Editorial: Growing up in different generations and a few differences because of it

I think it’s interesting that no matter what age you are or what generation you grew up in, you’re expected to be on the same level as everyone else when it comes to common knowledge and education. While many people may find interest in different areas, I am specifically talking about what each generation learned in their respective time period and what is perceived to be understood by all. I know what I said is a lot to comprehend but let me break it down with a few examples.

Let’s look at mathematics for example. It used to be as simple as “1, 2, 3” for the older generation. When I came along, calculators were used more as a way to double-check answers instead of providing them. Today’s generation has an area known as “common core” that confuses the heck out of me because it takes five to ten steps to get to a single, solo answer that would take my generation about five seconds to answer. Calculators in today’s generation seem to be a necessity instead of a way to confirm an answer.

Another example is grammar and spelling. If someone asks you to spell the word opposite of day, if you spelled “night”, then you’re correct. However, if you spelled “nite”, you could also be correct in some instances. If you ask someone to name the four seasons, the answers would be spring, summer, winter, and fall. Now, I want you to look at the previous sentence. When I grew up, seasons were considered proper nouns and needed capitalization. However, neither grammar or spellcheck recognizes this. Another interesting tidbit is the use of commas. Using the same sentence, my generation was instructed to use a comma after each of the words and before the word “and” in the sentence. However, new instructional methods (to my understanding anyway) would write the sentence as “spring, summer, winter and fall”, leaving out the comma after the word winter.

Had enough yet? Well I’m not done. Standards have changed so much not just in education but in other areas. Want to learn how to drive a car? Where do you put your hands at on the steering wheel? I was taught to put them at “10 a.m. and 2 p.m.” In today’s time, I would be wrong because putting my hands at those locations would result in two broken wrists if I was involved in a head-on collision. What is healthy for us to eat? Apparently, the number of calories that we intake is different based on age, gender, height, weight, and so forth. Remember the times when you walked in a store or facility to request an application for employment? Companies want to save trees and electronic forms are the way to go, meaning that older generations must learn to use computers and navigate the Internet, something that seemed outrageous more than 30 years ago.

The point to this editorial is that there really isn’t a set standard to what we learn or how we acquire that knowledge. Instead, it is our interpretation of it. Apparently, there is no longer a “wrong or right” methodology in certain aspects. As long as the result is correct, that is what is satisfying the standard. But instead of settling for a standard, why not set our own goals?

I encourage everyone to take initiative to recognize differences in learning and the outlook of other generations. You will have a glimpse that assisting a five-year old with homework isn’t as simple as it use to be.