Gen X

"Baby Boomers changed politics, Gen X changed family, Gen Y changed work, and Gen Z will change education." When Penelope Trunk wrote this on her blog last month, it caught my attention, and since that time a string of articles has been written supporting this theory about just how Gen Z will lead this shift. Last week Viacom and the Associated Press teamed up to release a new study evaluating how the education system is meeting the needs of today's 18-24 year-olds. While respondents skewed a bit older than members of Gen Z, we can already tell the tide is changing.

Looking at high school and college age students as "core consumers of education," the Young Adult Perspectives on American Education study found that this age cohort are generally optimistic that high schools and colleges can prepare them for the workforce, but they feel these educational institutions aren't adapting quickly enough to meet their changing needs. The result? More and more 18-24 year-olds are taking a less traditional approach to higher education through a combination of self-directed curricula, internships and self-teaching. Today's young people are more accustomed to figuring out what they like to do, and then with an almost innate entrepreneurial spirit -- figure out how to do it. They are rewriting the rules within the classroom and beyond, and the implications are not only impacting our education system, but will have a profound impact on the future workforce.

According to the study, today's young people are taking longer to graduate because they feel that, by combining school with work and internships, they stand a greater chance of finding a desirable job. Not surprisingly, they are also relying more on their own social networks of family and friends and less on community or religious institutions and high school counselors when it comes to making education decisions.

Earlier this month, Cynthia Gibson and Nicholas Longo released their new book, From Command to Community: A New Approach to Leadership Education in Colleges and Universities. In it, Cindy and Nick challenge the traditional notion of learning that is focused on the individual, in favor of a more collective leadership built on any number of individual actions that collectively contribute to the greater good. Fueled by technology, globalization and demographic shifts, the book calls on institutions to start thinking differently about leadership, and challenges institutions to create new opportunities for young people to apply their leadership in organizations and communities across the country.

Members of Gen Y who recently entered (or have "attempted" to enter the workforce) have found that despite their best efforts to do everything right in preparing, it hasn't helped them get a job -- and to further exacerbate things, they are finding themselves in huge debt without the ability to pay it back. My hope is that through a combination of new collaborative styles of leadership and new curricula that emphasizes teams and breaks down the hierarchical structures, that Gen Z will be even better positioned to take on the great challenges of their time and ours.

While it's clear that Gen Z will be taking matters into their own hands by finding new ways to get an education, how do you think "external" and environmental factors are impacting them? Are educators paying attention to this shift, and will they adapt accordingly? Only time will tell, but something tells me Gen Z won't wait for anyone else to figure it out before they do.

They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder. They have few heroes, no anthems, no style to call their own. They crave entertainment, but their attention span is as short as one zap of a TV dial. They hate yuppies, hippies and druggies. They postpone marriage because they dread divorce. They sneer at Range Rovers, Rolexes and red suspenders. What they hold dear are family life, local activism, national parks, penny loafers and mountain bikes. They possess only a hazy sense of their own identity but a monumental preoccupation with all the problems the preceding generation will leave for them to fix.

The above is taken from a 1990 article that ran in TIME magazine about the then rising generation – GenX. Now, if you replace “zap of a TV dial” with “click of a mouse” and “hippies” with “hipsters” and “penny loafers” with “flip flops” it seems the more things change the more they seem the same. While such significant attention is being placed right now on the rising Generation of Millennials or Gen Y and how they are disrupting the workplace, disrupting technology and disrupting everything in between – it seems this is not an uncommon theme when we rewind history and take a look at how preceding generations characterize those who follow.

From last week’s NY Times Magazine cover story, What is it About 20 Somehings to a piece that a local Fox affiliate ran, Can Generation Y Keep America Great, or the release of the Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014 – there really isn’t a description of “the Millennial” that serves as a distinct profile, despite all of the attempts at labels. The diversity of values, interests and personalities is as widespread among Millennilas as any other group -- and in fact most Millennials (dare I say, myself included) would fairly disagree with the generational descriptors as “not me!”

While generational profiles help us understand how to most effectively communicate across generations, to truly understand one another requires listening, not presuming. The environment, values and life experiences that surround us as we grow up help shape our life in more ways than we may realize. World events like wars and depression, or economic prosperity and technological advancements have a great baring on generations. Translated into the workplace this often means different values, ideas, work ethics, attitudes toward authority, and general outlooks on life.

That’s why today, we want to open up an experiment here on Social Citizens.  For as much as things can change from decade to decade, there is one constant – we’ve all been mischaracterized by the preceding generation.  Perhaps we’re more similar than different.  So, we’re asking individuals from all generations to weigh in on one simple question:

Which stereotypes do you think have been inaccurately associated with your generation? 

We’re interested in fostering greater understanding across generations and will continue this discussion in posts to come. After all, there may be more that unites us than divides us. Please weigh in below and stay tuned as we continue to address some of these stereotypes. We’ll be taking a deeper look at whether or not generational stereotypes are counterproductive – or if they might ever serve a constructive and positive role in our understanding of how different generations think, work and live.

Last week’s Barron’s weekly magazine featured a story on the New Faces of Philanthropy. As traditional charitable donors cut back their giving in this economic climate, new givers are moving in. Barron's profiles these Gen-X givers who want to make their charitable mark now, not when they're 50 or 60 years old.

In their book Millennial Makeover, Morley Winograd and Michael Hais look at the pictures of Generations X and Y painted by popular media. They suggest that the work ethic of the former is represented by the entrepreneurial “Joel Goodson” (Tom Cruise's character in Risky Business) while that of the latter is represented by the androgynously named, ideals-driven “Andy Sachs” (Anne Hathaway's character in The Devil Wears Prada). 

I posed a similarly themed question on Facebook and Twitter: “If Kurt Cobain is the [overarching] voice of Gen-X, then who/what best represents the voice of Gen-Y?” 

Generations are most often and aptly shaped by the events, the leaders, and even the trends of their time – but what’s in a name?  According to a recent study by Harris Interactive, 4,000 Americans aged 21 to 83 were asked what they thought of different generations.

It’s kind of interesting that Gen Y (or Millennials), Gen X, and even the Silent Generation had something to say – they all are yearning for a new brand that better represents them. In fact, Baby Boomers are the only generation that overwhelmingly agree with the label they’ve been given.

In true Beth Kanter style, she has gone above and beyond to provide us with a terrifically robust roundup of the “who’s who” of Gen Y and twenty-something bloggers. I’m excited to say we’ve featured many of these great voices here on Social Citizens, but some are brand new to me — and have quickly made their way as new additions to my RSS feed.

We appreciate the nod to Social Citizens and are glad to be recognized as one among the growing voice of Millennial bloggers. As we see more and more people talking about and writing about Gen Y (admittedly sometimes ad nauseam), this list renews my hope and confidence in our generation to share their own thoughts and ideas about how we’re changing the social change sector.

Here are a few blogs that have recently found themselves in my rotation … what’s in yours?

Gen Y Give: As a millennial, Miriam Kagan believes in the power of young people to “give” and talks about the motivations and trends related to her generation and philanthropy.

Mobilizing Youth: Ben Rigby of MobileVoter incidentally also wrote the book Mobilizing Generation 2.0: A Practical Guide to Using Technology to Recruit, Organize and Engage Youth, a book with lots of answers for those of you who are just looking to break into this.

The Brazen Careerist: This site based on Penelope Trunk’s blog always seems to have some timely and relevant blogs, probably because of its self-proclaimed network of “vibrant, curious and ambitious career-minded bloggers.”

Amy Sample Ward: She provides some enlightening thoughts on the intersection between the social change sector and technology.