The Toronto Star’s online feedback section quickly filled up with comments following the story Profs blast lazy first-year students by Kristin Rushowy which ran on April 6th. The buzz about the article didn’t stop at the paper’s website, but carried over to other mediums such as Facebook and Twitter, where Canada’s ‘Generation Y’ expressed their reactions to the story in the best way they know how – online communication.
The story garnered much reaction from the public, both young and old. Some comments were in agreement with the results of the survey, while some people took much offence to the article and believed that the people interviewed were making broad, unjustified generalizations. The article stated that university professors feel their first-year students are less mature than past generations, they rely too much on Wikipedia and they “expect success without the requisite effort.”
Many are suggesting that these grievances represent the generational gap taking form between Generation Y and the generations past and that the results of this survey are a manifestation of the Industrial Age education system being applied within our current Digital Era. Other comments illustrated the idea that this dichotomy of ‘go-getters’ versus those who simply ‘stare at their navels’ as one commenter stated, is not unique to this current generation, that practically all generations in the past have shown similar traits.
Greg Overholt, a recent graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University, and current executive director of Students Offering Support, believes that we are wrong to call the current generation ‘lazy’, and that the students simply are not provided with material in their classes that is stimulating. Students Offering Support is a national student charity where volunteer students help primarily first and second year students by providing Exam-AID group review sessions before an upcoming exam. He has spent the past four years tutoring university students and has often been faced with the question of whether it is the students’ lack of motivation which causes them to attend the review sessions in droves, or simply a desire to learn the material in a way that makes sense to them. “Today’s students aren’t naturally lazy but have realized the immense potential that this digital era has to offer… they are realizing that there exist smarter, more efficient ways to study and learn material, be it online collaboration, peer groups, or relatable academic support like SOS”
Overholt says that his generation has learned to be highly information literate – they know where to go online to find facts and opinions and can work quickly and efficiently to apply that information to their school work. He believes the idea of memorizing a textbook for future regurgitation does not make sense in an environment where you can download Wikipedia to your iPhone. “[Students] aren’t challenged by the pursuit of information; they can get that information online in a matter of minutes. We all can. They are challenged when they get to develop their own thoughts about that information.” Other experts say that regardless of the results of this survey, students will interact with the material they are learning in the ways that they know how.
Kevin Morris, a researcher and consultant on emerging organizational practices for CEO Global Network, is currently studying this very phenomenon and believes that rather than reprimanding the current generation, we should be harnessing the diverse talents that we may be overlooking. “It is the universities and employers who can quickly realize and embrace this potential in listening to and working with young people who will be more successful” says Morris. Don Tapscott is a professor at the University of Toronto, one of the world’s leading authorities on business strategy, and author of the widely read book ‘Grown Up Digital’. In his book he says the ‘Net Generation’ (those between 11 and 31 years of age who have grown up with the internet) is reshaping the form and functions of school, work, and even democracy. “I believe we can help this generation live up to their potential in this digital world by dumping the Industrial Age model of education and replacing it with a new one” said Tapscott in Grown Up Digital.
Tapscott suggests that the relationship between technology and education has become more symbiotic as time goes on, and that this will continue in the future. “Net Geners are not content to sit quietly and listen to a teacher lecture. Kids who have grown up digital expect to talk back, to have a conversation. They want a choice in their education, in terms of what they learn, when they learn it, where, and how” Tapscott said. In contrast to Tapscott’s opinion, others who commented on Rushowy’s article suggested that the school system is doing a disservice to students by allowing them to pass classes, and continue onto university unprepared. The misunderstanding between these diverse lines of commenting is not over the idea that the world is changing quickly and that we need to adapt, but simply in the ways that we should be going about it.
“Students need to be able to think creatively, critically, and collaboratively; to master the “basics” and excel in reading, math, science and information literacy, and respond to opportunities and challenges with speed, agility and innovation” Tapscott notes, before commenting that the generation, equipped with the technology currently available, has the ability to push beyond what the older generations have learned during their education. “Students need to expand their knowledge beyond the doors of their local community to become responsible and contributing global citizens in the increasingly complex world economy.”
-Katie Edmonds and Chris DePaul
