Millennials?

In a recent article in Newsweek, Andrew Romano, himself a millennial describes the movers in the Obama victories as what generational theorists call mellenials. Andrew writes a daily blog for Newsweek that readers here may access from the link section at the bottom of the page. These voters were born in the 80's. Heather, Linzi, Cammie,Dom, and Sean are all considered part of this group. They have different profiles than there Boomer parents. Obama embodies my generation's attitudes and aspirations, for better or worse... quotes the Newsweek article. Andrew Romano is a Newsweek blogger. He is 25, his editor is 31. Andrew was given the green light to follow this segment of the primary elections. In Iowa, Obama has a nimble Iowa youth program. Haunted by the spector of Howard Dean, whose hordes of orange-hatted out-of-state volunteers failed to fulfill the Vermonter's youthful potential in 2004, Team Obama had already hired four times as many staffers and invested five times as much money in the state, opening an unprecedented 31 offices and launching a novel "BarakStars" program to target 40,000 untapped 17 year olds set to turn 18 before Election Day.

What about Millennials? What are they like? Andrew Romano admits that summing up an entire generation with a few brush strokes is always hazardous,especially in politics. But as a millennial, he describes soem of the sterotypes as ringing true. According to Moreley Winograd and Michael D Hais, authors of "Millennial Makeover" MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics," millennials aren't confrontational or combative, the way Boomers (whose generational mantra was "Don't trust anyone over 30) have been. Instead, millennials belong to what social scientist William Strauss calls a "civic generation," drawn to issues of "community, politics, and deeds, whereas the boomers focused on issues of self, culture, and morals." Reacting against the excesses of our parents- especially their efforts to advance moral causes through partisan politics- we prefer to address problems by reforming institutions from within. We're team players, say Winograd and Hais, conditioned through constant social interaction (often online) to "find consensus" , win-win solutions to every problem. We distrust conventional channels of information and prefer to learn from our peers (again, often online). We are diverse. After George W. Bush, we believe, as Obama Youth vote director, Has Riemer puts it, "that it matters who's running government, and that government is a powerful way to make the country a better place. Millenials are more optimistic about the possibility of change than the Boomers.

Hillary Clinton's mesage reflects the Boomer generation. Obama represents the millenial message of the Democratic party.

How does this relate to the students we teach? Are they a different breed apart from the mellanial? How does the group the Acaia fit into the picture?

As usual more questions than answers..

: )
Pat