oh, definitely a human tendency, I agree. I suspect what has exacerbated it in Gen Z and millenials is the fact that the narcissistic individualism is coupled with an entirely valid and understandable distrust of and lack of faith in institutions as a whole, which makes sense if you consider how badly the Boomers fucked the economy and ecology for them. Student admin used, at least, to have the individualism offset by a healthy respect for the might of the institution, and our undergrads have lost that almost entirely. Of course, students have the whole thing further exaggerated by their age, which is largely under 20 so that they haven't yet had time to develop their organs of perspective. But I've taught students for nearly 30 years and administered them for a decade, and there is a clear, powerful and noticeable growth in their expectations of individual treatment in defiance of the system over the last ten years - to the point where it's becoming almost untenable to administer them.

It hasn't been a bad heatwave season in Cape Town, but we've had temperatures in the high 20s and low 30s for the last two weeks; I am aware, of course, that large tracts of America are locked in snow, which while I'm melting gently seems as inconceivable to me as heat does to you :>. I hope you're all ok and not succumbing to blizzards.