Reading Bret Stephens’ Wall Street Journal column, “Global View,” is one of the highlights of my week. This past Tuesday, he turned his attention to the culture and mindset of the 2012 graduating class. His column began: “Dear Class of 2012: Allow me to be the first one not to congratulate you.”
Stephens contrasts a brilliant yet modest West Point grad who interned with him before heading to Afghanistan to honorably and bravely serve her country with a far less accomplished but more self-satisfied Ivy league grad with grand designs to launch a writing career in Middle East politics despite ignorance of such things as the Suez Canal Crisis. Today’s graduates resemble the latter student far more than the former, and to them Stephens offers excellent advice: know something, be aware that you are competing globally, lose the ego trip, and think for yourself. I refer you to Stephens himself to flesh out his valuable suggestions, and I recommend sending a link to his piece to anyone you know with college-age kids.
