Teaching is nothing if not the negotiation of the next generation with the current one. As man who went to school in the 1980s and 90s, I am on the cusp of being a millennial. Yet this is a demographic I strangely resist.
Over the years I have seen millenials being defined as lazy, feckless and irresponsible. In short, the kind of labels that older generations have always ascribed to those who are younger. Take this diatribe for example:
“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L.
Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277
(1953).”
That this occurred perhaps a hundred or so generations ago (interesting website here http://dgmweb.net/Ancillary/OnE/NumberAncestors.html) means that criticisms of the young by the old are not only not new – they are to be expected.
With this in mind, look at this collage. The easy criticism of people based on no more than their age here is mocked. That race, gender and class influence far more the experiences of people (and grants their influence on society) is entirely ignored when labelling someone based upon their age.
So, to what extent does categorising someone based on their age misattribute what causes ills in society?
