Our Next Generation: Are Things Getting Better or Worse?

As an educator I see the generation we are producing on a daily basis and I am worried. Why am I worried? Is it because they scare me? Is it because they appear to have too much freedom? Freedom of thought and of action as well? Am I worried because the generation of young people who are going to run our businesses, lead our countries and educate the following generation of the future do not seem to possess the same moral and ethical values that my own generation does? No, while all of these points appear to me to be valid and cause some concern, I am worried mainly because I simply do not understand the next generation.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? How often have we heard our parents and grandparents say that they things were better when they were young? Yes, they will say, we had to work harder to achieve less, but it was worth it because it built character. I would not be the man I am today if I hadn’t had to ride my horse to the river and then row across to get to school, is something my father has often told me. That is all fine, I am sure that all of the hard work done by my parents and their parents to create a country and a society in which we could all live is appreciated by everyone, but that does not mean that they understood our desire to play sport, or to get a higher education or to write. Likewise, I do not understand the generation of children that we are producing through our education system and with our postmodern parenting styles that defocus the actions and behavior of the child in favor of a mythical social context in which a child can exist free of labels and therefore consequences.

But, I hear you asking, if you are an educator how can you not understand the very people you are educating. Well the answer is that I, just like the children in my care, am a product of my own personal history and my own personal journey. In short I am a construct of a combination of my environment and my experiences, just like everyone else. This is what philosophers would call a constructivist model of existence and it has been embraced by educators, psychologists, sociologists and many other ists who shape our current social and cultural environment.