What do you think about this article?

[Kristen]

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/54620

[Lori]

I think Ben Stein must know some pretty privileged people, because pretty much everybody I know has no choice but to get up and work every day, whether they want to or not!

[Danielle]

At these camps, young people would be taught how to get up and get dressed in the morning when the alarm goes off, instead of going back to sleep. After being made to eat breakfast, they'd go shovel cow manure or dig ditches or sort laundry or mail -- actually work every day for eight weeks in the summer.

They would learn that they can't talk on the phone to their pals, text-message (in fact, they wouldn't have cell phones at the camp at all), send email, or play computer games while at work. They wouldn't be allowed to leave early for a phony medical appointment or to look for another job instead of doing the job they're being paid for, and they would have to actually complete a certain quota of work to get their dinner.

This dinner would be followed by a very short lecture or movie about the merits of work, preferably by someone who actually works and has done well in life by working. Once at camp, the campers couldn't leave except for a verifiable death in the family, and then only for three days, which would be tacked onto their stay.

Yeesh. I think that might be slightly over the top. I think most people do learn to work, usually out of necessity. I also think he must know a lot of people who are independently wealthy.

[gr8mommy]

Actually, it may be a privelege of the coasts. I know quite a few people who have no idea how the real world works. They aren't independently wealthy, they simply have always had a 'fall back' with their parents. One of them is my uncle. He's periodically held jobs in a variety of fields, but always quit because it was 'boring' or 'the hours were wrong' or it 'cut too much into my social life' or it was 'beneath him'. He's now 55 years old, owns nothing but the clothes on his back, and lives with/sponges off my 85 year old grandmother.

[Christine]

So what exactly does Ben Stein do for a living???

[Danielle]

LOL Sooo true Christine!

[Maleah]

He's actually worked real jobs before. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein

I don't think there's anything new in this article. This arguement that people don't know how to make a honest day's living has been around from the begining of time.

I think one thing he's overlooking is that single people do not have to rely on bigger companies to sell their goods wither it be writing or consulting services. We're a lot more connected now than we use to be so its not hard to find a single person to fill a job function. More and more companies are turning to consultants and contracts too.

That's probably as clear as mud, but I have to go fix lunch for the kids.

[Jejune]

I don't think there's anything new in this article. This arguement that people don't know how to make a honest day's living has been around from the begining of time.

Word. I do think it's a problem that is real, though, that just happens to crop up every generation in new ways, and for new reasons. The new reasons are probably variations on the old reasons. I find it strange when my mother praises Daniel explicitly for being a hard worker unlike so many of our generation. I know many people within my generation who work very hard. I also know some slackers. However, my mother's generation wasn't exactly known for being get up and go when they were the same age as my generation. LOL Same problem, new folks.

I don't think Stein's solution would work, but even assuming it to be tongue in cheek, I think he's being too harsh. It doesn't help to lump all people into one category. It just makes them defensive.