From the outside

[matrixmann]

A vacant question is: How do youngsters that grow in time after your experiences started perceive the world? How do they think about things which you're aware of they've taken hold in your lifetime? How do they live with things which had already been there at the time of their birth?
What do they think about things which they get introduced to which are no deal anymore during the time they are already alive?
What crosses their minds if they're clueless about the development of things which another elder person beside them knows about?
What is the position like if you don't know about any of this? If you just happen to drop in in between somewhere at the timeline and the progress is unknown to you?
What does this ignorance look like from the inside and how much do actually they care?
Can they really imagine the world functioning without certain things they got to know, if they know about it they didn't exist in former times?
And - is it actually a bother to them to think this through?

Comments

[mandarinsun.livejournal.com]

You hit the nail on the head there. They are massively underinformed. They should be required to watch the series of documentaries called Connections which show how science developed slowly over hundreds of years, but they might just watch it and think it is cool and not really get that science took hundreds of years to create things we take for granted now and not think of it anymore after watching it.

Schools I work for recognize the pattern and try to actively improve analytical/critical thinking through a program called Common Core. Common Core is supposed to have the students talk with each other about HOW they got the answer or WHY something is the way it is. For instance, in a truly Common Core math class, students don't really do very many math problems- or they do like 50% fewer. Instead, their math assignments is to write paragraphs about how they got the answer which they were supposed to talk about with their classmates before they write.

One thing I noticed is that very few classrooms actually do common core. Many teachers are doing the same thing they have always done but dress up the borders of it making it look like it is common core. I have subbed for a new math teacher that looked like they were doing EVERYTHING Common Core and it was very different from what I usually see.

Also too though, by having students being encouraged to talk about what they think all the time, you get whole classes that are super social and expect to be able to talk to each other or the teacher the whole time- they talk to the teacher like they are their friend instead of an instructor/authority figure and maybe it is because they are being encouraged to talk to one another all the time because of common core methodology. They are also always being social.

I'd like to emphasize that the problem that you are alluding to is because they are super social and they can't see anything that isn't part of their group of friends. It is like the idea of the individual is gone. Even if you try to tell them to do things on their own, they can sort of understand but think that they are doing it on their own to impress others or be successful in the eyes of their peers.

I sometimes think lately that humans are changing and maybe five to ten generations from now what has been happening will make more sense. It is like this is the first iteration of what humans will be like. So, we can see how horrendous it is, but they cannot because they think they are innovative and that technology will change everything- which is true, but they are still only the first model or the first group that is changing so radically and so they are very flawed.

It's been my experience though that if you tell a teenager or Millenial, at least students in high schools, that you do not like something they like or something they have done, they get really depressed and must go away and think you are wrong. They are extremely sensitive to criticism- they are telling each other they are awesome all the time.


I don't know. There are really good things about them too, but you're right I can see a lot of bad and it is just so frustrating that they can't use critical thinking or analysis at all. They don't read at all which is weird and discouraging.

I like that they accept all races equally though and they accept gay people equally. That is great about them. Stuff that was a huge deal for other generations, racism, is no big deal to them and they are perfectly not racist- at least in California. I agree that they see racism everywhere though even where it is not. Students of all races get along perfectly well in my classrooms everyday though. That is truly an amazing thing and generation after generation that was the hugest problem and at least in Southern California classrooms it mostly does not exist at all now.

[matrixmann]

Originally it actually was meant as says, how do they perceive the world full of somethings which you know weren't there forever, but they didn't get to see developing? You know, time is already in a place where youngsters look strangely at a tape or a floppy disk and think themselves what to do with it.
I don't know if it is an issue of just getting older yourself.
It is an intersting question how do they perceive the world when being shown the world as they know it didn't exist for that long already and, second, what is it like if they get to see all things that make out status for them, it's not like the grown-ups didn't have anything similar back then. Like not Apple invented portable music with its Ipod (if they know this thing at all yet), in the 80s and the 90s people just could do this with tapes.

[mandarinsun.livejournal.com]

Also, the documentary Connections shows how scientist were looking for one thing and really after years of experiment found something else which would be useful for the younger generation to see. A problem I'd see with showing it to students is that it is very fast paced and they'd love it for that reason, but maybe wouldn't take away from it as much as if they read the same material, but then again they'd never read that. You can watch Connections on You Tube.

[matrixmann]

On this social aspect that you name I better go down on at this comment to not mix it up too much with my intent.

I don't know how to make head or tail of developments. But on the other hand also I'm not addicted to Facebook and to constantly reassure myself if I'm part of the hip group. I have my own definitions about being hip and what to know about. - And, as you can see in the other entry about the cover version of Eiffel 65's "Blue", I also mock it if my knowledge yields it.

The most common thing I hear from people being forced to work with this folks is them being totally non-consistent, choppy in their work, like all of them being sick with ADHD, and them being constantly stuck to their cell-phone like a continuation of a pacifier in early childhood.
And, another thing is, this sounds similar to what you say, they don't see persons of authority, persons of a higher rank within group hierarchy. They treat everyone equal, but also treat them equal when it comes to such a circumstance when somebody's more experienced then them or possesses more knowledge.
Latter thing is something that I'm calibrated to accept and see it, for example.
The consequence out of this circumstance is, whole social life with them is like American politics. Inexperienced snobbish teens try to tell you what to do or give you advice, and in the end they actually don't notice what kind of disaster they make. And you're actually wise enough to know better advice for the situation than them.
And those also can't just shut up and stop causing the next disaster.

I don't know if I should rack my brains about it what will be if these enter the age where they must earn an income. It sounds very natural in their position then to stick as long as it can be with their parents.
So better I also don't try to imagine what if when this self-centered and spoiled young people get enforced into the situation to behave like parents. They actually must experience a hard fall when this becomes the case. It means no more playing child, somebody else is the child (and the center of global interest).