Too Much Positive Reinforcement

Snip:

"Kids will come in wanting to be a staff writer at Esquire right out of college," said Eliot Kaplan, editorial talent director for Hearst magazines. "I had this girl come in from this failed dot-com one day -- that was her only experience. I interviewed her and asked her how much money she wanted, and she said $300,000. I couldn't help it -- I laughed in her face." Kaplan added: "We're happy to bring them back to earth."..

TMPR parents pump up their child's self-esteem into an enormous vacuum. The kid feels great, but she has done nothing in particular to feel great about. Psychologists have been trying to address that one for a while now: "People are making the point that self-esteem is a result -- not a cause -- of a good performance," said McHugh.

from 'Idol' Fantasies -- a great article on the general lack of criticism in modern society.

Credit to a poster on Plastic discussing the problems with grade inflation and how its because people expect to get A/Bs when we used to be happy with Cs... a world which everyone thinks they're better than average.

Its inspiring, in a really fucked up kind of way (ie to work harder and earn my place)