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Published: July 3, 2008
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EmailShining examples of dedicated, super citizens-to-be could be found everywhere this spring as thousands of students graduated from high school and college, and their younger brothers and sisters worked diligently to follow in their footsteps.
At one graduation party, guests learned about a high schooler with a 4.2 average who is planning to become a nurse, which America so desperately needs.
The young woman who lives across the street is spending the summer working with autistic students as she prepares to become a special education teacher – even though she has the grades and interpersonal skills to instead earn a prestigious business degree and eventually rake in 10 tens more than a teacher.
The rising 10th grader next door hasn’t made a career choice yet, but her options are wide open: She’s currently ranked first in her class; she serves as their vice president; she plays field hockey; and she’s preparing for her second half marathon by running with her mother every other morning.
Tidewater Parent honored students just like these super achievers a few months back, recognizing locals who have already excelled in various fields from journalism to politics – even though they’re only 17 and 18 years old right now. Tiffany Stokley, one of those honored, overcame a lonely childhood when her drug-addicted mother went to jail, her father passed away, and she was moved from foster home to foster home. She petitioned to have herself emancipated -- and then graduated from I.C. Norcom High School ranked second in her class with a 4.1 average. Part of the reason for her success, Tiffany believes, is simply that she’s a Millennial – a person born from 1980 to 2000. In the last year of that time period, Neil Howe and William Strauss published Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation and argued that this new generation is better educated, more dedicated to hard work and more conservative in terms of shying away from drugs and sex.
“I do agree with this concept,” says Stokley, who is actively involved in church, volunteer work and sports on top of her studies. “Generation ‘X’ did not have as many educational resources available to them as we do today…Many people, now and back then, live in households where they are just making ends meet; they rarely get what they want. Forty-two years ago (when Gen Xers were first born), not only were you forced to live like this, you were also forced to be content with it. Now children are growing up with all this new technology, and they want what they see. They then become more self-motivated to get what they want. Modern-age parents allow their children to have a mind of their own and make their own decisions.”
College Professor and Author Mick Hager from Green Bay, Wisconsin who interacts with Millennials every day at work, and at his home where he’s raising two Millennials, thinks that young adults today are fairly calm and committed. “I am seeing that on average they are a whole lot more conservative than even those only a few years older,” he says. “The tattoos, piercings and other garbage is disappearing, and they are more mature and less defiant. The pendulum ‘seems’ to be swinging back the other direction — and not too soon either.”Hager’s use of the word “seems” is appropriate. It is too early to tell what this generation will do with all it’s been given. No doubt, the kids have had every opportunity. From birth, they’ve been encouraged to learn with videos and later CDs and, soon after, computer games. Most start formal learning in preschool and then enter school systems were tests and homework are given in kindergarten. They work in the studying between karate, soccer, dance, piano lessons and volunteer commitments their church encourages them to do.
Will all of the Millennials’ busyness really later equate to a better world with ultra-smart, ultra-talented people? When Neil Howe and William Strauss published their book eight years ago, they didn’t have much proof yet. For example, in the chapter about education, they could only show modest gains in the number of students meeting national education goals in mathematics. In 1990, 12 percent of 12th graders did so; in 1996, 16 percent did. Greater gains were shown at the 8thMore time was needed to track scores. And the book was written at a peaceful time in America’s history – pre terrorist attacks on American soil, pre Iraq War. One would assume that the unrest of war would affect children at least to some degree. grade level, but were still only nine percentage points better over the six-year span.
For these reasons – and given the explosive growth of influential technology since 2000 when the book was published and the fact that much of Howe and Strauss’ polling and interviewing where largely limited to the mostly wealthy and educated Northern Virginia area – one might get a clearer picture of today’s emerging leaders, those currently aged 20 to 27, by looking at newer survey results from a Pew Research Center study conducted in late 2006 for Newshour with Jim Lehrer Senior Correspondent Judy Woodruff for her PBS profile on Millennials: “More than two-thirds see their generation as unique and distinct, yet not all self-evaluations are positive,” wrote a publicist for Newshour. “A majority says that ‘getting rich’ is the main goal of most people in their age group, and large majorities believe that casual sex, binge drinking, illegal drug use and violence are more prevalent among young people today than was the case 20 years ago.”The survey didn’t just provide disturbing results; it showed how unpredictable this generation could be. The summary continues: “In their political outlook, they are the most tolerant of any generation on social issues such as immigration, race and homosexuality. They are also much more likely to identify with the Democratic Party than was the preceding generation of young people, which could reshape politics in the years ahead. Yet the evidence is mixed as to whether the current generation of young Americans will be any more engaged in the nation's civic life than were young people in the past, potentially blunting their political impact.” (See bottom for more details.)
