Thread Drift

[PamNY]

On a completely different note ... I had a little epiphany this morning about my own reactions to some things, triggered by the graffiti thread. I realized that I get cranked at any kind of "other-ing" of bad behavior.

Sometimes it's just a way to feel superior, insulting but basically harmless. ("I didn't do X when I was young, and so when I read about young people doing X now, it means that my generation was superior to the current crop of young people.")

Sometimes it's a way to deflect self-examination, to the detriment of both the person and their community at large. (The meme that racism happens only in the American South, or that intolerant Christian Americans live only in rural areas. Or that only certain genres of popular music contain violent misogynist lyrics.)

Sometimes it costs lives, and means that some truly bad people are punished much worse than others. (The idea that mass violence is terrorism only if it's committed in the name of certain religions and not others.)

From small to large, it all ticks me off, the idea that people do bad things because they're members of groups that just coincidentally the speaker doesn't belong to.

Very well stated. I could go on about this for pages, but I won't. You've done a good job of saying what needs to be said.

[Helene2013]

Talking about Halloween...could not help but share that one! Valid anytime as a matter of fact (while riding!) hihi
click to enlarge

[Veronica]

Sometimes it's just a way to feel superior, insulting but basically harmless. ("I didn't do X when I was young, and so when I read about young people doing X now, it means that my generation was superior to the current crop of young people.")

I have to disagree. I've been working with the same basic age group of children 9 - 11 year olds for 20+, and they have changed. They know a whole more about the world, sex, drugs, movies, videos than they did 20 years. The first time I showed the sex video to my fifth graders in 1996 shot from the point of view of a sperm, they had no idea that when the sperm entered the "large cave" that the man had just ejaculated. My students today know about condoms and golden showers.

Further their ability to deal with interpersonal relationships has changed. They no longer ignore people who bother them. They yell at them or hit them. Their ability to perform academically has changed as well. When material is challenging, they are more likely to give up. If something has too many words, they won't read it.

i do believe overall the ten year olds of 1996 were superior to the ten year olds of today.

Veronica

[rocknrollgirl]

I have to agree with Veronica. I have been 27 years at the same school, 19 with the same age group of high school kids. Things are not the same, and not in a good way. I don't think it is the typical situation of the older generation thinking that these "wild and crazy kids are going to ruin the world." The kids have changed. What I am able to teach has changed, parent interactions have changed.

[Crankin]

I agree with both points of view, if that makes sense.
Society has changed, not just the kids or teens. However, every generation still says, "Those kids are going to ruin the world." Since I work with both adolescents and adults now, I can truly say that it's not just the kids. A lot of the teens I work with are funny, smart, and have great potential. They just have parents who are clueless, who have actually contributed to making their kid's mental health worse, mostly by ignoring it.
I know a lot of millennial, through my kids. Most of them (including my own kids) view the world quite differently, but this is not necessarily a bad thing.

[shootingstar]

"Since I work with both adolescents and adults now, I can truly say that it's not just the kids. A lot of the teens I work with are funny, smart, and have great potential. They just have parents who are clueless, who have actually contributed to making their kid's mental health worse, mostly by ignoring it.
I know a lot of millennial, through my kids. Most of them (including my own kids) view the world quite differently, but this is not necessarily a bad thing."

+1

[DebSP]

"All this technology is making us antisocial."

Perception is everything. I have read the argument that reading the newspaper is fundamentally different and shouldn't be compared, to today's technology, but I disagree with that argument. But I am guilty of thinking that cell phones make us not so much antisocial but lessens our social skills and makes us a ruder generation. I don't know if that is true. Do I think that it is an "age" related problem? No.I have seen people older than myself (and I am in my 50's) talking on their cell while ordering food or paying at a check out instead of engaging with the person serving them. Spray cans were invented in the late 40's. Maybe if they had been earlier and more available, graffiti would have been a problem in a different generation. (which is where this discussion started). I think the whole generational problem goes hand in hand with technological advances and how we adapt to them not based on your birth year.

