Gen Z'ers

The Sunday morning following the spring ahead time change, after waking we turned the news on Alexa. Following the news was a radio program by Kim Komando, the goddess of all things digital. She was relaying the situation that Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank, Kevin O'Leary, had interviewed a person from Gen Z who wanted a parent to sit in on the interview. She then relayed this happened to her. I knew that Gen Zers tended to do things somewhat differently, but this seems over the top.

One statistic is that 77% of Zers took a parent to an interview, assisted with a resume, or negotiations for a job. This is linked to intense parenting. Some say it is the high level of economic pressure in a job market that many rate as fair to poor.

During my time at work I hired plenty of persons, often yearly for summer interns. Luckily, I did not have to face the situation of a person who brought their parent to sit in on the interview. Although one had a parent drive them, as they would visit relatives in the area after the interview. Newsweek says that 20% of Gen Z took a parent to an interview, and of that 15% to an in-person interview. A sample of 1,000 generation Z persons by Resume Template, noted that 75% of parents completed or reviewed a job application or resume for them. They also reported that 51% of that cohort took a parent to MULTIPLE interviews, which may show why they have multiple interviews. Then, even more astounding was that 67% had a parent who spoke with a manager about a job for the child.

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To say that they are coddled is an understatement. Marie Barone, in Everybody Loves Raymond, which ran from 1996-2005 in one episode recounted how every body got a gold star, participation trophies. Issues are also seen in academics. Grade inflation has increased with the expectation that everyone needs an A, no more grading on a curve. Where was this when I was in school?  I tended to fall to the left side of the curve, in some areas of study (Spanish) more so than others (history). At the local high school, the Tuesday following the time change forward, was ACT test day. When I took the test, and even when my kids took the test, it was a Saturday. What they now do is shut down the whole high school for the juniors to take the ACT. All other students at the school had what was termed an " Online asynchronous learning day." Proving fact is more bizarre than fiction, I am not quite sure what such gobbledygook means. Who ever came up with such non-plain English deserves to work in the education bureaucracy. 

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I am not sure what happens to the junior who desires not to take the test because they wish to go to a trade school. Did they take the test anyway, or did they do the  online asynchronous learning day? I understand the importance of education, but also realize that college is not for everyone. Some of the work in the trades, such as plumbers, electricians, and concrete flat workers will not be replaced by AI. Although AI may well tell you how to  screw something up to make you call a plumber. Maybe they too enjoyed an online asynchronous learning day. 

I used AI to enhance a couple old family photos, and it put a beard on someone standing to the back when the person had no beard. I also tried it on some text translation, and got a mixed bag. Sometimes it says it cannot do it, some comes our correct (to a professional interpretation I had done, it was a test to see how well it worked) and other times it comes out more bizarre than I could even interpret.

Instead of a snow day, why can the students not have in its place an online asynchronous learning day? On Monday, March 16, they had a snow day with the blizzard warning. which easily could have been an asynchronous learning day. But, no the kids next door got to sleep in. Unless my wife and I clearing the driveway woke them up. Administrators say it is too much trouble. During the pandemic I asked one of our neighbor kids what classes for online learning he had. He had recess, gym, and English. I was flabbergasted to find out they had recess for a period when you are working from home, and what do you do for gym, stretches? I would have thought a science or math course would have been appropriate for that quarter, but I was wrong.

Apparently, the education bureaucracy pandemic pedagogy has carried over to present. The Wisconsin State Journal reported on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 that first and second graders, who were never affected by a pandemic shutdown, have math and reading scores below pre-pandemic levels. It seems that the non-phonics method of learning English did not work, so much for those brains in education who want to experiment on kids. 

The whole point of this is how kids are coddled today. I recall reading an article about a successful person a while back, who I cannot remember, but how at dinner the father did not want to know what they had for success that day, but in what they did not do well or failed, and what they learned. Losses can be good learning experiences. If one does not have ups and downs, because mommy is always present to guide you, and be at your interview, you may not be able to properly handle the down side of life. Life is not always ups, but also downs. Mommy will not always be around to protect you, at least I do not think so.

I have no issue with a parent reviewing a job application, or giving career advice, but when a young adult takes a parent into an interview, that is a whole different sort of thing. Kim Komando referred to the young man she interviewed as rather "mousy" and would not have held up to the up charged work environment she oversees. She did not allow him to bring his parent into the interview. If he was mousy, perhaps that is why he brought momma along. Birth rates are at historic lows, and that may be a good thing as far as gen Z is concerned, because if they are like this now, what will they be like as a parent? Helicopter parents and tiger moms seem to be the new norm, and will gen Z parents make that worse?