Teaching is great (finally). Just something positive about the youth!

[Crankin]

That's great. Teaching is like this; those wonderful moments you don't forget sustain you through the bad ones.
I am not sure why people are so down on millenials. My sons are wonderful, caring people, who in many ways exemplify what you said about your students. They were (are) not straight A students, but they are extremely bright, articulate, and interested in the world. And some of their friends from high school (long past now... 10 and 12 years ago) have done fabulous things.

[colorisnt]

Exactly. We're not all bad. I think the cultural differences in them vs. even my "generation" (still technically Millenial but there are big differences still) are interesting. Here are kids that genuinely are OK with taxes as long as they solve big problems like elder poverty or health insurance. But these are kids that are incredibly bitter and suspicious of banks and mortgages. My generation was all about graduating and buying a house (which many did) but these kids worry about things like living in their parents basement forever on a regular basis.

And you are right. The good moments HAVE to sustain you through the bad.

[rocknrollgirl]

I have been a high school classroom teacher for 26 years. I teach in a large suburban school, mostly middle class kids. I am currently teaching Advanced Placement, so I do have the top kids. I interact with the general population all day from homeroom, to my assigned duty.

That being said, I think the kids at my school are awesome. I am not sure what label they currently carry, but I find them to be caring, intelligent young people. Well 99% of them

Do I think that this" generation" is different than 10 years ago. I sure do, but so is society and so are their parents. If people are "hating" on them, let's try and remember that they did not raise themselves, and their world is very different from when I first stepped into a classroom.

I am glad you are loving your experience. It is an incredibly rewarding, frustrating, joyful, emotional way to make a living. It is really cool when you see you have planted a seed that really takes hold. Like for me when a kid comes into AP Bio in Sept wanting to be an engineer and leaves in June with an intended major in genetics, or immunology.

Cool stuff. OK, time to go mold young minds.....or get through Friday, whichever way the day goes!!!!!

[colorisnt]

Haha. Giving a lecture on public policy in the state of Missouri and our local community and finishing up my lecture on foreign policy (talking about the Ukraine). Can't wait.

Yeah, I love research but I have found that without teaching, my days just are not the same. Undergrads can be great and terrible but teaching and improving their work is so rewarding. I had 3 students at the dept. awards ceremony yesterday who started their projects in my class last year. Now they are graduating with honors and have done a whole capstone. One is going on to be a Fulbright and the other two are going to Masters programs. I couldn't be more proud. The one with the Fulbright says that without my encouragement, he would have applied to law school and missed out. That made me all choked up.