In this months T+D there is an article called “One for the Ages” about tackling the classroom generation gap. It assumes there is one…
Here are just two statements from within the article that caused me to raise my eyebrows:
- “Now, for the first time in history, multiple generations sit together in the classroom.”
This is absurd. We’ve always had multiple generations in the workforce (and therefore the workplace classroom). Specific dates for specific named generations are often disputed but considering the fact that we are employed from around age 20 to around age 65 (US), you have a ~40-50 year age span at any one time and the average time period for a generation is just under 20 years (US) so you have (with overlap) 3 or more generations at any one time. - “When developing a training regimen, learning professionals should be conscious that a generic method to engage learners is no longer appropriate when traditionalists , boomers, Generation Xers, and Millennials are sitting in the same room.”
Specific examples stereotypes are given: the 70-year old woman prefers traditional classroom settings and doesn’t like group activities and started work after her kids were adults; the baby boomer prefers interaction; the 30-something grew up with video games and chat rooms, is impatient and tends to address people informally…which the baby boomer doesn’t like, blah blah. Then, of course, there is the recent college grad that likes group work, interactive learning, blah, blah, blah. Have you ever used generic methods to engage different learners in the same room? Presumably, you have various backgrounds, level of knowledge, personalities, gender, culture, and yes age… but not just a bunch of chairs with people with numbers on their forehead. Quick, I have 1962 on my head…how should I act? Clearly, it’ll depend on what the subject is. If it’s new information I’ll approach the topic much differently than if I know a fair amount and my behavior will reflect that.
Anyway, there’s a bunch of techniques for dealing with this “problem” – passing a leadership baton, circle wrong answers on papers and let students figure out the correct answer, trivia openers with stars awarded for correct answers, partnering up and sharing something (complete with ringing bell), 3 x 5 card decks for questions (Millennials and Gen Xers work in teams), etc. We’ve all done our different activities…
In the end the writer says this:
Addressing the needs of multiple generations does not require upending an entire curriculum. Learning professionals just need to find engaging methods that are flexible enough to appeal to everyone in the room.
You think?
This isn’t a research piece I know. Just the same, how many people do you think read this type of article and think they have to find engaging methods for “everyone in the room” BECAUSE OF A GENERATION GAP? And then repeat it? I say let that shit die already. We should find engaging methods because it’s our freaking job and because people are individuals. I have nothing against The Bob Pike Group ( I think I have some stuff from them), Becky Pike Pluth (VP of T&D, quoted in the article), or Liz Pike Wheeler (the author, unknown if related) and am guilty of making some giant assumptions myself but this just strikes me as the wrong type of advice for dealing with multiple generations in the classroom.
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Thank you, Janet. You SO often give voice to my thoughts. It’s about the research, people. It’s all about the research.
Glad it wasn’t just me who read it and had their bullshit meter go off.
But hey, if it takes a fear of a “generation gap” to get people (most importantly, my colleagues) to think differently about training – then I’ll bite.
Wendys last blog post..One Step Forward
As someone who rarely fits into the generational stereotypes, I’m grateful for this myth-busting. More to the point, check out Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences to increase understanding of individual learning preferences.
Joan Vinall-Coxs last blog post..More from WordCamp Toronto 2009
Thanks Ingrid. And when research isn’t readily available some good old critical thinking will work too.
Wendy – It was just yesterday that I stepped back from my ‘you get the same result’ thinking (e.g., that whether or not you agree or disagree with generational differences you will achieve similar outcomes from a instructional standpoint: more methods and options,etc.). The issue does get people thinking and talking about changes about how we learn in the 21st century but it’s a sloppy and potentially harmful way to address it. I think we should attempt to find the facts and then apply them based on our analysis. I know you do that on a regular basis!
Thanks Joan, I will definitely read up on that. And yes, you definitely DO NOT fit the stereotype and I’m always grateful for your voice on these issues.
It’s not just the training world that is being hit with the Generation Fear Myth, either. Go to any HR or management site/meeting/conference and you’ll hear the same drivel. Yup, people are different. Based on their generation? Possibly that plays into it. But for my money a 24-year-old today is pretty darn similar to a 24-year-old in 1979 with regards to many of the attitudes she exhibits in the workplace. And when she is 54, she will have many of the same attributes as today’s 54-year-old.
