I Never Went to Woodstock

I had an interesting conversation this morning with my "Millennial" daughter, Ashley. She attends Northern Michigan University in Marquette. She told me that her professors give students a ten minute break for each hour of class. She explained this is because her generation has short attention spans and can't sit still for more than an hour.

I told Ashley that we are studying the millennials in my class. She said that was funny because she was studying about the baby boomers in her Marketing class. "You guys are going to be the death of us, mom." She is probably right.

Our histories define us and give us a commonality. Sort of. I was annoyed to read recently that my generation ( I was born in 1949) was defined by Woodstock. Excuse me? JFK, Vietnam, Civil Rights, the Cold War and some very overcrowded classrooms explained a whole lot more. Every kid in my class had a father who had fought in World War 11.

I don't believe I will ever forget the fear of those days in 1962 when the United States and Russia went nose to nose in Cuban waters. We were facing our worst childhood fear - nuclear war. The drill was this: hide under your desk with your head tucked between your legs. I finally figured out the rationale of that one. We were in the perfect position to kiss our ass good-by.

The house I live in now was built in 1964. Its description: three bedrooms, 1 and a half baths, and a bomb shelter. Yes, I have my own bomb shelter. It is a spooky place under the garage and totally encased in cement. If Iran ever sends over the big one you are welcome to use it. I won't be there. I will be hiding under my desk.

I read over these four articles and I really wonder about some of these academics. Do they have too much time on their hands?

Have the Millennials changed the face of the earth so much? Are we all so different? Each of us has the challenge of new technology. We learn something new that in a few years may be old. The older we are the more of a challenge it is to keep up. It is the struggle that so many older people face who take buy-outs from their jobs and then have to re-train to learn a new skill. They are too young to retire but their old skills are outdated.

My grandmother grew up on a farm with no indoor plumbing, no electricity or phone, a woodstove, a one room school, and parents who plowed behind a horse. In 1927 Charles Lindbergh flew over her house on the eastside of Detroit tipping the wing of the Spirit of St. Louis over his own mother's neighborhood. Exciting stuff for a young girl from the country. Life changing in dramatic ways.

I bring this up because sometimes we don't look at life with a broad enough scope. The Millennials are not the first generation to differ so radically from a previous one. Their parents are not the first to look with askance at their children and wonder where they went.

How does all this affect our classrooms? I work in the library at my middle school and I know one thing for sure. Kids today do not want to do research in a book. They want the internet. I don't bother buying much non-fiction for this reason. I don't buy encylopedias. They are outdated.

The Millennials that I know seem to be hard working people. Almost all of my two daughters friends work full time jobs and go to college. They want marriage and children. They seem to be devoted to families. They are comfortable with technology in a way that I will never be. They are exposed to a diversified world that I never was. These are good things.

I teach in an urban school and I don't think my students have access to the technology that the students in "Millennials Rising" have. I am not so sure that their futures are quite so rosy. I sensed these were upper-middle class people they represented.

I never went to Woodstock. I get bored by my peers who still smoke pot, listen to endless oldies, and cruise Gratiot in their 57 Chevys. It isn't good to get stuck in the past.

Next year I will be turning 60. I have a few things on my Bucket List.