justplainbil

JUST PLAIN BILL

In what ways are kids different today than in generations past?

Most days, one can read about how kids are different in many ways from kids from past generations. As a student of the subject of "generations" – from my vantage point as a member of the Traditional/Veterans/Depression generation –

I’ve followed the changing nature of Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y, and Millennials. Just last week, I learned of a new generation in an article by the New York Times - Make Way for Generation Z.

Sociologists, psychologists and scientists of all types have studied and reported the tendencies of these generations: their challenges, their privileges, their parenting differences, their aspirations, their opportunities, their motivations, their rewards, and on and on and on. I’m fascinated by the fact that these definitions and generalizations are defined somewhat after the passing of previous generations, when there are significant differences that appear.

This has recently become more than a topic I study by reading the works of others. The relevancy of the differences in generations now has immediate and fascinating implications for me, as I’ve recently returned to classroom teaching after a break of nearly 40 years… and I love it! As a teacher “back in the 70s”, I observed the significant changes experienced by Generation Xers. Now, I’m working with students from multiple generations. I’m able to study at least three generations up close and personally. So what generational differences have I encountered while working with this wide range of students at the midway point in this second decade of the 21st century?

It’s become clear that I will require more than just my weekly blog to delve deeply into this captivating situation, a situation where I now feel I have my feet firmly planted in several generations at the same time – something that I know is not psychologically possible. Or is it?

In all, I'm loving the opportunity to make use of the wealth of experience and education that has come from my formal and informal education - also having spent the past 20+ years as a trainer of adults in the corporate world and teaching several college programs. (I fondly refer to my adult learners as “little kids in big clothes!”)

One generational “comparison” for this blog: While I'm substitute teaching grade school children, I'm also an adjunct professor in a community college teaching business writing - and experiencing some of the same grammatical, spelling, and structural problems with my fifth graders as I do with my adult learners.

More on all of this later, including specifics of what I’ve been experiencing with students as young as four, and as old as high school seniors…