An Army of One: Me.

Feeling good about oneself is an inherently good thing; however when this is intensified so severely that it becomes the focus of everyday life, complications and consequences may occur. Jean Twenge tries to warn today’s “Generation Me” about the dangers of their obsession with the self in her piece, “An Army of One: Me.” This desire to look out for only the individual has dramatic effects on the direction of today’s society. What has also evolved out of this self adoring society is a seemingly endless need for argument, especially in the educational field, an issue addressed by Debora Tannen in her essay, “The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue.” Of course, no researchers or educational experts expected the negative results such as narcissism and argumentative culture that followed from these teaching methods. These are unintended consequences and displaced risks, just as the types addressed in Edward Tenner’s, “Another Look Back, and A Look Ahead” but applied to a different subject. In effect, one problem causes another as an excess of self-esteem more often than not leads to narcissism. That development of narcissism promotes an argumentative culture in which everyone thinks they are right because confidence in oneself is far too high. Revenge effects may include constant irritability and excessive sensitivity, a lack of obtaining a good education, or in some cases pure laziness. Through a flawed system of education and the development of Generation Me, the attitude of the United States has unintentionally drifted towards narcissism and discontent.

In many ways, people who are incapable of accepting criticism have developed narcissistic tendencies. Graduate students, discussed by Tannen were almos...

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...the flip side of intensity” (Tenner 709). Narcissism is this revenge and it has negatively impacted education and society in general. By aiming too much at self-esteem educators have changed the way Generation Me children look at themselves. They act the way they do because they do not know any other way of thinking.

The progression of US society has become increasingly more individualistic every generation. Twenge’s analysis of Generation Me accurately depicts the way people today are more irritable and inclined to argue when their points are challenged. Similarly, the argument culture discussed by Tannen has taken over the American education system in part due to this rise in narcissism. Overall it is clear while one was not meant to lead to another, the argument culture and narcissism are not only related, but they unintentionally grow off of one another.