Very interesting topic, would make for a great paper. Too bad I already have enough papers to write from my over-zealous professors.
I have noticed through talks with my roommate and friends, even some students still in high school, that a disturbing overall trend has been developing among American youth; the sense of instant gratification. Today's younger generation (and I am generalizing here) really do not have a sense of working hard reaps benefits. They are part of what I call the "Laguna Beach" generation. For anyone who knows the show, you understand what I mean. For all the others, Laguna Beach is a show on MTV about 15-17 year old kids in Laguna Beach, California, who are very wealthy and live the life of Paris Hilton. However, they have not worked for what they have, instead they have simply asked Mommy and Daddy for more and more (another example of this would be another MTV show called My Super-Sweet Sixteen where every episode rich parents spend upwards of $200,000 on their child's sweet sixteen party and we get to witness the non-stop complaints coming from the kids about how they aren't getting what they want). The problem with shows like these is that today's youth are starting to idolize that. They believe that you can in fact have everything you want and not have to work for it. It is a plague that is sweeping the nation.
I do not know much about European youth, but I wonder if such ridiculous fantasies are as rampant there as it is here