Waxing Lyrical

We’ve all heard it before. Someone, whether they’re 75 or 25, sighing loudly and saying, “The kids of today! Back in my day...”

As tired as it is, it’s a tried and true start to a long tirade on the newest generation.

Yesterday, two things happened to me that allowed me the opportunity to be less than convinced that Generation Z (or the ‘I’ generation as they’re otherwise known) is leading us to salvation.

Don’t mistake me. I don’t expect this generation to right every wrong that past generations, Generations X, Y and the Baby Boomers, have made. What I do expect, however, is that each new generation attempt to change something, anything. Just something that had previously plagued the world and made it that little bit harder to live in. Unfortunately, each generation seems to make a bigger mess.

From the Baby Boomers and their revolutionary mentality, to Gen X and their generalised lack of identity; each generation attempts change but the change is sabotaged by generations passing down society’s problems to the next group of uninformed minds. “Here ya go son, have some racism, homophobia, financial crisis, and a little global warming. Take what I have and make it worse.”

Generation Y is no exception to this theory.  Not only are we a generation of self-entitled, obnoxious ‘me, me, me’s!’, but given the opportunity for real change (and I mean REAL change), we end up back-peddling and making things even worse.

Instead of equal rights regardless of sexual preference or gender we vote for parties that go against everything we’re supposed to stand for.  Instead of showing empathy and understanding of other races attempting to migrate to a country of opportunity and ‘freedom’ we lock desperate people in unliveable conditions and expect them to be grateful. Instead of changing our habits and lifestyles to reduce waste and tackle climate change we consume and waste more superficial items than any other generation (no, I don’t have statistics, but just look around!).

(Before you all get uppity, yes, this is a generalisation. No, I’m not pretending I don’t contribute to the bloody mess we‘re making. As with every generation, we have the enlightened, and we have the majority. I’m not suggesting I fit the former category, but I also like to think I don’t fit the latter.)

Having grown up in an almost all Anglo based community; I can categorically say that a lot of the people I grew up with and spent time with adopted the narrow-minded opinions of past generations, and why wouldn’t they?

We grew up with no diversity, cultureless in the Yarra Valley, with an education system that lacked a vital curriculum involving tolerance, understanding and a sense of humanity. Oh, and sufficient sex education.

As a teacher, I work really hard to address these issues with my students; but it’s difficult when even today, in a world where we’re supposed to be granted the freedom to be whomever we want to be, the Education Department and its curriculum still does not allow sufficient time, support and resources to educate students on the importance of how to behave like a decent human being. Is there an ‘Issues’ class in place from year 7-year 12 where students and teachers are able to wax lyrical on homophobia, racism, gender-equality, sex-education, human rights, politics, global warming, the economy, and abuse? No. There isn’t.

The saddest thing of all is that when I do open the floor to my students to discuss these topics, even to students as young as twelve or thirteen, they are focused, engaged and articulate. They have opinions but listen to one another in order to rebut or form a new opinion. They are vocal, involved and dedicated to discuss the topic at hand.

Generation Z is highly capable of changing the world, but have not been taught the skills or trusted with the heavy burden of doing so.

And that brings me to the two events yesterday that caused me great distress when contemplating the future of the world.

The first, a student leaving their iPad on the train on the way to school in the morning and shrugging it off with a, “it’s okay, mum will buy me another one”, caused my brain several small conniption fits.

Firstly, why on Earth do my students have iPads? For the last five or six years, each year laptop use in schools has increased exponentially until it was almost a requirement of the school that each student have a Mac or a Netbook. Whilst I rarely use technology with my students (yes, an old fuddy-duddy who’d prefer students in my ENGLISH class to read BOOKS, write with a PEN and look up words in a DICTIONARY), I understand that times change and this generation respond to technology more now than ever.

However, this year, year 7’s were given the opportunity to instead purchase iPads. For Arse’s Sake, why? Not only do they not support laptop formatted documents; students are currently unable to print from them; they don’t have USB access and are; in my personal opinion, a completely useless novelty. Students, instead of accessing the sites they’re supposed to, are Facebooking and gaming more than ever. It is almost impossible to supervise.

On top of that, they’re upwards of hundreds of dollars on top of school books and fees.

After my first conniption fit subsided and my eye stopped twitching, the second one hit me. How was this student so casual about losing a piece of technological equipment that outpriced his school fees and books for the term put together?

It made me realise how relaxed this generation are about their superficiality and their lack of understanding of the economy and money. It’s not their fault. Their parents (Generation Y and Generation X) have raised their children the way every generation raises their children: wanting them to have more than they had.

But at what cost? Students in my classes from the age of twelve have iPads, iPhones and iPods totalling over a thousand dollars at least, and they are of the understanding that misplacing or losing these items is not a big deal. The most expensive item I owned when I was in year 7 was a cassette player, and I’d be buggered if I was going home to tell mum I’d lost something worth $50, let alone expect her to buy me another one.

The second event that caused me fury, distress and sadness was a year 8 student referring to Justin Bieber as a ‘Faggy gay’.

If you’ve read that sentence and thought, ‘I can’t believe she likes Justin Bieber enough to be upset’ then you’ve missed the point. But, to set the record straight: Bieber, though not a ‘faggy gay’, is not my cup of tea.

Faggy gay? How very distressing. Not only was this student one of my favourites in the class (yes, we all have them), but I knew he actually hadn’t meant anything offensive by that term at all (and do tell, how can one, in fact be a ‘faggy gay’?). So desensitised by words and their definitions, this generation use them for the simplest of reasons:

Don’t like a piece of work you’ve been given? It must be ‘gay’.

Don’t like a song by a particular artist? They must be ‘faggy gays’.

A girl hooked up with three guys at a party? She must be a ‘slut’ (my least favourite of all ridiculous words).

Generation Z are totally unaware of the derogatory and offensive background of the words they’re using and the way they’re using them, and, even upon receiving a detailed explanation; cannot comprehend that what they are saying is wrong.

This student, upon seeing the fire in my eyes as I turned around, and the absolute shock on my face at hearing an intelligent, articulate young man use words beyond his understanding, was aware immediately that he’d done something wrong.

After my ten minute tirade to the entire class on the topic of derogatory language, misusing words and equal rights for people of any sexual preference, I continued with my Persuasive Techniques lesson until the bell finally sounded. The offending student stayed after class to apologize and explain that although he meant no offense by his words, they were just that, words; and that he just doesn’t think before he speaks. All true, and not entirely his fault; but when is each generation going to start taking responsibility for what comes out of their mouths, rather than using the excuse that they don’t think first or don’t mean it?

It’d be lovely for me to sit here and say, ‘Kids of today! Back in my day things were different’; but the truth is, universally, they aren’t.

Sure, my generation didn’t have as much, nor did the generation before it. Sure, I didn’t use the word ‘gay’ to talk about a piece of homework I didn’t like or a person who was irritating me.

Instead, my generation said work was ‘retarded’ and people were ‘spastic’. Instead, my generation where the first teens to buy mobile phones and rack up exorbitant bills (not me, personally, I was a prepaid girl).

Gen X started the obsession with brand name clothes, and the Baby Boomers... well, that was before my time, if I tried to write a stereotypical example it would come off as ill-researched and offensive, but I'm sure they did something in a similar vein to the generations after them.

What chance has Generation Z got at making a positive change when older generations can’t acknowledge the mistakes they’ve made and educate the next leaders of the world?

Ah, the people of yesterday!