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Global Youth Dichotomies and Contradictions: What are your Observations?
Global Youth Dichotomies and Contradictions: What are your Observations?
1. Global youth are more informed about people in other cultures than previous generations, yet they are less likely to vote and many are uninformed about the causes of climate change. How can they be more informed and yet ignorant about the most important impact on their future?
2. Adults often focus on the negative aspects of young people, such as delinquency, yet view them as the source of what’s cool and trendy. What explains this contradiction?
3. American culture is described as adolescent, characterized by living in the present, mood swings, rebelliousness, openness to change, and fascination with extremes. Agree or disagree?
4. Are “little emperors” overly protected and spoiled by their parents? Does this leave them unprepared to deal with adversity? What do you observe among young people you know?
5. Is Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook company the model of the Millennials, open-minded, concerned about helping others, collaborative and non-hierarchical? Or are they materialistic consumers who value their possessions?
6. Millennials are the “relationship generation,” who like to spend time with their parents. Has the generation gap narrowed? SpeakOut youth criticized adults for their bad habits, judgmentalism, lack of understanding, bossiness, and being stressed and angry. How can these two dichotomies exist at the same time?
Gayle Kimball
David Hamilton 50+
2. People with free time, have time to be cool and trendy.
3. American culture used to value youth and change, now we're bankrupting our youth to pay for the debts of a generation of little accomplishment.
4. Yes, young people today are spoiled, detached, unmotivated, and addicted to drugs, because we kept telling them they were special over and over and over again, no matter how horrible they performed.
5. Yes and yes, no more materialistic than the previous generation however.
6. I seen no evidence that millennials are the "relationship generation", we're trapped with our parents because we're bankrupt.
Linda Taylor 50+
I completely agree that some of the overall societal behavior of the US is adolescent in nature. To the point of sibling rivalry during an election year. And greed. So much greed. We are just a young country in the scheme of things and our society is still in the experimental phase somewhat.
Yes they are the entitled generation. I deal with them A LOT! Them and their helicopter parents. (I am the exception - lol of course not. I am guilty of it too but try to keep it in control) They will learn to deal with adversity. But they will deal with it with a support system in place. Unfortunately that support system is in my office a lot.
I do not think all of this will be bad. They will learn to keep family and support close and provide support in return. Imagine what that could look like in congress in 20 years?
They will grow and learn and their world will be different than mine. That is a good thing.
Gayle Kimball
Linda Taylor 50+
I am in higher ed and students feel because their parents pay tuition and they show up for class that they deserve a good grade. They don't have an understanding of accountability and expect everyone else to fix things for them. Because they ask (plead, crying, cajole, scream) And when we don't, mom and dad are next at my door pleading, cajoling, threatening.
My kids even say 'Mom you have another crying student on the phone.'
They think they are entitled to the answers on the test too! They keep asking for exam reviews and want to know what is on the test. They don't necessarily care about learning and achieving (not all of them but more in this generation than previous. I don't want to generalize too much.) Some have never had to achieve before or work at studying or crack a book.
Don't get me wrong, I know the problem stems from way beyond what happens in my office. I am lucky because i find all this humorous. And take great pleasure in explaining to everyone that the failure was not on our part. The process however is very time consuming and the students and parents have to process many emotions. I know this and I take the time to help. They usually get it and then my job is to help them strategize what to do after a failure. For many of them this is their first time. They don't understand that it is OK to fail, its what you do next that counts.
They feel entitled to succeed and have never dealt with anything not going their way before.
Gayle Kimball
Linda Taylor 50+
It doesn't matter though because I still deal with it. And your question about learning responsibility. They either learn it or they do not graduate. We have it as an outcome and it is measured.
Debra Smith 200+
I do not think they can Unless WE just do not like their choice of action and simply label them ignorant.
Gayle Kimball
Ken brown 30+
Ken brown 30+
Debra Smith 200+
Linda Taylor 50+
Fritzie Reisner 100+
1. The reason for being better informed about other cultures but ill-informed about climate change may be a focus on the present rather than on the future, an issue common across age groups.
2. I think youth may have an exaggerated idea of the negativity of adults toward them. In my observation, most of us are highly encouraged by what young people are like and see all sorts of promise in them. Delinquency in youth is probably no more prevalent than delinquency among adults.
3. I think Americans tend to think more about the short run than the long run. I think rebelliousness, impatience, and openness to change are a long-standing part of the culture. Irreverance and criticism of leadership of every kind are also a long-standing part of the culture.
4. I don't know anything about little emperors.
5. I don't know anything about the culture of the Facebook company, but I think wealthy young people typically are very eager to help others and to be entrepreneurial but also are very interested in smart phones, ipads, and material possessions.
6. I don't know whether the generation gap has narrowed.
Gayle Kimball
Fritzie Reisner 100+
Like Linda, I teach students across a wide range of ages and have done so for decades. When it comes to entitled attitudes and so forth, I have found the parents often more of a challenge than the students.
I would say that in popular discussion I have heard two perspectives about equally. One is the hopefulness that the young will help birth the change Everyone wants, assisted by the resources to learn and collaborate that technology brings. Second is the notion that the young are less creative than previous generations because of a preoccupation with entertainment and because schools do not adequately foster creativity (though to my mind, it would be hard to argue that modern curriculum fosters creativity less than the curricula to which the generations before them were exposed!)