Misti Burmeister, author of From Boomers to Bloggers, worries that Millennials’ impact as a whole might be blunted because the very people who tried to give them so many opportunities did much too much. “While the Millennials have been named the most educated generation in the history of the world, I do not believe they are better prepared for the real life working world,” she says. “All the ways we have tried to ‘help’ the Millennials (that is, by encouraging more studying, more activities and more education) has actually hindered them in many ways. As a result of all this busyness, they lack an understanding of their own talents or how they can best contribute to a team/organization. With helicopter parents swooping in to ensure their children were succeeding and protecting them from failure, many never learned how to overcome adversity, which is the key to successful leadership. The media has shown the Millennials the beginning and end of success stories, but failed to highlight the route for getting there. The route, of course, includes overcoming failure. Parents of the Millennials made sure their children knew they could be, have or do anything they want. They forgot to add the part about how to create a path for success.”
Right now, Burmeister believes, Millennials will be okay – but in the future, that might not be the case. She says there is a talent crisis, so employers are currently trying to attract and retain Millennials, but that won’t always be the case “My biggest concern for the Millennials is that when the tides do turn and there are fewer jobs available and plenty of professionals to chose from, what impression have they left behind?,” she says. “Are people going to remember them as the one who jumped from company to company and didn’t care about contributing to the mission? Or, are they going to remember them as committed, dedicated, loyal team members?” A local teacher worries about this generation’s future as well. Ronica Phillips, who has taught for 14 years, most recently as a Spanish teacher at Great Bridge High School where the students are mostly upper middle class, says that at least 50 percent of her students do not know how to work hard.“Students have been less dedicated and less motivated and the academic material year after year has been ‘dumbed’ down so much that it takes no effort whatsoever from today's students. We have to teach to the test,” she says. “This teaches them not to be independent and strong learners, but dependent and weak learners. A lot of students I teach wait for me to do the work for them. If I ask for a little bit of effort from them, they whine.
For example, my students don't do homework, then cry, whine and complain when they don't get a good grade. They expect all learning to take place in the classroom and that they do not have any responsibility at home as a student.”Students ask Phillips to make quizzes “easier” so they won't have to study as much, and she sees their motivation as solely getting a good grade. “They fail to understand that learning the material will get them a good grade,” she says. “They believe they are entitled to the grade even if they don't do the work. I don’t think they are the next great generation. Sometimes I walk into my classroom, and I get truly scared to know that these students will one day be our future leaders.” Many of the students’ best skill? “Manipulation,” says Phillips. “Maybe they could be great in business and politics,” she says. “They are very good at finding loopholes around rules. There is a huge fondness of materialistic items like cars, clothes, money, jewelry, so I'm sure they will find a way to get what they want somehow.”
Amy Monier, a 25-year-old marketing manager from Scottsdale, Arizona, argues that her generation does not think of itself as “better,” but she admits that it is a generation that isn’t going to “take it” anymore. “We aren’t going to stay at a job if we are unhappy,” she says. “We aren’t going to practice a religion if we feel oppressed, and we aren’t going to stand for political ideas and practices we don’t agree with. As previous generations valued stability, and tended to stay at a job or with a president because the fear of change, we value personal happiness, and change is a vehicle necessary to get there. I also believe the ‘how does it affect me’ generation will truly become successful -- not because of their ethics per say, but the value they place on money, fame and materialistic items. This will get Millennials into trouble, but will also motivate them to succeed in school, stay away from drugs, and avoid unwanted pregnancy and committing crimes. In the end, I do agree we will become a “greater” generation than previous, fueled by our desire for self-fulfillment, success and happiness -- but I don’t believe our motives will be as altruistic as others may want to believe.”
