The following is excerpted from an email from a friend of mine who teaches high school:
I just read some recent entries on your blog and checked out that
Sesame Street article -- craziness! A couple weeks ago 60 Minutes did
a piece on this new generation called "the millennials" -- I could
completely relate given how different my students are from us. My dad
has observed much change in his law students in recent years. 60
Minutes said that this generation -- at least the upper middle-class
version of this generation -- has grown up with much (excessive?)
praise, prizes for everyone, every moment in their childhoods
scheduled, a sense that they can do and have it all, gadgets to meet
every need. My major observation of my students is that they just
can't think for themselves -- even the very bright students want
simple tasks broken into so many steps. I can no longer just assign
an essay with some basic requirements; they need to know how many
quotes should go in each paragraph, exactly which scientific process I
will use for grading the paper, etc. If the student earns an A-,
he/she wants a very precise explanation about those missing points.
The assumption is that each student begins with an 100 and loses
points only for those conspicuous mistakes. I can only imagine
encountering these folks in the workplace! -- high maintenance, to say
the least. I also noticed how when my brother was in college (and this
could just be Wesleyan and not a reflection of the shift in time from
when we were in college), Wesleyan did excessive amounts of
communicating with the parents -- monthly newsletters, local parent
groups in various areas of the country, etc. -- all this crap about
how it "feels" to be a Wesleyan parent -- like some sort of social
culture was supposed to emerge in the parent community.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
2 comments:
Did you ever read Strauss & Howe's "Generations" (1991), they're the ones to coin the term Millennial for the post-Generation X. Their theory is very Jungian (it just seems that way to me - a lot like the Myers-Briggs generalizations about personality types), and I'd like to see evidence that "Generational Type" has some statistical significant influence on poll results or something before I put too much confidence in their generalizations.
Generation X: "Nomads are ratty, tough, unwanted, diverse, adventurous, and cynical about institutions. They grow up as the underprotected children of an Awakening, come of age as the alienated young adults of an Unraveling, become the pragmatic, midlife leaders of a Crisis and age into tough, post-crisis elders during a High."
Millennials: "Heroes are conventional, powerful, and institutionally driven, with a profound trust in authority. They grow up as the increasingly protected children of an Unraveling, come of age as the Heroic, team-working youth of a Crisis, become energetic and hubristic mid-lifers during a High and become the powerful elders who are attacked in the next Awakening. The G.I. Generation that fought World War II is an example of a Hero generation. Millennials are expected to emerge as the next generation of this example."
Quotes from Wikipedia.
Good points but do you really think the Millennials are institutionally driven?
Post a Comment