Dear Anita Robinson: A Response To The Irish Columnist Who Thinks College Students Are Entitled And Self-Obsessed

Dear Anita Robinson,

I read your article this morning entitled "Indulged students missing the point of university experience" and I have something to say about what you've written. I'm the editor for an online website for Irish college students, and I believe what you've written is not only wrong but narrow-minded.

In your opinion piece, you opened by saying "I’m intrigued and alarmed in equal measure by what’s going on in universities, where a new generation of students seem to be setting the agenda". This is your first problem. What does any of this have to do with you? Being alarmed is quite a dramatic statement for a woman who later criticises youths for being oversensitive!

You launch into an ill-advised rant about how, in your day, university was a hard-earned privilege "where we were expected to behave responsibly, work hard and absorb the intellectual riches on offer". You admit your generation straddled carefully between adolescent angst and revolutionising society, yet when it comes to a new generation full of free thinkers and students enacting social change, you all but shut it down. "We graduated humbler, wiser, intellectually enriched – and grateful for the experience", you wrote. Are you sure about being humble? Or did you miss that class?

I agree that university students today are a different breed - the world has changed. No doubt when you were at college in the 70s you were living in a post-WWII era where social change was coming in thick and fast. The feminist movement was at its peak and things were improving. Sure, life was difficult back then and we understand you had it tough but if you're so humbled by your experiences in college, why, in your 60s (or 70s?), have you conveniently forgotten all of that? You say "the present flush of undergraduates have been reared with the idea that they’re special. Products of a coddled, over-protective rearing, very much indulged, they’ve rarely experienced either contradiction or disappointment". Are you certain of that? Get off your high horse.

You then said the current college cohort are "known as ‘the snowflake generation’. Their sensitivities are such that, when faced with difficulty, an opinion that differs from their own or a firm “No”, they complain, object, take offence or all three. Anything that displeases them they label inappropriate, upsetting, stressful or bullying".

Surely you can sympathise with the complexities of being a student today when you look back at the changing times you went through? You should be an ally for students who want to rid their lives of bullying and negativity, not telling them to harden up.

On a side note, Gen Y-ers have different obstacles to what you experienced as a college student 40 or so years ago. They might seem like they're wrapped in cotton wool and get offended too easily but again, times have changed. You didn't have technology and social media available 24/7, where you could be judged and scrutinised in an instant. Cyberbullying wasn't a thing and you didn't get threats in your inbox. Gen Y-ers aren't more sensitive, they just have an information overload which completely transformed the world they grew up in, in turn making it quite difficult to be just a college student.

Oh and instead of diminishing your own experience, I'm making a comparison, see how I did that? Give it a try.

As someone who once was an editor for a website for over 60s, I'm well aware of how your generation perceives the younger generations. I do know that life was harder for you, and kids these days don't know how good they have it etc etc etc. But outside of this argument, I have some advice to you which you can use anytime: everything is relative. You might think the worst thing that happened to you is that your father died, and you're right. It was. But that doesn't mean someone whose dog died should feel any less like that is the worst thing to happen to them. They haven't experienced the same things as you, therefore on a sliding scale, they view their issues as a big deal. Apply that to this situation and maybe you might view the new generation of students with a little bit of sympathy.

Sure, you personally might have just carried on if you were bullied or discriminated against, but that doesn't mean that was the right thing to do. Gen Y-ers aren't more sensitive, in fact, I argue that they're much more progressive and willing to stand up for themselves. I'll give you an example: my mum is in the Baby Boomer generation, like yourself. As a teenager, my mum told me to cover up because men would leer at me. I'm fully aware mums want their daughters to wear appropriate clothing, and rightfully so, but this was just a t-shirt and shorts. She didn't instill body positivity in me, instead she victim blamed. Why did it have to be like that - weren't men leering at me in the wrong? Why did I have to change my behaviour to feel safe? These progressive thoughts only were ignited once I stopped listening to people in your generation, and started listening to people in mine. 

You then go on to talk about the "snowflakes" again and mention their sensitivity to blood and gore in their college courses, to using gendered words or phrases, and being offended by a statue of Cecil Rhodes, whose business was in slavery. Let me stop you there.

Don't forget you're a white woman in a first-world country... your privilege is showing. You have no idea what it feels like to be marginalised, to experience hate or to be discriminated against for your race, gender-conformity or colour, so don't judge those who stand up for those who do.

Oh and don't try and challenge college students. You might have education but it's sorely outdated. -drops mic-