Critiqu of Are millennials cut out for this job market by Ruben Navarrette - Essay Example

The Millennial Generation is the given to individuals that are currently between the ages of 18 and 30. This is an important generation becausethey are the youngest, most vibrant members of the workforce in America. Just as the generation before them, Generation X, the Millennials are being studied and scrutinized by a whole host of social scientists. According to some, a picture of this generation is beginning to take shape. Millennials are tech savvy and opinionated. They have high self-esteem even if they have done nothing professionally to warrant their high opinions of themselves.

They are more loyal to friends and families than they are to their careers. They also seem to think that they should have opportunity handed to them on a silver platter. While surveys and research seem to support these generalizations, the reality is they are very broad generalizations. The assertions made by Ruben Navarrette, Jr. in his article Are Millennials cut out for this job market? is simply a bunch of broad claims about an incredibly diverse group of individuals. These sorts of articles may fill space in newspapers and on the webpage of a 24-hour news organization, but they are actually void of any real depth and do little to enlighten understanding of our complex society.

According to the article, experts on Millennials such as psychology professor Jean Twenge at San Diego State University have used surveys and anecdotal evidence to build the afore mentioned profile of an entire generation. The high self-esteem is a result of the “everyone gets a trophy” culture that Baby Boomer parents embraced according to the author. This outsized ego is having real consequences for Millennials at work. According to a few anecdotes from bosses, Millennials do not take guidance or criticism and expect to be advanced in their careers for doing nothing.

They also seem to care more about family than work. There are many problems with the logic and factual information presented by the author. First is the fact that the author claims Jean Twenge is a part of the millennial generation because she was born in 1971. The author fails to realize that this would make Professor Twenge 40 years old. This could be a simple mistake (which a professional of Ruben Navarrette should have caught) or it could have been an indication that Mr. Navarrette has a bias against people younger than he.

Lumping a 40-year-old professor in with the Millennials is sloppy factually and logically. But it reads great! Another flaw in the author’s argument are high statistics for unemployment among Millennials. He insinuates that this is because they are lazy and overly choosy about their employment. He ignores the fact that young people always have disproportional high rates of unemployment, especially when jobs are scarce. They statistics do nothing to really prove his point. A final lapse in logic that the author indulges himself in is overgeneralization.

One professor and one employer’s comments and research were use to paint an entire generation with a broad, unflattering brush. He sounds less like a journalist than he does and old geezer complaining about kids these days. Reuben Navarrette Jr.’s article on the Millennials was full of whining about Millennials and short on accurate facts and research. His piece made many claims but did not back them with sound commentary or analysis. Mr. Navarrette unfortunately has decided that bombast and eye rolling about Millennials is more important than sound journalistic practices.