What's The Matter With Kids These Days?

What do you visualize when you think of that line? For me, I envision three older gentlemen sitting on something like a park bench or waiting in a barber shop. We all know it goes. Every generation says that it had it tougher than the one that comes after. We know how our parents walked uphill 10 miles to school both ways. We know how you didn't have more than one pencil so you made it last the whole year. We also know how you didn't waste one piece of food since children in other parts of the world were starving.

All too often, I hear adults speaking about how kids don't care about the world around them. Kids today and their "instant gratification" resources, video games that glamourize violence and crime and they can't do any real work because everything is handed to them. They don't care about anything or anyone but themselves. Ironically, the very people that now fight so much to "save the world" or whatever aspect of it they are on a crusade to protect is more than likely part of the generation that was responsible for its destruction or degradation. Our children should be educated on the issues that face the world, as they will truly inherit them.

I first watched this video by Don Tapscotta few months ago. It really got me thinking:

A few weeks ago, a classmate from my EdTech program that teaches middle school social studies showed me the following video. You may have seen it:

This "Lost Generation" movie really touched me. Watch the first half and you will be depressed, but at the end of the whole video you will be hopeful or at least a bit more optimistic than before.

I wanted to show "Lost Generation" to my class, but I was wondering if it might be over their collective heads. I opened a discussion about their concerns. After we spoke about general classroom concerns, I asked them to think about the world around them. They spoke of the economy, the price of gas, the price of college now and when they will be attending, the war in Iraq, and global warming to name a few. I understand that their concers might echo those of their parents, but I would wager than the fact that they are "hyperconnected" (it might have been Will Richardson that I heard use that term) contributes much to their knowledge. When I was 9 or 10, my biggest concerns were my bicycle, where my friends would be after school, and maybe a math test looming on the horizon. I don't remember being concerned too about the world around me, at least not the world immediately local to me.

Knowing that my students were aware of issues "out there", I began by defining vocabulary that they might not know. I then started the the video. I watched their faces as they watched, and I paused it right at the middle when the woman's voice says "It is foolish to think that there is hope."

The lights went back on, and we spoke about how it made then feel. They said how pessimistic it seemed, and how they felt angry, depressing and sad.

Lights went back off, and we watched the rest of the video. I was impressed at how my class reacted. A few sentences in, and I heard a chorus of "oh!"s, "wow"s, and "cool"s. They really got it. I told them how they will be taking over the decision making and the direction choosing. I told them how they must be informed with good information, and most importantly, to remain hopeful and empowered.

I think of my own children, the problems they will inherit, and the resources that they might have available to them. They use media that is available to them that I rarely even came into contact with as a child. There is nothing the matter with kids these days, but I wonder if my classroom is uphill in both directions in the hallway...