Obama: There's no longer time for excuses for black men

[1StrongBlackMan]

63. Yes, I can ...

And at the risk of offending many here, my personal, civic (interacting with literally, thousands of this particular democraphic as a coach, mentor and parent) and professional (25+ years in Human Resources) experience indicates that middle-incomed, millenials tend towards an expectation for merely showing up.

And, it is our (Boomers and Xers') fault.

Maybe we're talking different terms here; but let me provide an (anecdotal) example:

When I was coming up (late 60s/early 70s), every Spring we had baseball try-outs for Little League teams ... If you were "good enough" you were "drafted" and placed on a team; if you didn't get "drafted". you spent the remainder of the Spring and entire Summer working on your game so that next year, you might be selected. Once on the team, if you were good enough you played; if not, you spent the season working on your game, so that next year, you might play. And at the end of the season, the League champions and one member of each team (the MVP) got a trophy.

Fast forward to 2001, my first year coaching youth atheletics (soccer and basketball) ...

We were assigned players, with no try-outs - everyone that came out "made the team" ... Everyone played, an equal share of the game - regardless of ability or effort in practice ... and at the end of the season, everyone got a trophy - even the kid that never came to practice and/or showed no improvement over the course of the season.

It was explained to me that selecting out kids was bad for their self-esteem; but, IMHO, it taught this cohort of kids to expect something just for showing up, regardless of skill or talent or effort.