Transcript Matsuoka Generations 8-27 2010

GENERATIONS
Cycles in American Life
Cary Matsuoka
Introduction
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First heard this topic in January 2007
Superintendents conference
Speaker - William Strauss
 Historian,
playwright, lawyer
 Passed away in December 2007, age 60
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Co-writer, Neil Howe
 Historian,
demographer, economist
Generations &
Millenials Go to College
Millenial Generation
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Born 1982 – 2004
Kids born in 1982 became the high school class of 2000
Seven Core Traits of Millenials
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Special
Sheltered
Confident
Team-oriented
Conventional
Pressured
Achieving
Accurate Description of Today’s
Students
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K-8 schools
High schools
College
Youngest workforce members
The seven traits very accurately describe today’s
students
The Generation Gap – A Traditional View
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What are some of the challenges which create
misunderstandings between generations?
Age
Life experience
Technology (which is moving very fast)
Historical context, for example …
Beloit College Mindset List – Class of 2014 (born
in 1992)
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Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
Al Gore has always been animated.
Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as
Dirty Harry.
They’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a
request for the time of day.
American companies have always done business in Vietnam.
They have never worried about a Russian missile strike on the
U.S.
Traditional View of Generations –
Roles
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Elderhood (age 66-87)
 Stewardship
– supervising, mentoring, managing
endowments, passing on values
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Midlife (age 44-65)
 Leadership
– parenting, teaching, directing institutions,
using values
Traditional View - Continued
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Rising Adulthood (age 22-43)
 Activity
– working, starting families and careers,
serving institutions, testing values
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Youth (age 0-21)
 Dependence
– growing, learning, accepting protection
and nurture, acquiring values
Generational Work of Strauss & Howe
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However, there is more to generations than stages
of life
Generations move through history in cycles
Each cycle consists of 4 generational types
 Idealist,
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Reactive, Civic, Adaptive
Generations last about 22 years on average
Idealist Type
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Stormy in youth
Visionary as elders
Righteous, principled, creative
“Missionary” generation – born 1860-1882
“Boomer” generation – born 1943-1960
Reactive Type
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Neglected, alienated
Savvy, pragmatic, practical
Often amoral and uncultured
“Lost Generation” – born 1883-1900
“Gen X” – born 1961-1981
Civic Type
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Good youth, confident elders
Grand, powerful
Rational, competent, maybe insensitive
“GI Generation” – born 1901-1924
“Millenials” – born 1982-2004(?)
The GI Generation
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“There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To
some generations much is given. Of other
generations much is expected. This generation has a
rendezvous with destiny.”
 Franklin
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Delano Roosevelt, 1936
Born 1901 – 1924
Overcame the Great Depression
Won the battles of WW II
A glimpse of the rising Millenial generation
Adaptive Type
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Placid as youth, sensitive as elders
Flexible, caring, open-minded
Indecisive, guilt ridden
“Silent Generation” – born 1925-1942
“yet to be named” – born 2005 - future
Why is this stuff so important?
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Teachers are on the front lines in working with the
next generation
We assume that next year’s students will be like last
year’s, only a bit more so.
Most of the time that’s true, but every two decades,
the linear progression is dramatically broken
And we find ourselves working with a type of student
that is very different than one we have seen most of
our career
Missing the Turns – post World War II
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GI to Silent Generation
GI generation:
 “the best damn kids in the world” – General George
Marshall
 Conquered the world, implemented the New Deal
Silent generation:
 Not interested in conquering the world
 Kept their heads down, sought long careers in big
organizations (GM, IBM, GE, etc.)
 Withdrawn, cautious, unadventurous – and silent
 BTW, this generation did not produce a US President
Next turn – the 60’s
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Silent generation to Boomers
Colleges expected a larger version of the Silent
generation
Prediction - even more pliable and conformist than
before
“Employees are going to love this generation, they
are going to be easy to handle, there aren’t going to
be any riots.” Clark Kerr – Chancellor of UC
Berkeley, 1959
Next turn – the 80’s
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Boomers to Gen X
Demographic prediction for students of the 80’s –
even more idealistic, and morality driven
But instead of long-haired idealogues, we saw
mohawked punks and gangsta rappers
The question from college students – “is this on the
test?”, rather than “is this relevant?”