Parents of younger Millennials and children born after 2000 who, on the one hand, want their kids to follow in the older Millennials’ footsteps in terms of financial successful, but on the other hand, also want them to be like the kind, community-minded Millennials they know, might have to do the hardest thing of all: Less – as in buy less for their children and jump in less often to save them when they face problems. Authors Neil Howe and William Strauss may offer their best advice at the end of Millennials Rising when they write similar advice: “With Millennials rising, America needs to start thinking bigger. Test them. Challenge them. Put difficult tasks before them, and have faith that they can do themselves, and their nation, proud.”
Meet Generation Next – The Millennials:
- They use technology and the internet to connect with people in new and distinctive ways. Text messaging, instant messaging and email keep them in constant contact with friends. About half say they sent or received a text message over the phone in the past day, approximately double the proportion of those ages 26-40.
- They are the "Look at Me" generation. Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and MyYearbook allow individuals to post a personal profile complete with photos and descriptions of interests and hobbies. A majority of Gen Nexters have used one of these social networking sites, and more than four-in-ten have created a personal profile.
- Their embrace of new technology has made them uniquely aware of its advantages and disadvantages. They are more likely than older adults to say these cyber-tools make it easier for them to make new friends and help them to stay close to old friends and family. But more than eight-in-ten also acknowledge that these tools "make people lazier."
- About half of Gen Nexters say the growing number of immigrants to the U.S. strengthens the country more than any generation. And they also lead the way in their support for gay marriage and acceptance of interracial dating.
- Beyond these social issues, their views defy easy categorization. For example, Generation Next is less critical of government regulation of business but also less critical of business itself. And they are the most likely of any generation to support privatization of the Social Security system.
- They maintain close contact with parents and family. Roughly eight-in-ten say they talked to their parents in the past day. Nearly three-in-four see their parents at least once a week, and half say they see their parents daily. One reason: money. About three-quarters of Gen Nexters say their parents have helped them financially in the past year.
- Their parents may not always be pleased by what they see on those visits home: About half of Gen Nexters say they have either gotten a tattoo, dyed their hair an untraditional color, or had a body piercing in a place other than their ear lobe. The most popular are tattoos, which decorate the bodies of more than a third of these young adults.
- One-in-five members of Generation Next say they have no religious affiliation or are atheist or agnostic, nearly double the proportion of young people who said that in the late 1980s. And just 4% of Gen Nexters say people in their generation view becoming more spiritual as their most important goal in life.
- They are somewhat more interested in keeping up with politics and national affairs than were young people a generation ago. Still, only a third say they follow what's going on in government and public affairs "most of the time."
- In Pew surveys in 2006, nearly half of young people (48%) identified more with the Democratic Party, while just 35% affiliated more with the GOP. This makes Generation Next the least Republican generation.
- Voter turnout among young people increased significantly between 2000 and 2004, interrupting a decades-long decline in turnout among the young. Nonetheless, most members of Generation Next feel removed from the political process. Only about four-in-ten agree with the statement: "It's my duty as a citizen to always vote."
- They are significantly less cynical about government and political leaders than are other Americans or the previous generation of young people. A majority of Americans agree with the statement: "When something is run by the government, it is usually inefficient and wasteful," but most Generation Nexters reject this idea.
- Their heroes are close and familiar. When asked to name someone they admire, they are twice as likely as older Americans to name a family member, teacher, or mentor. Moreover, roughly twice as many young people say they most admire an entertainer rather than a political leader.
- They are more comfortable with globalization and new ways of doing work. They are the most likely of any age group to say that automation, the outsourcing of jobs, and the growing number of immigrants have helped and not hurt American workers.
- Asked about the life goals of those in their age group, most Gen Nexters say their generation's top goals are fortune and fame. Roughly eight-in-ten say people in their generation think getting rich is either the most important, or second most important, goal in their lives. About half say that becoming famous also is valued highly by fellow Gen Nexters.
