ALRIGHT! THAT IS IT!! I HAVE HAD IT!!! I am finally D...O...N...E! DONE!!! So what am I talking about? As a 26 year old high school history teacher I have the unique opportunity to be a member of and teach one of the most hated generations of all time. One of my least favorite things to do is to talk to my parents, their friends, or my grand-parents about my profession because inevitably the question of “How do you possibly teach those lazy, no-good, entitled millennials? They ARE...THE...WORST!” is always asked. When Millennials come up this is what most older people believe: "SNL takes on Millennials" Not only is this not the worst generation of all time it turns out that most generations in history tend to think that the current “youth” of their culture will be the final generation that destroys everything. Millennials is a broad term used to describe the most current generation of youth. According to the Pew Research Center, “...those born after 1980 and the first generation to come of age in the new millennium.” Millennials were first named back in 1982 when the new and growing national news networks wanted to label everyone including the current pre-schoolers and how they would be maturing around the turn of the new millennium. This term (hated by most of the generation it labels) has come to define not a generation of people who came of age at a crucial time in modern history but to describe a group of people who were lazy and text too much. In my few years of teaching I have heard a slew of different words, phrases, and hateful slang that supposedly define my generation. Here are just a few: Lazy, Self-absorbed, entitled (one of my favorites), antisocial, and addicted. In response to these claims I normally try to defend my students and myself by citing personal experience and the experiences of my students who complete hundreds of hours of community service while impressing me every day with their hard work in the classroom. Or I may cite that the Millennials are the most highly educated generation of all time however with previous generations these primary source facts do not seem to have an impact. In turns out that this perception is common throughout history. Let us start all the way back in 20 BC from Book III of Odes, "...Our sires' age was worse than our gradsires'. We, their sons, are more worthless than they; so in our turn we shall give the world a progeny yet more corrupt." (translation: Each generation is getting worse and worse) From Thomas Barnes, 1624, in his book “The Wise-Man’s Forecast against the [Evill] Time: “Youth were never more sawcie, yea never more savagely saucie . . . the ancient are scorned, the honourable are contemned, the magistrate is not dreaded.” (translation: The youth are terrible and our ancestors are disgraced). From more ‘modern’ times: Valerie Steele has something to say in 1771: “...Can these be their legitimate heirs? Surely, no; a race of effeminate, self-admiring, emaciated fribbles can never have descended in a direct line from the heroes of Potiers and Agincourt…” (translation: Those men who led, fought, and died in the American and French Revolutions were self-absorbed.) Lastly, From November 6, 1926: “beauty, their exquisite clothing, their lax habits and low moral standards, are becoming unconsciously appropriated by the plastic minds of American youth. Let them do what they may; divorce scandals, hotel episodes, free love, all are passed over and condoned by the young... The eye-gate is the widest and most easily accessible of all the avenues of the soul; whatever is portrayed on the screen is imprinted indelibly upon the nation's soul.” (translation: The “Greatest American Generation” that survived the Great Depression and remade the world against the threat of Fascism had weak morals.) Despite the constant insults that are levied against the current generation (my generation) I feel a little better, it seems that every generation that is about to impact the world in a HUGE WAY has had a previous generation tell them they were worthless. As the Millennials continue to mature and change the very fabric of our culture this is what I know of the current generation and what I see in them everyday:
Lastly, what I really understand is that as these people mature it is our charge to help influence them to use their skills, talents, and unique abilities to seek out new frontiers, adapt to a changing world, and make our home a better place than it was given to them or they truly could be the most terrible generation ever. This video (along with many frustrating conversations) is what inspired this post! Take a look!
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Brandon LewisMy name is Brandon Lewis and I am a high school history teacher in St. Louis Missouri. I practice the art of teaching at St. John Vianney High School. Archives
March 2016
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