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The Stranger in the Stacks:Xers & Millennials
Prof. Tracy L. McGaugh
South Texas College of Law
April 13, 2005
Roadmap
What is a Generation?Characteristics of Xers & Millennials
What is a Generation?
“A co-hort group whose length approximates the span of a phase of life and whose boundaries are fixed by peer personality.” Phase of life: dependence, activity, leadership,
stewardship Peer personality: persona determined by
common age, common beliefs and behavior, and perceived generational membership – most impacted by events that take place during dependence and activity phases
Generational Cycle
Idealist Generation Indulged youth following secular crisis,
inspires spiritual awakening, fragments into narcissistic adults, cultivates principle as midlifers
Reactive GenerationUnderprotected and criticized youths during
spiritual awakening, alienated adults, pragmatic midlife leaders
Generational Cycle
Civic Generation Increasingly protected youth, comes of age
overcoming secular crisis, unites into a heroic and achieving cadre
of adults, builds institutions as midlifersAdaptive Generation
Overprotected and suffocated youths, matures into risk-averse conformist adults, produces midlife arbitrator-leaders
Generations
Birthyears
Age on 12/31/04
Silent (adaptive) 1925-1942 62 to 79
Boom (idealist) 1943-1960 44 to 61
X (reactive) 1961-1981 23 to 43
Millennial (civic) 1982 – 2003 1 to 22
Who are the Xers?
It’s no wonder Xers are angst-ridden and rudderless. They feel America’s greatness has passed. They got to the cocktail party twenty minutes too late, and all that’s left are those little wieners and a half-empty bottle of Zima.”
- Dennis Miller
Myth # 1: Xers Have Short Attention Spans
“Think of music videos, VCRs, satellite dishes, the Internet, and MTV, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC. Vivid images of constant change: revolution, war, terrorism, diplomacy, politics from Carter to Reagan to Clinton and beyond, from Heath and Wilson to Thatcher to Major to Blair and beyond, famine, fire, earthquakes, floods, violent crime, sicko crime, kangaroo courts, urban riots, oil spills, nuclear accidents, New Coke, Coca-Cola Classic, Tab, Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, Pepsi One, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the freedom of Nelson Mandela, Michael Jackson, Tonya Harding, O.J. Simpson, the making and unmaking of heroes, the making and remaking of meaning.”
Reality #1: Xers Need Stimulation
Myth #2:Xers are Lazy & Not Very Bright
“I do have a test today. . . . It’s on European socialism. I mean, really, what’s the point? I’m not European. I don’t plan on being European. So who gives a crap if they’re socialists? They could be fascist anarchists. It still wouldn’t change the fact that I don’t have a car.”
-Ferris Bueller in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Reality #2: Xers Want Information “Just in Time”
“just in case” v. “just in time”
“Just in case” learning focuses on acquiring a body of knowledge, presuming that it will have to be called upon at some point in the future.
“Just in time” learning focuses on developing the skills to acquire information rather than acquiring the information itself.
Myth #3: Xers Don’t Respect Authority
“Boomers are finally growing up, and we don’t hold it against them that they forced so many of us to beat them to it.”
Reality #3: Xers Don’t Relate to a Hierarchy
Myth #4: Xers Won’t Pay Dues
“It’s not that I’m angry at you for selling out to the system. It’s that there won’t be a system for me to sell out to, if I want to.”
Reality #4: Xers Want Balance
Who are the Millennials?
“Today’s students average about 14 IQ points higher than their grandparents did and about 7 points higher than their parents did. . . . The number of students with IQs above 145 is now about 18 times greater than it was two generations ago.”
“The danger of the Millennial viewpoint is that they do not seem to face the fact that there are very real differences in people and that underneath it all we really aren’t carbon copies of each other.”
Traits of Millennials
SpecialShelteredConfidentTeam-orientedAchievingPressuredConventional
