Gen X vs. Gen Z
Who Spawned This Generation?????? Agenda
• Generation • Classification of Generation • Generational Key Historical Events • Generational Traits • Generation are Shaping Education/Workplace What is a generation?
• A group of people who are roughly the same age and who were influenced by a set of significate events. These experiences supposedly create commonalities, making those in the group more similar to each other and more different from other groups and from groups of the same age in the past. Classification of Generation
• Traditionalist 1925 – 1945 73 - 93 • Baby Boomers 1946 – 1964 54 - 72 • Generation X 1965 – 1980 38 - 53 • Generation Y (Millennials) 1980 – 2000 18 - 38 • Generation Z 2001
Silent Generation/Traditionalist born before 1946 Traditionalists Words of Wisdom Traditionalist
Depression Patriotic Pearl Harbor Dependable World War II Conformist Cold War Era Respect Authority Cuban Missile Crisis Rigid Children were “seen, but not heard” Social and Financially Conservative Solid Work Ethic Baby Boomers (born 1946 – 1964) Baby Boomers
• Assassinations of John, and Robert • Workaholic Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. • Idealistic • First Man on the Moon • Competitive • Watergate • Loyal • Vietnam War • Materialistic • Protests and Sit-Ins • Seeks personal fulfillment Generation X/ Busters born 1965 - 1980 Generation X
• AIDS Epidemic • Self-reliant • Space Shuttle Challenger Catastrophe • Adaptable • Fall of the Berlin Wall • Cynical • Oklahoma City Bombing • Distrust Authority • Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky Scandal • Resourceful • Entrepreneurial • Technology Savvy Generation Y/ Millennials (born 1981 -1994) Generation Y
• Columbine High School Shooting • Entitled • September 11th Terrorist Attacks • Optimistic • Enron and other Corporate Scandal • Civic Minded • Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq • Close Parental Involvement • Hurricane Katrina • Values Work-Life Balance • Impatient • Multitasking • Team Oriented Generation Z/ Digital Natives born after 2001 Generation Z
• Invention of Facebook • They’re accepting • Ubiquity of Texting and Terrorist Attacks • They’re health conscious • No Child Left Behind • Cynical • Cyberbullying Laws • Private • Columbine Safety Requirements • Independent • Cell Phone Family Plans • Aware of a Troubled Planet • Computers in High School Curriculum • They’re Justice-Minded • First Text-Messaging Phone Generation X, Y and Z: Which One Are You?
Click Here Who were the Generation X’ers?
• Latchkey kids • The MTV Generation • Cynical • Influenced by grunge music and indie films • Slackers? Who are they now?
Research describes them as active, happy, and achieving a work-life balance. And although once sometimes labeled as “slackers”, this cohort has been credited with entrepreneurial tendencies. And…they are the parents of Generation Z Gen Z Fun Facts They have probably never used a
• Typewriter • Floppy disc • Rotary phone • Rolodex • Transistor radio • Sheet of carbon paper • Slide projector • Tape recorder Or, a • Pay phone • Phone book • Paper map • Encyclopedia • Disposable camera • CD case • My Space But What Are They Like?
• Digital Natives • Phigital • Have FOMO • Seek Instant Gratification • Open-Minded • Subscribe to the Philosophy of Fluidity • Aware of Societal Problems and Justice Concerns • Believe in Speaking Truth to Power • Don’t Want to Work for Work’s Sake – Need to Believe • Changing Education How Generation Z will Change the World According to Experts Click Here Gen Z and Education • Engaged and Interested • Embrace Social Learning Environments • Collaborative Relationship w/Teachers • Fully Immersive Education Experience • Digital Learning • Meaningful Career-Focused Education • On Demand Learning • Self-Educating through YouTube, Khan Academy, and Virtual School Generation Z will be ‘Generation Smart’ about College You might think members of the do-it yourself, You Tube- obsessed Generation Z would be less likely to rely on a traditional college education than previous generation. But 89% think a college education is valuable, according to Barnes & Noble college research • They Care About Academic Performance • They Put in the Research • They want Individualize Programs • They Plan to Avoid Student Loan Debt • They’re Already Earning Money • They’re Starting to Save • They’re Interested in Activism/Politics Generation Z will differ from previous Generation in the Workplace Generation Z is: • Motivated by Security • More Competitive • Wants Independence • Multi-Tasker vs Task Switchers • More Entrepreneurial • Are True Digital Natives • Wants to be Catered to How to Support Your Gen Z Person
• If it’s on the Internet, it’s true – research in the • They’re physically safer than ever, but more instant information age. Help them to critically emotionally fragile – help them to take small examine sources and information. risks to develop confidence and resiliency. • Attention Span – help them to learn to divide • Fight FOMO – help them to see the value in large projects into smaller tasks that they can getting out and enjoying experience sake, not switch to and from. just for Instagram. • Fake News – talk about it. • Digital, Phigital, it’s not tech to them – we see it as “entertainment”’ they see it as part of their life. Work with them on the balance. Summary While they differ in some aspects from previous generations, Gen Z wants similar things from life – but on their own terms: • Successful career – but it must be impactful • Healthy, happy family – although it may come later for them than previous generations • Personal fulfillment – which they may find in making societal changes and making a positive impact on others Resources • Alsop, Ron. Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008. • Duckworth, Angela. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. New York: Scribner, 2016. • Lahey, Jessica – The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed. New York: Harper, 2015. • Lythcott-Haims, Julie. How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2015. • McBride, Tom. “The Mindset List: Class of 2022”. August 20, 2018. http://themindsetlist.com . • Perez, Angel. “Want to Get Into College? Learn to Fail.” Education Week, January 31, 2012. https://www.commonlit.org/texts/want-to-get-into- college-learn-to-fail . • Seemiller, Corey and Meghan Grace. Generation Z Goes to College. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2016. • Slater, Allison. “Parenting as a Gen Xer: We’re the First Generation of Parents in the Age of iEverything.” The Washington Post, September 29, 2014. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2014/09/29/parenting-as-a-gen-xer-what-its-like-to-be-the-first-generation-of- parents-in-the-age-of-ieverything • Stillman, David, and Jonah Stillman. Gen Z at Work: How the Next Generation is Transforming the Workplace. New York: Harper Collins, 2017. • TODAY Parenting Team. “Raising a Gen Zer? Here are Four Things You Need to Know”. November 29, 2017. http://community.today.com/parentingteam/post/raising-a-gen-zer-here-are-4-things-you-need-to-know . • Twenge, Jean M. iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood – and What That Means for the Rest of Us. New York: Atria Books, 2018.