A good whippersnapper

Elizabeth Nolan Brown, though admitting I might be "marginally despicable" -- fine phrase, that -- nonetheless realizes that the Internet has helped inflate the egos of smart young fellows, who've never been chastised for their hubris, as all smart young men need to be chastised from time to time.

The gold-stars-for-everyone culture has produced too many of these young men who won't stand chastisement, which makes them peevish and unteachable. Well, if they won't learn in one school, they'll learn in another. This recession will take some slack out of the sails of these fellows who've known nothing but prosperity and success the entirety of their young lives. Nothing like poverty and failure to build character.