So is the myth repeated because it’s easier to think of ways to address the differences in audiences when you can point to the “cause” of the differences? My cynical side also sees some prejuduce there, but perhaps that’s because I’m a boomer.
Denise-
You touch on a very relevant point – that we change as we get older. One of the research reports I read also said that a 24 yr old financial analyst has more in common with a 34 year old financial analyst than with a 24 yr old teacher. I think you’re right that the myth is repeated because it’s easy. It seems to be common sense on the surface. (you darn kids, ha ha…help me program my phone). My big point is that although there may be some traits associated with a large portion of a particular generation at any given point in time, it doesn’t mean we design instruction differently for different ages.
You boomers and your relevant points…
Denise — You’re right; I have seen so many management articles/books/blog posts about how to manage the generations in the last few years. I’m glad to see the idea getting some traction that it’s age, not generation, that causes the “generation gap” — but again, *if* there is one.
To me, all of this seems very much like studying how males and females communicate differently, which has been all the rage in the past. It can be useful in that it exposes you to different perspectives, but it’s not necessarily predictive when communicating with any one individual at any one time. Good listening will help you understand the sender’s perspective, and good instructional design and facilitation skills will create a beneficial classroom experience for all.
Thank you for being a voice of reason, Janet! In my opinion, this topic (______ for the Generations) has gotten way too much hype.
I try to debunk the myth in our webinars (I deliver one on multi-generational learning and ID)
I think it’s a topic that “sells” because we all are loyal to our generations and like to read about it (same with gender gaps).
Great post, as ever, and I support your arguments. On the first point, may I add that in some countries, school education is not and never has been age-based. Children do not progress from grade to grade as they age. They progress on the basis of demonstration of competency. Or this is the theory, anyway. In practice it’s about passing exams… and I’ve made my feelings about the appropriateness of the exam system known before.
Also, in some countries, people may take time out of school to work the fields, start a family or fight in a revolution… and then return. And when they do, they pick up where they have left off. See this story, for example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3394707.stm
So teachers in developing countries have always had to deal with multiple generations in a classroom. Perhaps this is one situation in which we should ask them for advice instead of always feeling that we are in a position to give it to them.
Just a thought.
Karyn Romeiss last blog post..Box ticking
Great idea, as ever : )
Loved your comments on the article. A couple of years ago I worked in a college where a 60+ year old colleague was very tech savvy and used it a lot in her teaching. She also dragged us slightly younger ones off (kicking and screaming) to techbreakfast sessions etc so we could learn about blogs, wiki’s, e-learning etc. Her students ranged in age from 18 to 60 and it was often the younger ones who complained that they didn’t want to use the forums, blogs and so forth. She supplied little in hard copy and expected students to download their readings or podcasts – to howls of protest from – yes younger students. I have often reflected on that when I read articles such as the one you have referred to!
Una – great story and example of what actually can happen in the ‘real’ world. If you look at the work Joan Vinall-Cox does (link in comments), you’ll see a similar story of a tech savvy teacher that doesn’t think much about her age or the age of her students. Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad it’s not just me reading articles like this and scratching my head.
Janet, as always, direct and to the point–one of the many things I love about your blogging. So refreshing!
Michele Martins last blog post..Feeling Like Dirt
@Una Great anecdote. Thanks for sharing.
Karyn Romeiss last blog post..pic of the day – booganvilla silly
I’ve stopped blogging about the silly ASTD “gen gap” articles. I work developing courses for a huge high tech company, ALL of our audiences are extremely technical. Taking the advice of this article would insult most of them!
Oh and most 40-year olds grew up on video games, not to mention our dads and moms who played those games with us when we were kids.
Thanks Janet for posting – wish I had been keeping up so I wouldnt have gotten all riled up again.
gminkss last blog post..We are creating the Digital Universe – but who will manage it?
To add to Karen Romeis’s comment – not only are there lots of cultures where there are a wide mix of ages in the same classroom, the same age cohort based classroom is an invention of the German Pietists of the 1700s that spread throughout the industrialized world. Before that, the schoolmaster worked with each student individually, and there were children of all ages in the room. Daniel Smail, in his 2008 book “On Deep History and the Brain”, writes, “Western societies have been experimenting for nearly two centuries with the biologically unprecedented custom of socializing children in very narrow age-sets rather than the generational layers of a family-based society. We are only just beginning to realize the spectacularly pathological nature of this practice.”
