Thing #11 Generation Y and Education

Most of what I read and listened to regarding Generation Y was not surprising to me. Having been a high school teacher for the past 8 years, it largely confirmed what I have observed. Just like any other generalization or stereotype, it is important to point out that there are many students who do not fit the descriptions of Generation Y despite their birthdate. However, I have found that most of my students in Generation Y respond well to praise and recognition, enjoy working with their peers, desire instant gratification, and highly value "fun" in their learning.

The Millennial Leaders Blog had some thought-provoking ideas about how education should change in response to Gen Y. I wholeheartedly agree that textbooks in their current state are largely ineffective in helping these students to learn; I have gone further and further away from using textbooks during my teaching career. I believe that more interactive and adaptable resources can better engage students in Gen Y. I disagree that collaboration should replace competition; I think both are important skills and there should be a healthy balance between the two. While I agree that ideally students would receive less lecture and more experiential learning, I also think that it is not always practical to expect students to discover knowledge that took many years to develop historically. I also agree that efficiency and short-cuts should be encouraged so long as they do not interfere with the ability to perform more complex tasks. For example, I encounter many bright students who are not good at showing their work when solving mathematical problems. They often use shortcuts and solve problems in their head rather than on paper. Almost always, these same students begin to struggle as problems become more lengthy and complex and require the ability to show intermediate steps in order to arrive at the correct solution. As for quality over quantity research, I agree to an extent. I believe quantity has a value if it also requires students to examine research from idealogically diverse perspective in order to discern what is really true.