Generation Z. March 22, 2018

Copyright © 2018                                                         John F. Oyler

March 22, 2018

Generation Z

We educators spend a lot of time worrying about the unique characteristics of our students and brainstorming techniques to best serve them. I personally have focused on promoting independent thinking and creativity instead of just presenting information to be regurgitated on demand.

The last several years this problem has escalated, apparently because the students who are now reaching the university level have grown up in the Information Age where the answer to nearly every question can be acquired via Google. As Adrian Monk used to say, “That is a blessing and a curse”.

It has been my practice to encourage engineering students to take advantage of all of the resources available to a practicing engineer as part of my commitment to prepare them for a meaningful career in the real world. Consequently, homework and tests are all “open book”. I prefer test questions that emphasize problem solving to those requiring the student to retrieve information from his/her memory.

Recently this has begun to back fire on me. An important topic in the metallurgy of steel is “packing”, the different ways ferrous atoms arrange themselves in the solid state. To illustrate this I asked the students to determine the maximum number of one inch diameter spheres that could be placed in a twelve inch by twelve inch by twelve inch box, hoping they would think about the placement of one layer on top of another and use geometry to determine the proper answer (which is 2120).

Instead of thinking about it, the majority of the students googled “atomic packing factor” and turned in an assignment that began “I did some research on the Internet…..” and proudly reported that the answer was 2443. This of course is the correct answer to the wrong question, as it refers to the average number of atoms per cubic spacing in a container of infinite size.

This is another “blessing and curse” situation. It initiated a sermon from me accusing the students of two sins – looking things up instead of thinking them through and lacking the judgment to realize their solution was not correct. This would not have happened ten or fifteen years ago; it is a perfect example of the necessity for us academics to recognize the unique mindset of “Generation Z’.

William Strauss and Neil Howe are generally credited with popularizing the concept of cohort generations. Tom Brokaw exploited this concept by coining the term “Greatest Generation” for the people born between 1901 and 1924, the generation that survived the Great Depression and won World War II. They were followed by my generation, the Silent Generation, then the Baby Boomers, Generation X, the Millennials, and finally Generation Z.

Strauss and Howe postulated that the personality of each generation is formed by the prevailing social/economic environment when they are adolescents and that they significantly influence that environment when they are middle-aged adults. This certainly makes sense for us “Silents”; we were so relieved when the war ended that our personality was dominated by conformity. We are the only generation that did not produce a President of the United States.

We adults agonize over the fact that Generation Z children spent far too much time engaged with their Smartphones, much as earlier generations were criticized with their obsession with the radio, or with television, or with video games. How well I remember my parents telling me to quit spending so much time “with your nose in a book”.

I have just had the pleasure of spending a week with my daughter Sara’s family in Fort Collins, Colorado, and the opportunity to observe Generation Z members close up. In addition to sharing family experiences with them we also attended five basketball games, two concerts, and a high school play, events that showed off the talents of young people very well.

We watched ten-year-old Claire play in three basketball games one weekend, the termination of their season. The level of play was quite impressive, especially for girls some of whom are hardly big enough to make a free throw. They played on a full-size court, ran complicated plays, and used a full court press effectively for the whole game.

We also saw twelve-year-old Nora’s basketball team play two games, including one for the seventh-grade championship for the dozen or so middle schools in the area. The girls on her team are highly accomplished and seem to have no difficulty in any aspect of the game. Nora is also making the transition to a season change, playing softball and soccer.

Fifteen-year-old Ian has become a fine trumpet player and has pleased his grandfather greatly by being a member of the high school jazz band, as well as the concert band. We enjoyed seeing his jazz band entertaining before an excellent high school performance of “Guys and Dolls”. We also attended a festival that included his concert band, an orchestra, and four different choral groups, all from his high school. In addition to music Ian is heavily involved in theater, currently rehearsing for a local performance of the musical “13”.

My other exposure to Generation Z’ers is Beth’s thirteen-year-old daughter Rachael, who is quite busy with music and dance. I have had the opportunity to attend many of her performances with the Quaker Valley Middle School Strings Orchestra, as well as several other local groups. Again, I am astonished with the quality of musical presentation these early teenage students demonstrate.

John keeps us updated on the continuing development of his four-year-old daughter Lai An, in China. We have every reason to believe she will replicate the achievements of her cousins as she grows up.

Realizing that my five grandchildren and their team mates and fellow band members are an insignificant sample size for an entire generation, I still must report my extreme optimism about Generation Z. Despite their perceived addiction to Smartphones, I find them to be quite well rounded in all aspects and remarkably talented in the activities that interest them

I am currently compiling information for out next “Second Tuesday” workshop, which will focus on the Bridgeville High School classes of 1948 and 1949, the peak years of our generation. We certainly could never have performed as well in any activity as any of the Z’ers do today.