Despite the advantages-and possible coddling-our generation has had, the term “trophy kids” is not only mean, it is unfair.

In a new book, “The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up the Workplace,” Ron Alsop writes of our generation as though we were the spoiled brats in Mary Poppins. We apparently “have great — and sometimes outlandish-expectations,” “want loads of attention and guidance from employers,” and “believe [we] can afford to be picky with talent shortages looming as baby boomers retire.”

It seems ludicrous to blame a bright-eyed generation fresh off the four-year cycle of optimism and naivete that is college for wanting an ideal work environment. Of course we expect more relaxed office regulations with more emphasis placed on our individual ability to achieve than on our ability to be an unnamed cog of a wage-slave.

In a time when our economy is crashing and burning before our very eyes, however, to paint the Gen Y-ers so glibly is quite a stretch, and an inaccurate one at that. Alsop blames much of our attitude issues on what he believes to be the pampered education we have received. Yet it just this education which has brought us up as informed citizens who want to help change society for the better, but to do so on our own terms.

No one knows more about playing by their own rules than the children of the social revolution of the ’60s and ’70s. It’s ridiculous that these criticisms would come from members of the Baby Boom generation, who themselves fought against the rigid work environment established by their parents in the post-WWII era. It seems only fitting that we would want the same things they ultimately fought for: flexible hours, recognition for our talents, incorporation of our ideas.

Alsop’s work makes the trophy kids out to appear as a sort of privileged nobility, incapable of having their titles stripped and being forced to go into the work force as commoners. This is simply not true. The basic fact that there are so many instances of our generation in the work force included in the book, trying to make a difference and having our voices heard, should be praised, not chastised.

As Dr. Zhivago said, “I’ve always worked.” And it appears that us trophy kids will too, without complaint.