entitled or earned?

There has been a lot of talk in the office about "our generation" vs. "their generation". Our being the twenty and thirty somethings vs their parents. Awhile back, I read this article about how the young, just starting to work in the real world generation of today views hard work, dedication and vacation time very differently than the parent generation. The article went on to explain how our generation watched our parents work hard, putting in full-time and over-time at one or sometimes multiple jobs. Our parent generation sees a "hard-earned" dollar and that work ethic took a toll on their family life and personal life in general. Therefore, when people of our age go in for a job, we focus on how long our work day will be, what type of vacation time do we get, and how much of our personal lives will need to be sacrificed. It was general concensus that both perspectives have valid points, but at what point does it all balance out?
One point that was made said that the graduates of today, undergrad, graduate, Ph.D, etc., feel that he or she is entitled to a higher position, simply because of the degree that came from their education. What happened to working your way up the ladder? What happened to putting in the time, the effort, the dedication to earn the CEO status? Do we have to get both the advanced education and climb the proverbial ladder?
Today's discussion stemmed from Jeffrey Lazslow's 2 articles "Blame it on Mr. Rogers: WHy young adults feel so entitled" and "The Entitlement Epidemic: Who's really to blame?". His articles suggest that children of today have been raised in an environment that encourages all children, an environment that maintains that each and every child is special. This "special-ness" sometimes takes in all behavior like a big blanket of special things. When a kid is running a race or swinging the bat, whether they win or lose, that kid is something special, just for being whoever they are. Well, if every kid is special than no kid is special, they are all the same sub-par little people with no competition to encourage them to differentiate from one another. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule and culture plays a distinct role in psychological processes. There will be that kid who thinks he is the best because that kid actually is the best and there will always be the low self-esteemed kid who missed that week's "you're special" speech and is subsequently okay with mediocrity.
Overly postive parenting, then, leads to direct results of an over-nurtured, expectant generation of people who believe they are entitled to a certain status due to a sense of "special-ness". In general, there needs to be a better sense of praise for that which deserves praise and encouragement to work harder to earn what you aim for, rather than simply praising all efforts in any direction.