In the article “A Generational Approach to Understanding Students” authors Michael D. Coomes and Robert DeBard give us insight on different theories and frameworks studied to understand the Millennial generation and the relationship between generational succession. The frameworks included in this article help us understand the relationship between people of different age groups present on campus and how they function. The authors believe a generational perspective is important to understand the groups and individuals, frameworks, and generations on campus and how they are different from each other. It is necessary, for a student affair educator to communicate with different sets of individuals present on campuses. They need to understand
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This study helps us understand the generation gap between the Millennials (students born after 1980) and the Boomer generation (faculty and staff). Strauss and Howe present a simple lifecycle framework that reflects different phases of life that are divided into twenty-two years each. There are four phases that include ‘youth’ (0-21), ‘rising adulthood’ (22-43), ‘midlife’ (44-65), and ‘elderhood’ (66-87) (Coomes and DeBard, 2004). These four phases help us in understand the different roles played by individuals during each of the phases and how they are common among all groups. They study also provides that each generation has a peer personality that can be determined by common age location, common beliefs and behavior, and perceived membership in a common generation. Strauss and Howe introduce “generational diagonal” a term which acknowledges that generations are not static but they move through time influencing and being influenced by important historical events. The two also use the generation cycle to understand the relationship between the Millennials and the elderly generations. For a better understanding of this model a new idea called dominant and recessive generations are presented. Certain generations are grouped as dominants based on their decision making as they move into rising adulthood and elderhood, whereas others are recessive because of the absence of social moments. To support this argument Strauss and Howe give an example of dominance of the GI was the result of responding to both the Great Depression and World War II whereas the next generation are a recessive generation because of coming of age during a period of postwar peace and prosperity. In the final part of Strauss and Howe’s theory they explain the dynamic of diagonal movement result in a cycle of generational types that are recurrent in
This study helps us understand the generation gap between the Millennials (students born after 1980) and the Boomer generation (faculty and staff). Strauss and Howe present a simple lifecycle framework that reflects different phases of life that are divided into twenty-two years each. There are four phases that include ‘youth’ (0-21), ‘rising adulthood’ (22-43), ‘midlife’ (44-65), and ‘elderhood’ (66-87) (Coomes and DeBard, 2004). These four phases help us in understand the different roles played by individuals during each of the phases and how they are common among all groups. They study also provides that each generation has a peer personality that can be determined by common age location, common beliefs and behavior, and perceived membership in a common generation. Strauss and Howe introduce “generational diagonal” a term which acknowledges that generations are not static but they move through time influencing and being influenced by important historical events. The two also use the generation cycle to understand the relationship between the Millennials and the elderly generations. For a better understanding of this model a new idea called dominant and recessive generations are presented. Certain generations are grouped as dominants based on their decision making as they move into rising adulthood and elderhood, whereas others are recessive because of the absence of social moments. To support this argument Strauss and Howe give an example of dominance of the GI was the result of responding to both the Great Depression and World War II whereas the next generation are a recessive generation because of coming of age during a period of postwar peace and prosperity. In the final part of Strauss and Howe’s theory they explain the dynamic of diagonal movement result in a cycle of generational types that are recurrent in