The next three to four weeks will see hundreds of thousands of freshly minted university graduates launch from the haven of their academic institutions into the world to make a positive difference. As they await the conferral of their degrees, they will be told to remember the lessons learned on the journey, and to go and change the world. We use this forum, among other things, as a way to discuss how the world needs to be changed and how we will accomplish it. But how ready is this millennial generation to begin changing the world, really?
I’ve been working in higher education for 15 years. Others who blog here (and many others who attend this online forum) have much more experience than that. What’s different about students today, and should we have cause for concern? Here are just a few of my observations:
- Changing the world begins with changing one’s self. For many, college has only taught them to be more self-absorbed than when they came in as freshmen.
- They are less independent, partly due to mom and dad following them everywhere on their cell phones and helping them problem-solve at moment’s notice.
- Their swagger and sometimes even their words tell us they are ready to do BIG things that will be earth-shattering, but they are not willing to serve by executing smaller, more mundane tasks that may not receive any applause. Some think they should be CEO not in 15 or 20 years after getting extensive experience, but in more like a year or two; possibly as many as five, after earning a graduate degree. Delayed gratification isn’t in the vocabulary.
- They have a reluctance to commit: from keeping weekly appointments to long-term relationships, they say “ok, maybe,” in the hopes that a better opportunity will come up at the last minute.
- Recent research by Twenge, Freeman, and Campbell strongly suggests millennials are more “generation me” than “generation we,” than previously thought. The study points out in the millennial population “a decline in civic interest, such as political participation and trust in government, as well as in concern for others, including charity donations, and in the importance of having a job worthwhile to society.” See here for more here.
Certainly I do not intend to paint in brushstrokes that are too broad; there are indeed some exceptional young people out there ready to rise to the next level of leadership, thanks to their hard work and to the professors and mentors they’ve had in their university journey. I’ve taught and mentored this kind of student in my current station, and it is because of them that I am hopeful. I am also encouraged about the intentional work being done at innovative and rigorous graduate fellows programs such as The John Jay Institute, where the aim is to form leaders for the public square who stand on principle and who work faithfully towards a just and virtuous society.
Still, if there is any truth to the points I’ve listed above, there is much yet to do. The possibility of reclaiming a rich sense of the common good and re-humanizing our society assumes that we have enough leaders in the making with the kind of sterling character to whom our children will look as heroes and role models. What have you noticed, and what suggestions do you have? These are just some trends I’ve noticed over the course of my time in academic environments. What is your experience?
While I see many dedicated young people of good character, teaching in a small Christian college makes me even more depressed at times because I see so much of what you delineate above in those we would expect to be truly counter-cultural. Some days I tremble at the thought that the students of today will have to lead our world in the future.
That said, I think that we desperately need a renewed emphasis on the liberal arts — rightly understood, of course — for all students. It is no good to have knowledge for work if you do not understand what work is for, if you think the good life is making lots of money, if you do not have humility before the Creation and its Creator. And that will come only through the teaching of history, philosophy/theology, and literature.
Amen to everything that Beth says. This is also the thrust of Anthony Esolen’s efforts at Providence College.
It seems the story of Western Civilization has been, at least from the time of Socrates, a dialogue between faith and skepticism. So long as this dialogue was maintained it was a healthy thing, but somehow the side of skepticism has assumed that it holds the trump card with scientism/ evolution and that faith can no longer claim any grasp of truth. This has caused a serious erosion in the moral character of our nation and we do not yet see the end result. Of course I am using “faith” in the most generic sense possible — that is the belief that there is something beyond ourselves that we are accountable to, whether pagan deities, ideal forms or whatever. Strange isn’t it that even pagan idolatries can be a source of some degree of piety compared to which the self absorption of millennials seems dangerously hubristic. Tom Wolf suggested in his novel “I am Charlotte Simmons” that a return to Stoic philosophy might be helpful, but I think we’ve progressed to far for that and that only the gospel of Christ crucified, dead and resurrected can provide the regenerative power to heal our society.
I agree wholeheartedly with Beth and Bob. As a Millennial myself who has tried (but who fails frequently) to frame my work in terms of what good it contributes to my young family, my organization and our constituents, culture in general, and my daily relationship with the Father, I’ve got mixed feelings about my generation. We’re so passionate and quite often *compassionate*, but misguided too. And to be fair, if I remember correctly, the study cited in the post shows that this sort of selfishness has increased with each generation from the Boomer generation. This is a problem ground into our culture by now. I agree with Beth especially — my generation has a nebulous idea of work and its purpose. I would argue that’s the case not just with work, but with many aspects, even (and especially) within the Church. We have lost any notion of teleology on many fronts. We’ve forgotten that sex and marriage are for more than just personal happiness — that they are the foundation for cultivating a virtuous and productive citizenry, through the institution of family. We have forgotten that education is more than a ticket to a high-paying job. We have forgotten that faith itself must hinge on more than what we feel and makes us happy. I’m encouraged that my generation wants to do many things well and (genuinely, I think) improve the lives of others. I just wish we knew *why*, the knowledge of which might straighten out our wayward ideas on many fronts.
A stream can rise no higher than its source. What foundation have we and our parents given our children to build on? Two generations have murdered over 50 million of their own unborn children and counted the “freedom” to do this as a signature national virtue. Shall we expect those who escaped the slaughter, those born into this raving, wicked madness, to make a “postive impact on the culture?” We should be grateful if they are merely self-absorbed, deluded about their capabilities, and uninterested in civic matters. As Yeats (though it has nearly grown to cliche) wrote
“Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
David Bentley Hart argues (if I understand him aright) that the Gospel defeated all the myths, false religions, philosophies, and “cultures” that put a kinder, gentler face on the inescapable nihilism of a world that denies the Lord. Now the only options are a repentant embrace of the fullness of Christ’s Gospel in His Church or the bloody, naked nihilism that constitutes everyday life in our society. It is unclear to me how much universities (I teach at one), even those few that understand and teach the Liberal Arts, have to offer in helping their students embrace such repentance.
Millennials won’t change culture, they ARE the culture. Individual people change for better or for worse. Culture is just the word that collectively describes that process. . So if you want to know what the “culture” will look like, look at a millennial. If you find more than one kind, count how many are in each group and look at the largest collective. Democracy pretty much guarantees a handful of exceptions can’t really change anything for the rest.
Sure, although a minority of the millennials might influence a majority of the generation after.
Robert & C. Simon–I agree with both of you, for the most part, although I sense each of you are talking about two sides of the same coin. Hopefully we’re teaching this generation to be proactive in shaping culture even as they are shaped by it. In the end, isn’t Ken Myers (Mars Hill Audio) spot on when he defines culture as “what we make of the world?” If so, then isn’t part of our task as educators to challenge our students to break out of the victim mentality that so many have unconsciously adopted about their place in society? I couldn’t agree more with the other commenters that the liberal arts are essential in this, but that only works if our students have ears to hear. If the parable of the sower is in any way applicable to where our students are in terms of their interior lives and what they are ready and willing to take in, what suggestions do you have for “tilling” the hard ground as well as continuing to enrich the good soil?
This may be of interest: http://blog.acton.org/archives/32017-the-perils-of-pedocracy.html#comment-516665485
See especially the comment by Jordan Ballor.