the Baby Boomers who shaped up made the choice to hand their children self-esteem instead of teaching them self-control, and now their children are at a disadvantage in the real world.

Generation “Me” needs to change context, just like their Baby Boomer parents, as they near the age of parenting in order to “tip the balance” and raise a generation will ready for the real world. This change needs to be oriented toward teaching self control instead of self-esteem. The Baby Boomers that coddled their children to the extreme have only placed their “Gen Me” child at a disadvantage in the working/real world. Children do not have to experience a journey to gain the same message as their Baby Boomer parents but they do need to know that they can recover from their mistakes; whether in their education, in their social lives, or in their careers. Generation “Z” (millennium babies) should have the advantage as their parents have learned from the mistakes of the Baby Boomer’s educational and parenting methods for Generation “Me”. This change will give Generation “Z” the chance it needs to surpass their parents and earn the “green grass” they are taught to dream of.