Summer 2006 - The member magazine of the Elementary Teachers

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Boomers grew up in a society that was relativelyaffluent and rich in opportunity. They wereoptimistic; believing that all problems couldand should be solved, they created the self-helpindustry.The term workaholic belongs to them. Work isa source of personal fulfilment and a measure oftheir self-worth. Putting in extra hours is a signof success. Their friends tend to be colleaguesfrom work. For many the decision to retire willbe difficult because they fear the accompanyingisolation and loss of identity.Boomers started teaching in the late 1960s, atime of great change in Ontario’s education system.County-wide school boards were created,and new schools built. Women won the right tostatutory pregnancy leave and the right to wearpantsuits to school. Teachers walked off theirjobs for a day in December 1973 to protest unfair bargaining legislationand eventually won the right to bargain collectively and to strike. Collectiveagreements became legally binding contracts that outlined rights, benefitsand working conditions.Boomers, with their sense of mission and commitment to a cause, believetheir efforts to improve teachers’ working lives made the world a better place.They are very sensitive to scepticism about or criticism of these achievements.Gen XersGen Xers are pragmatic, adaptable, techno-literate and good at multitasking.They grew up dealing with change. The children of early Boomers, they havealways been in the Boomers’ shadow. Many were raised in single-parent families,or with both parents working, and are often described as the generationthat raised itself. The term “latchkey kids” was coined for them.Gen Xers are very comfortable with changing technology, having grownup with personal computers, video games, remote controls and TV with 200Bridging the generational divide• Don’t judge the actions or statements of others through your owngenerational lens. Don’t make assumptions; ask for a discussion.• Resolve that for one week you will not start any sentence with thephrase “If you had been there in …”• Ask seasoned staff members about their experiences in their early yearsof teaching.• Seek out a colleague from another generation and discuss an issue facingeducation.• Offer to help a younger colleague set up an activity for students. Ask anolder colleague for suggestions.• Cultural icons are never universal; they belong to a specific time andplace. Don’t assume your colleagues will recognize generationalmarkers like Howdy Doody, Polkaroo, or Barney the Dinosaur.• Suggest a staff discussion about generational differences.channels. Defining events in their lives includedthe end of the Cold War, the Canadian Charterof Rights and Freedoms, free trade agreements,AIDS, economic uncertainty, increased drugs useand violence, and the faces of missing childrenon milk cartons.Gen Xers are a sceptical generation – theyneed proof. They grew up seeing institutionsand revered public figures wracked by scandal.As a result they respect competence and havemore faith in themselves and their peer groupthan in external authority. They are loyal to theirrelationships but not necessarily to institutions.They are the first generation to date in groups.Teachers who are Gen Xers work hard andspend cautiously, having begun their careers withheavy education debt loads. They know they arethe first generation that may not surpass theirparents economically.Gen Xers also want balance: they are notprepared to sacrifice their health, marriages,relationships, and personal lives to career as theirparents did. Freedom is their ultimate reward.They seek autonomy, a comfortable schedule,and time to spend with family and friends (whoare generally not people from work).Gen Xers started teaching in the mid-1980s,and prefer a casual and relaxed workplace. Theysee many Baby Boomer achievements – like protectionfor seniority – as an impediment ratherthan a protection against indiscriminate layoffs.They have also experienced radical changes inthe profession and in the workplace: the recessionof the early 90s; the “social contract” imposed by16 etfo voice SUMMER 2006
Regardless of differences inbackgrounds, members of the sameage group share a common socialenvironment that helps shape who theyare and how they relate to their work,their colleagues, their families andtheir friends.the provincial NDP government; the subsequent election of a Conservativegovernment that cut education funding; the creation of a professionalregulatory body, the College of Teachers; school board amalgamations; theamalgamation of teachers’ federations and the removal of principals asmembers of the federation; new curriculum and standardized testing.Echo Boomers – a planned childhoodNow just beginning to enter the profession. Echo Boomers are the childrenof Gen Xers, younger Boomers, or Boomers who chose to have childrenlater in life. Echos grew up in a time when there was an emphasis onchild-rearing practices and the importance of the early years. Their parentsplanned their lives and were active participants in every aspect of it. Theyare the first generation to grow up with personal calendars and daytimers.Echos were always welcomed into adult company. Their participationin family decision-making was encouraged and appreciated. They experienceda wide variety of family structures: two parents, single parents, samesexparents and blended families. For them, diversity is a given.Echo Boomers grew up in a world of email, the Internet and globalization.Some researchers believe that because of their early exposure totechnology, the brains of Echos developed differently so as to make themsuper-efficient multi-taskers. Simultaneously text-messaging, listening todownloaded MP3 music files, writing an essay on Hamlet, clipping theirtoenails and tuning out nagging parents is all in a day’s work.Echo Boomers also grew up with increasing school violence, gangs,economic uncertainty, a shrinking middle class, an increase in poverty andhomelessness and a war on terror. Nevertheless they are a confident generation:optimistic, flexible, street-smart, sociable and civic-minded. Theyenjoy working with other idealistic people. Some researchers say they displaymany of the early ideals of young Boomers (before they got jobs andcredit cards), but are more practical in their approach. They are more likelyto work for change within a system than to take to the streets against it.On entering the workforce, Echo Boomers show a keen sense of participationand entitlement and may be quite surprised when their suggestionsfor workplace improvements aren’t welcomed or acted upon. They respectauthority but are not in awe of it, and will treatthe receptionist and the company president withan equal amount of respect.“Paying your dues” is an alien concept andEchos expect quick career advancement. Theywant meaningful work. Having grown up withattentive parents, video games and the Internet– all providing immediate feedback – they expectthe workplace to deliver the same instant gratification.They expect respect. If they feel badly treated,they will broadcast their grievance to a worldwidenetwork of peers at the click of a mouse.Echo Boomers are entering the educationworkplace in a time of relative peace. Storiesof the battles fought and gains made and lostseldom resonate with them. They are eager andenthusiastic about building the optimistic futurethey believe awaits them, and they waste littletime and effort in reflecting on the past.Like cultural and racial diversity, generationaldifferences bring unique and valuable strengthsand perspectives to the workplace and to thefederation. By understanding, appreciating andbuilding on it, we can enhance the potential ofall to contribute to the profession and the federation.Sources:Adams, Michael. Better Happy than Rich? Toronto:Penguin, 2000.Foot, David K., and D. Stoffman. Boom, Bust, Echo.Toronto: Stoddart, 2001.www.footwork.com (David Foot’s website).Lancaster, Lynne C., and David Stillman. WhenGenerations Collide. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.Zemke, Ron, Claire Raines, and Bob Filipczak.Generations at Work. New York: Amacon, 2000.etfo voice SUMMER 2006 17
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