Lessons from Gen Z

When I was returning home after dropping Maggie off at school in the morning, two men joined me in my car. They were parents of two of my former students and were waiting for another vehicle which happened to be late. On the way, one of them asked me whether I had given up teaching altogether. “I take a few spoken English classes online for adults,” I answered, and added that young students had started seeing me as a scarecrow whose time had run out.

“Come on,” he said instantly, “there are still a lot of students who value quality…” What he said after that will sound boastful on my part if I write it here. “We tend to judge the entire generation on the basis of what a few of them do,” he added having boosted my ego with some adulation.

I was quick to agree with him. I told him that I’m in touch with a lot of my past students, including the last batch, all of whom are eminent personalities in their own right. It’s only a handful of students who put me off in each class, towards the end of my career. So, he was right. I judged the entire batch on the basis of what a few did.

My heart told me to stop the school job. I didn’t tell him that. My expectations and the reality in the classroom went like the parallel tracks of a railway. The train moved on, but the tracks remained like two lovers from antagonistic faiths.

When I reached home, my phone showed me a message from Blogchatter about the theme for this week’s blog hop.

A curious coincidence. I decided to write on the theme. I decided to look at the brighter side of Gen Z.

They have a lot of admirable qualities, I realise when I choose to look at all those wonderful youngsters who are still in touch with me through WhatsApp mostly. They are highly adaptable, open to new truths, and ever-ready to reinvent themselves when things go utterly wrong.

The youngsters are very comfortable with the rapidly changing technology. They don’t fear new platforms, tools, or AI. They experiment with them and adapt quickly. If I have a problem with my phone or some new App, I ask a youngster and the problem is sure to be solved. Now, since I’m not in personal touch with youngsters, I ask AI which solves my problems too. That doesn’t detract from the inquisitiveness and flexibility of the youngsters as well as their willingness to help.

We live in a time when people are increasingly becoming narrowminded. Even our leaders encourage divisiveness for motives of their own. But look at the youngsters: they think globally and value diversity as a norm. They don’t just tolerate differences; they celebrate them. I would recommend a few sessions to our current leading politicians with these youngsters. Imagine India’s PM and his entire cabinet sitting in front of a few grade-12 students and learning some lessons instead of delivering distorted monologues like Mann-ki-baat. I bet it will be life-changing experience for them.

People of my generation and the one that followed believed in ‘live to work’ or something like that. We all slogged. My wife still does. She works more than her students with their textbooks and notebooks. Today’s youngsters don’t live to work. They live to enjoy life passionately. They also value their health, their entertainments, and friendships.

The youngsters are vocal about meaningful things like climate change, gender rights, workplace exploitation, and so on. They are also not afraid to call out hypocrisy. If you’re wrong, they will point it out directly to your face.

Perhaps, the best thing about them is their carefree attitude towards identity – vis-à-vis career, hobbies, style, even self-definition. Identity is not fixed, for them. They look at it as something fluid. They may chuck one job and go after another at the snap of a finger. They may also chuck a relationship as easily, which is perhaps not quite admirable. Do they take ‘not-getting-stuck’ a bit too seriously or universally?

I’m told that these youngsters build communities online and support each other’s work, share resources, and grow together. That is, they choose collaboration over competition. Great, isn’t it?

I’m willing, at my age of 65, to learn from them Tik Tok dances, memes, thrift-flip fashion, niche aesthetics… Tell me more. I may not be an ideal learner, but an open-minded one for sure.

I just looked at one side of the coin. Let it be that for this post. After all, all the ladies who run Blogchatter are much younger than me.