[lph]

Well, many people have been taught good manners, but not necessarily true thoughtfulness and empathy. People who grew up without cell phones never got the beady eye from a disapproving parent when using a cell phone at an inappropriate moment :-)

[rebeccaC]

You know toddlers today are just terrible. I’d call them ‘generation sociopath’….they will pull your hair, pee on themselves, their attention span is almost non-existent and they throw full bowls of cereal without even thinking of the consequences.....terrible, terrible, terrible.......

" Children today love luxury too much. They have detestable manners, flout authority; have no respect for their elders. They no longer rise when their parents and teachers enter the room. What kind of awful creatures will they be when they grow up?"
Socrates on Athenian youth….or not

perhaps it's best to learn and embrace what's positive about each generation and more importantly each person

[Crankin]

Why is it, that about once a week, my allergies act up, and I generally feel crappy? Did the nasal rinse (almost everyday), taking Nasacort, and took a Claritin. My eyes feel like sandpaper. Went for a little 11 mile hill ride this afternoon, because it was close to 70 and that just made it worse. DH is kind of the same right now, so there just may be something in the air, but I have this all of the time. Am I so delicate that I can't stand any stress or exercise? This pisses me off! I am done with allergists... shots just make me feel worse and my house is environmentally the best it could be (no carpet, etc).
I'm going to bed.

[Veronica]

" Children today love luxury too much. They have detestable manners, flout authority; have no respect for their elders. They no longer rise when their parents and teachers enter the room. What kind of awful creatures will they be when they grow up?"
Socrates on Athenian youth….or not

perhaps it's best to learn and embrace what's positive about each generation and more importantly each person

I was in the middle of teaching math yesterday - rounding decimals - and one of my students blurts out in the middle of the lesson, no hand, no waiting to be called on... "Can I go outside to fart?" You can imagine how the other ten year olds in the classroom reacted. Yeah, it would be a funny scene in a movie, not so much when I'm actually trying to teach.

I have too much data to show that children have changed in less than positive ways in the last twenty years.

Veronica

[Pax]

I think behavior is cyclical, perhaps generational. One generation is raised by autocratic parents, they rebel and raise theirs with complete free rein, who in turn raises theirs in a loving but understanding home, who feel like things would have been better with a firmer hand, who raise theirs tougher, etc. etc.

[OakLeaf]

Crankin, if you don't mind looking like you're suffering from Ebola paranoia, a mask REALLY helps me when the pollens are through the roof or when I'm going to be working with moldy mulch. If you decide to try it, get the N95 masks - the non-rated ones they sell for dust and pollen are pretty much useless IMO.

[OakLeaf]

I have too much data to show that children have changed in less than positive ways in the last twenty years.

Data, or anecdotes? Because in the 42 years my mom's been teaching, she hasn't noticed people getting "worse."

When your colleagues, or your students' parents, behave in ways that displease you, is that because of their respective ages, too?



(I might also note that going outside to fart IS the polite thing to do, most of the time. I'm reminded of when one of my 9th grade classmates asked our science teacher, "Do fish sh*t?" Sure it cracked up the class. Sure the kid seemed like he was being audacious, and sure he was embarrassed too. But he was also genuinely curious, and the teacher understood both that, and that the kid just didn't know the word "defecate" and would have been even more embarrassed to use whatever euphemism he used at home as a toddler. Yep, a kid used a 4-letter word in class! Yep, the rest of the class laughed! And the kids involved are now old enough to be your students' grandparents.)

[rebeccaC]

I have too much data to show that children have changed in less than positive ways in the last twenty years.

Veronica

I have a good friend who teaches in a tough L.A. school…..she always looks at research on how students the ages she teaches process information and she likes learning how their digital and family worlds impact them, that approach and a flexible enough teaching style helps her be effective in engaging them. She also is always looking for positive ways to help her students learn and stay engaged rather than studies that show how bad they are. That empathic, focused and positive approached is also why I like having discussions with her!!! Even though she makes less money than I do we both work long hours to do the best work we can.