A Letter To Gen Z and Those Who Came Before
By Pierce High Journalism
Dear Gen X and those who came before,
Let us set the scene. You’re standing in your kitchen with your parents. They are giving you a disapproving look, probably because you refused to do the dishes or some other chore when they asked. They never stop to think about the fact that you just got done with a full day of school. One that consisted of smelling your locker neighbors’ B.O., and still having a full load of homework for every subject due the next day. Your little brother is making the most inhuman faces possible behind your parents' backs, and just as a half smirk and a suppressed laugh rise to the surface, you hear your parents say, “Back in my day…”. Safe to say your homework isn’t getting done any time soon.
We’ve all heard that notorious saying sometime in our lives. Maybe it came from a grandparent or parent, an elder teacher, an authority figure, or a boss, but no matter who you heard it from, they likely shared an experience relevant to them in a situation they felt related to yours. While not every interaction that follows that notorious line is necessarily negative, nearly ¾ of older adults believe values have declined since their youth; a modern reflection of the classic “back in my day…” mindset.
Psychology shows humans are wired to fear loss more than they value improvement. New ideas feel like a threat and change like an insufferable attempt to erase the past. This is backed by the common belief that “If I struggled and succeeded that way, then it must be the right way.” Oftentimes, this way of thinking is ingrained in us without consciously realizing it. In the same way, history shows how younger generations often prioritize different values than prior generations, like in the 1960s. While this has done tremendous things for the evolution of our society, it has also opened the door to irreparable damage.
“Well, it used to be that I believed the older generation struggled with the younger generation more, because it used to be that older generations were looked up to. They were looked up to for their wisdom, knowledge, and experience. And today that's not happening. And so I believe older generations are frustrated with the newer generations not looking to them for wisdom and for guidance,” Danielle Goetsch, guidance counselor, commented. “Life today is very different. It's kind of like if you were comparing life without vehicles and electricity to life with vehicles and electricity and having the whole generation say, ‘Well, I did this.’ You know, without electricity, it's very different. And so you can't understand that approach.”
The generational gap today can be attributed to many ideas, such as different family dynamics, social media, and modern conveniences. In reality, the gap between generations is not about any of these values, but instead it's about perspective. The older generations perceive the world nostalgically and as an experience, but the opposite is true for younger people. Many, like the students of Pierce High, are only perceiving or experiencing the world for the first time.
A highly esteemed senior and member of the academic and athletic community at our school, who is highly involved and interacts with a multitude of people throughout her daily schedule, was interviewed on what she thought was the most frustrating stereotype placed on young adults, specifically by older people. She responded with, “I think a big one that would be called lazy. Which I think, like in today's day and age, like, with, all of our activities, and constantly, like, we going from eight hours of school to and a two and a half hour long practice, sometimes we just need a 30 minute break to just be by ourselves and to just either just do something brainless for a little bit. Some people, like older generations, label that as lazy, because we should be doing more productive things with our time. But in reality, sometimes we just need a break to just unwind. And I think this generation unwinds in different ways than past generations did. Just because we're not doing the same type of work or keeping ourselves busy in the same way that older generations do doesn't mean that we're necessarily lazy or inherently doing the wrong things.”
It would be biased to generalize the older generations, while asking them not to generalize the younger ones. While a majority of the Gen Z and above are included in the unconscious “back in my day…” mindset, that does not include all of them.
“Every generation said, ‘Back in my day.’ This isn’t a new thing… Times change, and that’s not always a bad thing.” Deb Koehlmoos, a veteran teacher at Pierce, commented.
If kids always accepted their parents’ and superiors' worldview and way of thinking, progress would stall. In the same way, if old people deserted their wisdom from their experiences to blend into modern society, the knowledge would be lost.
So finally, with all that being said, on behalf of Gen Z to Gen X and those who came before, we want all of you to know this: we are not your mistakes, and we are not the problem you remember from when you were our age. We are a generation shaped by a different world (one created by the failures and great successes of our elders), facing challenges you never had to, just as we will never face the same challenges you once did. Instead of comparing us to the past, just be with us in the present. Because this is not just your story or ours.
Sincerely,
Gen Z
