Symptom of the Now Generation
I got the following question in a comment from one of the visitors to my blog (MyAccidental): “I just wanted to know from your point of view, if there are any things that kids these days are lacking in respect to [Manners, Respect and Etiquette]?” As I started typing a response to her, I thought it could be a post. So here it is.
I think you’ll place yourself in dangerous territory talking about “Kids These Days”. You can’t say, “all children don’t have manners or don’t know respect.” However, since I do want to provide you with some kind of answer I would say the following:
With the wide distribution of Internet, mobile phones and social media, children these days don’t seem to be used to waiting anymore. Like the Black Eyed Peas sang in their song “Now Generation”, they want everything and right this instant. So, as an example in the classroom, when they have a question they need answered, they’re not used to waiting their turn and get impatient when you don’t give them their attention in less than 30 seconds.
Related to this is the problem that they don’t have to wait or save before they can buy or get things. When I was younger and I wanted to get, for example, a TV set, I would have to do chores, get a good report card and maybe save some money, and then I got a TV. Most of the kids these days just need to ask for it and they get it. This makes the stuff they get seem of less value to them and they get more careless with it. Unfortunately, this attitude towards material things extends towards stuff that’s not even theirs; class furniture for example.
Then there are the social skills. This is where I’m going to find myself on a slippery slope because this is about some of the kids and not all of them. With social skills I mean helping each other out with anything, holding the door open for others instead of slamming it closed in someone’s face, and talking with two or more words (not just “no”, “yes”, “what?!”).
On the other hand, I love their honesty and directness. I love their sense of humor. I find their ways in connecting with lots of different people fascinating.
Do you recognize yourself or your peers in the descriptions above? I’m curious. I’m a teacher in the Netherlands, so there might be culture differences in the way students act at school.
