Comments on: We’re All Winners and It’s Mister Rogers’s Fault: Pew Research, The Millennials, and the Classroom

By: Competitive spirit: No regrets | GetGoing NC!

Competitive spirit: No regrets | GetGoing NC! — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:20:54 +0000

[...] issue. One decade it’s “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing,“ the next, “We’re all winners!” Sometimes, though, the “prevailing mood” is declared by those not intimately familiar with the [...]

By: Why Millennials (and Others) Are Not Religious | Unmuzzled Thoughts (about Teaching, Shakespeare, and Pop Culture)

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:34:01 +0000

[...] someone who is interested in generational studies, I wonder why this shift has taken place. Why don’t Millennials (and [...]

By: Kelli Marshall

Kelli Marshall — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:31:29 +0000

http://twitter.com/ericapinskyinc/status/96353843...

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:58:31 +0000

Right, I don't know what I was thinking when I posted that.

By: Kelli Marshall

Kelli Marshall — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:30:30 +0000

Ahh, it's "bad" that teachers have to deal with all of the unnecessary interruptions, etc.

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:39:18 +0000

Your welcome, Dr. Marshall. I'm curious as to what you mean about the "bad" side of this?

By: Kelli Marshall

Kelli Marshall — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 09:46:47 +0000

Thanks, Laura. It's both good — and bad, I suppose — to know that I'm not alone in all of this.

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:55:28 +0000

In my Astronomy class my instructor had to tell two students twice to end their conversation while she was trying to lecture the class. I thought to myself, we aren't in high school, people! While others are talking throughout the class I also noticed that students are texting, listening to their iPods, or on their laptops. I'm sorry, but why would you even attend class if your going to be doing all that. Obviously, they aren't the one's paying for their education.

By: Kelli Marshall

Kelli Marshall — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:00:39 +0000

Wow. Thanks, Gabby. It's so interesting to hear that this sense of entitlement reaches across borders. I also love that you compare this mentality to Simon Cowell and the "X-Factor." What a perfect analogy. =)

By: Gabrielle Malcolm

Gabrielle Malcolm — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:02:19 +0000

This is very interesting from the UK perspective for a number of reasons. My recollections of teaching in universities in the UK are very similar. The sense of entitlement is very strong amongst this generation. Surprisingly this attitude has only become more pronounced in recent years ever since tuition fees were introduced. Where one might think that the work ethic would improve because their own finances are at stake, the opposite has happened. Students have become more indifferent about their future, until the prospect of it cannot be avoided on graduation and they have to face the brutal reality! I think that because they are spending their money on fees they expect a 'service' from the universities and often treat their lecturers as part of that service industry. We Generation 'X-ers' in the UK benefitted from government grants until the early 90s and by contrast I think that impacted upon us with the view that whilst we had this opportunity we had to make the most of it and emerge as a graduate able to make our contribution to society in return.
I did not intend to make this a commentary on the pros and cons of fees or grants for higher education! What I meant to comment upon was the concept of everyone a winner, accolades for all and the inflated sense of entitlement that results from that. This is manifest in the UK with a disproportionate number of students attempting to enter the arts and entertainment industries. We began to call it the 'X Factor' syndrome, its equivalent in the USA would be the 'American Idol' syndrome I suppose! A documentary on Radio 4 for the BBC outlined the statistics: there are more students training in the performing arts than there are jobs in the 'arts' industry of any kind in the UK, and that includes jobs in strip clubs and work as cinema ushers. This documentary, made by a college principal, went on to uncover the attitudes of the 'praise-filled children' of this generation whose view was that they will be 'discovered' by Simon Cowell before they have to really worry about earning a living. And this is not to say that they are hard at work with vocal training and rehearsing – you'd be lucky if you caught them joining in on a karaoke machine. On second thoughts, no you wouldn't!

By: Kelli Marshall

Kelli Marshall — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:54:12 +0000

Yeah, there are DEFINITELY exceptions to the rule, and I'm ever so glad I have those in my classes as well. =)

By: Noel

Noel — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:40:19 +0000

Demographically, I'm of the Millennials, but I'm not someone who can fully engage them as a group simply because I don't have their "we're all winners" mentality. I'm not sure how or why it skipped it me, but I've never expected to be given anything, and it frustrated me when my peers would expect it as well (resulted in me doing a lot of group work by myself).

Perhaps I get less blatant disrespect due to age similarities, and I like to think the range of chances for them to get help and ask questions (I offer 9 hours of office hours a week, plus an additional 3 by appointment!), but I don't think they're interested unless I did door-to-door visits with each of them.

I don't get my own kind… :-

By: Kelli Marshall

Kelli Marshall — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 12:08:04 +0000

Hello. Yes, I came across Generation Jones when I was doing research on this post. The only reason I didn't include it here is that the UNT presentation didn't mention it. Thanks for your comments!

By: tyg55

tyg55 — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:19:37 +0000

Interesting blog, but it’s missing an important part of the equation: Generation Jones (between the Boomers and Generation X). Google Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten lots of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) now specifically use this term. In fact, the Associated Press' annual Trend Report chose the Rise of Generation Jones as the #1 trend of 2009. Here's a page with a good overview of recent media interest in GenJones: http://generationjones.com/2009latest.html

It is important to distinguish between the post-WWII demographic boom in births vs. the cultural generations born during that era. Generations are a function of the common formative experiences of its members, not the fertility rates of its parents. And most analysts now see generations as getting shorter (usually 10-15 years now), partly because of the acceleration of culture. Many experts now believe it breaks down more or less this way:

DEMOGRAPHIC boom in babies: 1946-1964
Baby Boom GENERATION: 1942-1953
Generation Jones: 1954-1965
Generation X: 1966-1978
Generation Y/Millennials: 1979-1993