Our Generation, part 2

Okay, I posted Neil Howe's piece on our generation the other day, and I promised to give my opinion. I've been intrigued by Howe and his late writing partner William Strauss' series of books on American generations for many years now. This Post article is largely based on the conclusions reached in their Generations book.

At first, I was insulted. (I also didn't care for the unnecessary dig at Sarah Palin. Somehow, it's always Democrats like Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama who are the smart ones, while Republicans, like Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Sarah Palin are simpletons.) I think he overemphasized the importance of test scores and college graduation levels as a measure of intelligence.

But, frankly, as a generation, our parents kind of dropped the ball. I think a lot of them were seduced by the lure of the Seventies "freedoms" in areas of sex, drugs, and the like. They let their kids get away with way too much. Remember the smoking areas that our parents and school officials set aside for high school kids who wanted to smoke. Their attitude was that the kids were going to smoke anyway, so let's get it out in the open. (See the Wolf Print articles and my earlier comments on the 70's smoking area debate.) Basically, parents gave up on us because they bought into the notions espoused by the cultural leaders of the day. Certainly, not all parents bought into this, but we have to admit that enough did for it to have an impact on our birth cohort.

But looking a little closer at Howe's piece caused me to largely agree with him. I like his concluding paragraphs which demonstrate that we have learned from our parents failures and will seek to lead our own children to great success.

Most early Xers know the score. Graduating (or not) from school in the early 1980s, they saw themselves billboarded as a bad example by blue-ribbon commissions eager to reform the system for the next generation, the Millennials. Angling for promotions in the early 1990s, they got busy with self-help guides (yes, those "For Dummies" books) to learn all the subjects they were never taught the first time around. And today, as midlife parents, they have become ultra-protective of their own teenage kids and ultra-demanding of their kids' schools, as if to make double-certain it won't happen again.

Does America need to worry that this group is taking over as our national leaders? Probably not. Early Xers have certain strengths that many more learned people lack: They're practical and resilient, they handle risk well, and they know how to improvise when even the experts don't know the answer. As the global economy craters, they won't keep leafing through a textbook. They may be a little rough around the edges, but their style usually gets the job done.

Just don't tell the early Xers that today's youth are the dumbest generation. Not only is that jibe factually untrue, it also calls into question all the family sacrifices the early Xers are now making on behalf of these youth. Let Generation Jones keep the "dumbest" label. They know it fits, and they're tough enough to take it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/05/AR2008120502601_pf.html

Frankly, I'm proud to be from a group that is resilient and knows how to improvise rather than the one that posted the highest SAT scores!

Our Generation

My Sunday morning Washington Post had an interesting article in the Outlook section today. It was no doubt inspired by the election of a man who was born in 1961. I've posted a snippet of it below and a link to the whole article at the end of the snippet. I'll make some comments about the author's thoughts in my next posting.

The Kids Are Alright. But Their Parents ...

By Neil Howe
Sunday, December 7, 2008; B01

It is the prerogative of every generation of graybeards to look down the age ladder and accuse today's young of sloth, greed, selfishness -- and stupidity. We hear daily jeremiads from baby boomers who wonder how kids who'd rather listen to Linkin Park and play "Grand Theft Auto III" than solve equations or read books can possibly grow up to become leaders of the world's superpower. The recent publication of "The Dumbest Generation" by Mark Bauerlein of Emory University epitomizes the genre. His subtitle -- "How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future" -- says it all.

Generational putdowns, Bauerlein's included, are typically long on attitude and short on facts. But the underlying question is worth pursuing: If the data are objectively assessed, which age-slice of today's working-age adults really does deserve to be called the dumbest generation?

The answer may surprise you. No, it's not today's college-age kids, nor even today's family-starting 30-somethings. And no, it's not the 60-year-olds who once grooved at Woodstock. Instead, it's Americans in their 40s, especially their late 40s -- those born from the late 1950s to the mid-1960s. They straddle the boundary line between last-wave boomers and first-wave Generation Xers. The political consultant Jonathan Pontell labels them "Generation Jones."

Whatever you call them (I'll just call them early Xers), the numbers are clear: Compared with every other birth cohort, they have performed the worst on standardized exams, acquired the fewest educational degrees and been the least attracted to professional careers. In a word, they're the dumbest.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/05/AR2008120502601_pf.html

Obama Class of '79

With the election of Barack Obama, Punahou HS '79, I got to wondering what was on the web about Barack and his old high school class.  Back in my college days, there was this guy in the dorms who seemed to wear a "PUNAHOU" shirt everyday.  So I knew about this elite Hawaii high school way back in 1980.  Anyway, one of "Barry's" classmates posted a page of their yearbook on the web in January 2007.  She made some cute comments and thought that would be the end of it.  Sadly, people misinterpreted her intentions and in this highly volatile and hostile political atmosphere, a lot of folks slammed her and she had to cut off the comments. 

My opinion is that the mere fact that some publications, such as high school yearbooks, happened to be published before the internet existed does not mean that they should not be converted to this new medium.    

Presidential Election

This isn't the venue to endorse candidates or issues.  But the election is certainly the dominant event in our country this week.  Keeping this related to our Class of '79,  I thought about the presidential election of 1976 -- the one that happened during our high school years.  Ford versus Carter.  I remember when President Ford was in Walnut Creek in the Spring of '76, probably campaigning against Ronald Reagan in the California primary.  I think the event was near the corner of Broadway and South Main Street.  A young Governor Jerry Brown was running in the California primary for the Democratic nomination in a late and unsuccessful attempt to derail the Carter candidacy.  

One thing to note about this current campaign is that Democratic candidate Barack Obama is a member of  Hawaii's Punahou High School's Class of '79.  Even if we may not necessarily have the same beliefs as Sen. Obama, it would be a first to have a member of our late baby-boomer generation in the White House.  As for Sen. McCain, I recall seeing on TV the Vietnam POWs returning home in 1973 and although I don't specifically remember McCain, I am sure he was one of the heroes I saw on TV back then.