Understanding Millennials

[skeets]

From the vantage point of youth, time looks like it will last forever. From the other end, we know it is fleeting.

We are all traveling upon that level of time, toward that undiscovered country, from whose born no traveler returns,
A somber yet very real fact of life and one that is wasted upon youth

 

[CaveCreekRay]

I was watching a show on the development of the cortex in the brain.

In both sexes, it continues to develop until the mid to late 20's. One of the last things to fully develop is the portion of the brain that recognizes secondary effects or consequences to one's actions. This is largely why young people do incredibly dangerous things.

I was getting a haircut Christmas Eve and my barber had some mountain bike competition on his big-screen TV where these kids were riding their off road bike down the sides of mountains, jumping canyons and doing all kinds of flips and whoo-ha's. Every other one would have a horrendous crash, often getting hauled away by helicopter with multiple broken bones.

My barber looked at the slo-mo of one of the kids doing a back flip right before a stupendous crash where he must have tumbled a hundred feet or more before grinding to a halt in short sleeves. David, (from Azerbaijan) in his wonderfully rich accent asks, "Do dey make lot of money doink dat?"

I answered, "Yeah... if they live long enough."

 

[85Hokie]

Daren said "apply boot to booty" ......what a lovely thought!!!

I tell ya - in the field of high school education, the students are the same age all the time, I keep getting older! I have told many, that students of old could think, today so many cannot! The idea of problem solving is a lost art, and I dont mean tough stuff, I mean things we take for granted! One day I was frustrated to the point I said under my breath, "he couldn't pour piss out of boat with the instructions on the heal!" THE one kid that heard me, did get it anyway!

MY biggest problem in the classroom, the $!@#^#$@## cell phone!!! Dear GOD, I almost bought one of those illegal phone jammers from the good folks across the pond, and even at $200 then - I thought that was a bargain, but alas, never got the kahunas to do it, idea of getting caught and then feds kicking my butt seemed to deter me!

I have 3 born in the 90's.....but THIS newer generation, tisk , tisk......

BUT - you guys that are in your 70's and up......ya'll said the same about us!!! (those a wee bit younger!"

 

[CaveCreekRay]

I am glad you said that... I had a bud who taught math and coached at a HS in Sacramento for 30 years. He retired and said he had "reached his limit."

Now, granted, I went to HS in the 70's (right after the invention of electricity) but we had auto shop, wood shop, metal shop and ceramic shop to choose from at Central Islip, NY back then. Lathes, saws, kilns, planers. Every one of those machines engendered "responsibility" in the kid using it. All those shop facilities were cleaned out in the late 80's. No more VoTech. Is it any wonder the kids today don't seem to have progressed?

Farm kids get loads of responsibility at an early age. Where do non-farm kids get a chance to exercise responsibility today?

 

[skeets]

Yeah and I guess those of us that were in school in the late 50s and early 60s, were thought of the same way,, but these kids today,,I just don't know, I mean I really just don't know. Ask them who fought in the Civil War and who won, and ya got deer caught in the head lights .
Or ask anything about OUR history. Or literature like the catcher in the rye or mobydick, the tail of two cities, who was Chaucer, or Poe. Same look ask where Alaska is or Japan again no clue,, but ask about the latest pop star or who is getting divorced in stardom, man they know it chapter and verse! Ask how to make your smart phone do,,, XYZ,, you pick it ,and they can tell you how to do it.
And forget about math altogether. Ask them to sing the National Anthem, or recite the Pledge of Allegiance .
I guess its our faults for it being so bad,, it is becoming a strange new world.

 

[Daren Todd]

We still had a votech center when I went to high school. It's actually still in use to this day for the county. It's just called the "career center" now. But still has the machine shop, horticulture, ag mechanics, auto mechanics, building trades, forestry, home economic (sure that names been changed), and a few other courses.

85Hokie, I've noticed the same lack of problem solving skills with my kids. Oldest gets it done, middle and youngest grew up with more tech when they were younger and have a little more trouble. Kids were born starting in 90. Youngest was gonna put there house on the market because there back yard flooded. I was over there during a good rain. Dragged son in law and daughter out to the back porch and had them observe the issue and after a few moments it finally dawned on them what the cause was. There privacy fence was run to ground level so it acted as a dam when it rained

 

[85Hokie]

I give this "quiz" to all my incoming freshman, really not a true test - but it is funny as hell when I ask them to predict their score and then show them how many they get correct.

When yall look at this - read each question QUICKLY just like a chap would.....quickly ..and answer it.....DO NOT think about too long, if you got more than 10 right - someone cheated!!!!!!! If you have seen it before......still funny!

 

[Daren Todd]

I give this "quiz" to all my incoming freshman, really not a true test - but it is funny as hell when I ask them to predict their score and then show them how many they get correct.

When yall look at this - read each question QUICKLY just like a chap would.....quickly ..and answer it.....DO NOT think about too long, if you got more than 10 right - someone cheated!!!!!!! If you have seen it before......still funny!

So if you get more then 10 right, then how did you cheat?

 

[bcp]

I cheated. I've seen all but #13 individually before.

For # 13, I don't know when he changed his name.

Bruce

 

[tiredguy]

First part of his speech made a lot of sense. But he lost me when he played the 'victim' card and said it was up to us and corporations to understand them and make it right. No, it's up to them to understand the world and fix their own problems, just like every other generation had to. Life isn't always easy, but it is what you make of it.

Agree totally but what he's saying is that like everything it's easier said than done. That in itself won't solve the problem but what he's explained especially
about how that addiction most young have to their cell phones with the
dopamine etc hits home. It was a WOW moment for me being a parent and an
employer. And guess what? Yup that's me too sometimes I'm just not a total
addict to my phone and I use it more for the tool it has become.

Good post D2, very enlightening and gives those of us that grew up having a
clue an insight into understanding those younger one's that baffle us with the
behavior. They're certainly not dumb and have mastered many things that I
can not but at least now I know why some have no get up and go. I always
blamed the parents for raising those sheeple but now I know that's not all
there is to the problem.
Al

 

[CaveCreekRay]

I guess I am weird but, I always get annoyed when my phone chirps for a text or I get a call, except from a few close friends.

I like my smartphone to stay quiet.

My wife agrees and leaves her ringer off all the time. If she sees it light up and wants to talk she'll answer. Otherwise, she lets it go to message. Tough sometimes when I want to talk to her but, hey, it's her phone.

 

[skeets]

Cell phones are tools of the devil