Next turn – The New Millenium
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GenX to Millenials
Today’s youth are different than Gen X youth
First arrived in college in 2000
The Millenials are much more positive than the
GenX’ers
This is a different generation to work with
How do we adjust our teaching and college
environments for this generation?
Overview and Implications of Working
with Millenials
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Seven core generational traits – brief unpacking
Campus and policy implications
Classroom and teaching implications
1. Special
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Core trait
 Their
parents have instilled a sense of destiny in their
Millenial children
 These kids want to make a difference in the world, but
the other 6 core traits make them different than
Boomers
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Campus implications
 Over-involved
parents, need to help them let go
 But you might consider involving parents on the
admission and getting started phases, “parent
admission night?”
1. Special …
 Inform
parents about FERPA (Family Educational Rights
and Privacy Act) laws for 18 year olds and up
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Classroom implications
 They
have very high expectations for services, their
teachers, the organization
 They are very demanding students (grades, feedback,
etc.)
2. Sheltered
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Core trait
 They
are one of the most protected and cared for
generations in history – car seats, Zero tolerance, etc.
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Campus implications
 Campus
security is important, they will study crime
statistics of potential schools
 Use your setting of Saratoga as a marketing/leverage
point
2. Sheltered …
 More
openness to using mental health services –
provide on-campus counseling (they need it!)
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Classroom implications
 Tend
to follow the rules, more rule oriented
 Consistency on your part will be constantly evaluated
 They will complain about grades and fairness
3. Confident
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Core trait
 Upbeat,
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positive, and excited about the future
Campus implications
 GenX
– we told them the horrible consequences of
making wrong choices
 Millenials – Be positive, tell them about the great things
that will happen if they make the right choice
 Opportunity for revival of campus spirit
3. Confident …
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Classroom implications
 They
are “collectively” confident vs. “individually”
confident
 Their confidence comes from their association with a
group
 Their credo – follow the rules, work hard, don’t mess up
 They are risk averse, create environments to take
intellectual risks
4. Team-Oriented
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Core trait
 They
do life in group settings – school, dating, social
life, etc.
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Campus implications
 Peer
oriented (different from peer pressure), influenced
by group thinking
 If you can identify the leaders and move them toward
your goals, the group will follow
4. Team-Oriented …
 Find
those “tipping points” that will attract cohorts of
students to WVC
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Classroom implications
 They
love group work (for the most part)
 Think about team teaching environments
 Integrate teamwork & technology, take advantage of
the convergence of the Millenial generation in history
and the rise of technology
5. Conventional
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Core trait
 They
follow the rules, are comfortable with their
parents’ values.
 They believe that social rules and standards will make
life easier for them.
 More compliant, less willing to stand out or voice their
own opinion
5. Conventional …
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Campus implications
 Should
be quieter, less disruption
 Example of history of streaking on campus
 Big
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in 80’s, 90’s, disappeared in 2000’s
Classroom implications
 Be
aware of their tendency towards conformity and
group-think
 But help them to think for themselves, find their voice, to
be creative.
6. Pressured
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Core trait
have been tested and measured since 2nd grade
 Their “job” in high school is to get into college
 They have been overscheduled, packaged, and
coached into college
 They
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Campus implications
 They
need help with transition from “getting into
college” mode to learning how to be a student
6. Pressured …
 They
need help with weaning themselves away from
over-scheduling
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Classroom implications
 Academic
cheating is an issue with Millenials
 Be clear about the lines between group work and
cheating
 You need to teach about academic integrity, the honor
code
 This is an entire campus issue you need to talk about
and work on as a faculty
7. Achieving
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Core trait
Smart, high-achieving, well prepared students
 Very tech savvy generation
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Campus – they want wired, wireless, high tech
campuses
Classrooms
Trend towards math and sciences
 Demand for high academic standards
 Will expect their faculty to be competent with technology
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Whew – let’s pause for a moment
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Does this align with your professional experience
over the last 10 years?
Do you see these characteristics in your students?
How might this generational shift create stress in
your work?
Questions? Comments.
Summary Thoughts
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We need to understand the cultural setting of our
work
Don’t miss the generational turns in our culture, the
last one was 10 years ago
Get to know this rising Millenial generation
They are filled with hope and dreams of making a
difference, let’s help equip them to lead us out of
this mess we’ve made
Follow-up
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Slides? I’ll e-mail them to someone on staff.
Book titles from Howe and Strauss
 Millenials
Go to College
 Millenials Rising
 Generations