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b 5 9 e 5 Youth Culture r Generating Generations How are these names Post. The name “baby boomer” generated? Like nicknames, only began sticking in 1970. What is a generation? A social they somehow get coined and The name, Generation X, was generation is a cohort of people then just stick. popularized in 1991 by Canadian who were born in the same date- The Lost Generation describes author Douglas Coupland. His range and share similar cultural those who fought in World War I. novel, Generation X: Tales For experiences. In demographics a The name became popular An Accelerated Culture, dealt generation generally has been through Ernest Hemingway’s with young adults during the considered to cover about 25 book, The Sun Also Rises, and late 1980s and their lifestyles. years. That has been shortened refers to the confusion wrought Millennials can blame authors in the modern world. by the war and its aftermath. William Strauss and Neil Howe for Generations by Name and Period Tom Brokaw popularized the writing a book in 1987 about The Lost Generation 1880-1900 name The Greatest Generation in children born in 1982 who were just then entering school. The Greatest Generation 1901-1924 his book of that title. This cohort came of age during the Great Millennials Rising forever linked The Silent Generation 1925-1945 Depression, fought in World War them to the millennial year. Baby Boomers 1946-1964 II, and provided the U.S. with What will the next generation be Generation X 1965-1980 eight presidents, by far the most called? The names in the running of any generation. are: Generation Z, iGeneration, 2k, Millennials 1981-2000 and a few others. Nothing has Time magazine named The Silent ????? 2001-today stuck so far. Generation in 1951 describing A recent study determined that them as unimaginative and (this may shock you) Millenials, cautious. But they were also Boomer Some virtues grow as people get like The Silent Generation and civic-minded and generous. No Gen X older. (There is evidence that people become more religious The Lost Generation, don’t like U.S. president belongs to this the name demographers have with age.) However the serious generation. assigned to them. The Greatest decline in human capital in some Generation does. Baby Boomers The reality of a “baby boom,” Silent key virtues is undeniable. Soon are good with their moniker as the sudden increase in the birth Millennial the effects will be more evident. well. Generation X could take rate, was identified in 1951 by ??? Youth workers are among those theirs “or not.” Sylvia F. Porter of the New York in position to make a difference! A Generation of Youth Interests again unless it is to attend a sports “forever” to young people (and In youth work, a “generation” lasts also change event. Their former home away over in the blink of an eye for at most five years, not 25. Why? rapidly for from home isn’t home anymore. adults.) Current ninth graders were Every four to five years we are teens: As noted in born post 9/11. That event is as working with a different set of bicycles vs. previous prehistoric as the JFK assassination youth and those youth may have cars, UNO newsletters (but they have always been able to very little in common with the ones vs. poker, slang and “google it.”) who went before them. Becky G. vs. songs, dress Even youth workers age quickly. Miley C. and dance, Most youth workers serve less than Young people’s life experience is Tiger Beat vs. heroes and two years. “You start young and short. Five years is a long time for Seventeen. those under the age of 25. It is a hair, all cool. By the time you know what quarter of their memorable life. The mental and emotional changes define each you are doing you are either too Consider that today’s ninth graders that happen over brief periods of particular old, uncool, or you have already have read about only one sitting time are substantial. A thirteen- generation quit.” Interestingly, young people president since entering school. year-old boy probably can’t spell of youth and emulate a young and cool youth pharmacology but by eighteen he typically set worker but they also value the one School and youth work related may be studying it. them apart who is an older, wiser mentor. Five divisions exist for good reasons. from those University generations are similar. years in youth work virtually makes Students engage mostly with others who are only a few years older. of the same age group. Those in It is a four- to six-year reality, then you a veteran. high school relate up and down at graduates kiss the campus To do youth work well, we need to Encourage the next youth work most two or three years. goodbye. Many never set foot on it know our audience. Five years is veteran that you see.

Cohort Definers Things Just Aren’t the Same Since... Anything that happened before you were born is Technological and social change have powerfully “ancient history.” But history supplies big events affected human life over the past 125 years. Some that define your cohort. Do you remember? changes usher in “a whole new world.” Consider the • The Challenger space shuttle crash 1985 changes brought by the taming of electricity, the • The fall of the Berlin Wall 1989 transportation revolution (cars and planes), the rise of • O.J. Simpson fleeing the police 1994 teen culture, the civil rights movement, birth control • The death of Princess Diana 1997 and the resulting sexual revolution, the women’s • The fall of the Twin Towers 2001 movement, the computer age (the internet and smart • Hurricane Katrina 2005 phones), and lately the gay rights movement. • The election of Barack Obama 2008 What will be the next game changers? Virtual reality? • The death of Osama bin Laden 2011 Designer babies? The cure for cancer? Drones?