If millennials were even half as bad as people made them out to be, the country would be a lot different. Many people think the people behind them either do not have it as hard or are lazier than their generation. Millennials even do it, too.

“We didn’t have iPads or tablets when I was a kid. We played outside,” is something a lot of millennials have said about the younger generation of children.

It’s time to stop. Quit calling millennials lazy and entitled. The price of college tuition has increased along with the price of housing and food.  Having reliable transportation and a working laptop are musts for anyone in college. Some people do not have parents to pay for everything, and must do it themselves. Just because we as millennials would prefer not to work 40 hours a week or more to put ourselves through college and pay for rent, food and utilities, does not mean millennials are lazy and entitled.

Also, stop saying millennials do not respect their elders. Just because certain people in Generation Y do not have respect for their parents, grandparents, professors or supervisors, does not mean it’s a generational thing. It is an individual person thing. People are blaming bad eggs in a generation on the entire generation, and that is not fair either.

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

This is a quote attributed to Socrates, who lived in 469-399 B.C. It is sort of funny how that is basically the exact same thing Generation X is saying about millennials. This proves that every generation always says it about the following one, just because they have one bad experience.

I can not say millennials do not have any problems. We grew up with technology and have been given instant gratification. We may not be. However, we are the smartest. Each generation becomes smarter than the next, otherwise we would not be advancing in the world. Millennials are the biggest generation since the baby boomers and are going to be senators, teachers, writers, scientists, doctors and lawyers. A few of them will even be the President of the United States one day.

So stop saying millennials are lazy and entitled. I apologize because the person you have had the most interaction with in Generation Y may not have been up to your standards, but that does not mean we are all below standard.

Besides, while all this talk is going on about how bad millennials are, who raised us? Oh.