The reasons for the practice have much to do with social control techniques, and little to do with learning.
“The reasons for the practice have much to do with social control techniques, and little to do with learning.”
As is the case with many other educational practices. Well said, that man!
Karyn Romeiss last blog post..L&D and the bottom line
Generation gaps are very real. It may not be politically correct to think about it, or talk about it, and of course it is very rare to find an individual who fits all of the ’stereotypes’ that his generation might get pinned with. None the less, when you are dealing with projections for hundreds of thousands of people, the sorting science is pretty accurate!
Almost every think tank in the world uses this ‘box’ for everything from marketing soap to designing vote sorting polotical campaigns. The projections that can be made using the data are amazingly accurate.
While I agree with Janet that in terms if I&D, it’s all about the ‘individual’, it’s also important to realize that stakeholders are going to throw this ‘generation’ language around, and they will work it to what they consider an advantage.
Sometimes, the only way to fight fire, is with fire. You may be quietly hoping to change all your stakeholders’ minds throughout the course of doing business with them, but in the end, you’d better understanding and talking their language, or they will simply replace you (or not hire you in the first place).
I’d rather be on Janet’s team where possible, and when I ‘design’ or ‘facilitate’ I’m so in her ball park. Differentiate learning simply because it gives EVERYONE choices.
One typically does not design a course if s/he does not get the contract…
In the business world however, it is important to be very aware of the trends, propaganda, and beliefs about ‘generation gaps’. It is not going away any time soon. Currently, too much of the business world is driven by that ’sorting’ engine.
It is interesting to note that the internet does allow researchers to make projections on an ‘individual’ basis like never before…but the internet still does not reach everyone, and generation/gender/race system of projecting numbers and testing ideas is still firmly entrenched, particularly in state and federal programs (major investors in ‘learning and training’). Psychologists are rapidly coming up with new projection models to go with the internet, but they still are not in ‘wide use’ and word is still out on how well they work.
Sometimes we all ‘get bent’ and start trying to rewrite the dictionary from new ‘perspectives’ when something is out there we don’t like. This is not a bad thing at all (it ’sometimes’ changes the world), but groups will always be sorted with some kind of science. Age, gender, industry, religion, race, creed….the divisions never end.
Summary:
Remember…many stakeholders are trained to think in terms of very large groups of people. Yes, they want you to put together something that WORKS, and to do that it is important to differentiate learning. They may be thinking in terms of slates of people…entire divisions, cities, or even continents! Don’t let their language throw you or upset you…psychologists, scoiologists, and economists will work on all that. Just DIFFERENTIATE like their is no tommorrow…until you run out of time and money…innovate!
I think you said it in a nutshell: “stakeholders are going to throw this ‘generation’ language around, and they will work it to what they consider an advantage.” And so can IDs…to obtain resources. My feeling is that we’ve got a lot more important things to do than trying to design around specific generations.
The explosion of vendors of multi-generational “training” programs feels a lot like crafty consultants who figured out how to take advantage of deep corporate pockets.
There are two things at play here which the article did not address:
1) How to measure tacit knowledge (which current testing methods do not do) and incorporate that into a diverse class
and
2) how to create “standard” outcomes when you have a diverse class to train
What I have found after teaching at the University level for 20 years is that younger learners come in very confident with text book learning and expect the same style of teaching as they have had throughout their academic life.
Older learners tend to be more scared of new learning methods, but have a lot of tacit knowledge, so deeper level of understanding (usually) of the material. They also tend to be more motivated to learn whereas younger students tend to be more motivated to perform.
What is disappointing about the article is that they answer the wrong question. By focusing on demographic issues rather than learning and measurement of learning issues (what tools are we using and are they appropriate) they are missing the mark. If we begin with how we are going to assess learning, the curriculum will come. If the assessment is a standardized test, then the diversity in learning will be mote as everyone needs to learn how to take the test regardless of background. If it is by job performance, then we need to assess where each student is and what they need to do to accomplish that.
Hi Virginia – re: “What is disappointing about the article is that they answer the wrong question.” Exactly. We’ve got a lot more important things to think about.
I have not yet figured that out…