I know that's quite a sweeping generalization, but observing the kind of people we employ on contract, it's right on the money.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/83237 ... rkshy.html

I quite agree.

The charging rent might be a bit much if they are still at school, but once they hit a certain age yes. Most kids are given false hope that they can be pop stars actors and models yet are clearly lacking talent or ability. It closes their minds to conventional jobs. Factory jobs and engineering suffered from the dirty industry perception. The hospitality industry suffers from poor pay and long hours so no wonder why it relies on foreigners to do the work. The problem starts with government policy. Expecting so many kids to go to university sets them up to be debt laden failures. So those that do not get into university are seen as failures rather than those who actually go to university be seen as exceptional.

Hmmm....

Personally I think the vast majority of people are useless, have always been useless and always will be useless. It's just that for pretty much the first time in history, the low mortality rate means that the useless traits aren't "Darwined" out.

We do not have enough wars to thin out the useless ones who end up getting drafted into the army.

+1, me included

I think it depends on the background. The writer seems to be writing about what she sees around her, but that seems fairly affluent. Many of the kids I see from single parent/benefit laden backgrounds often do have a desire to better themselves and will do pretty much anything to achieve that.

People from more affluent backgrounds won't want to clean bathrooms, serve food at McDonald's, or be a data inputter. They want to jump in higher up the chain. If the have the ability to do a level 3 job, they will most probably be unmotivated to do a level 1 job.

I wonder if it is just teenagers though. I wonder what would happen if you took Lord Sugar and gave him some figures and got him to input them into a computer for 6 months, would he still be motivated to do that task?
Would many of us who have achieved be as motivated doing a much less challenging and overall more mundane task?

If he was using one of his brand of ZX Spectrums or Amstrad PCWs, I’d imagine he’d shoot himself after a day.

It might also apply to private school applicants. I was watching a program about interns and how few actually get a job. A girl in fashion did 5 internships before getting a job. That is 15 months in central london without pay or expenses. Even then they have to be dogs bodies to get the job. Well kids from poorer families simply cannot afford to do that.

Many kids think that because they are going to university that cleaning and any manual work is beneath them.

title is misleading

should be "why most parents are useless". fits with the article better

Wouldn't parents and teenagers are both useless being even more accurate?

My mum runs a small catering business and needed some help. She adertised locally but in the end the only reliable people she could find were some Czechoslovakian lads. No English lads lasted more than 1 day

Schools do not prepare them for real life. That said they never did in my time at school. Though it seems to be far more about giving them aspirations even if they are incompetent. A perfect example is Tommy from "Come Fly With Me", wanting to be a pilot yet no attributes that suit being a pilot at all.

good point, how about "most parents are useless, and as a result so are their teenage children"?

I agree that the blames lies both on parents and on teenagers. How much is apportioned to each, I can't say.

As a kid, I never got any games consoles. The most I had was a zx spectrum and I had to program my own games (that was the point my dad was trying to get across - learn to use computers and programming as they'll be big in the future). Our TV broke around the time I had my 11+. The impetus to pass meant we would gt a new TV. In hindsight, we would have gotten one anyway but at the time, it didn't seem like that.

At A-levels, I was predicted CDE. The realisation that I wouldn't be able to get into medicine with those grades spurred me to work my backside off and get AAA.

Work is completely different to school/uni and the requirements/expectations can be similar or of a higher standard. I agree a quiet word is going to better than just kicking someone out. A little (metaphorical) kick up the backside never hurt anybody.

We sometimes need carrots and sticks to help us along in life. Teenagers aren't useless but they will be if no guidance is given.