From “rocking chair retirees” to KGOYs, Manhattan High hosts the presence of five different generations. The ever present generational gap between teachers and students is overlooked a lot of the time, but still holds an importance in the growth and development of both.

The Silent Generation (1927 – 1945)

“The environment in which we live is very, very, important and I think that family is very important,” substitute teacher Jerry Humes said.

Humes was born in 1942 and raised amongst the happiness that swept the country after World War II.

“We really as youngsters didn’t know war,” Humes said. “All we knew was the good things … my dad and other men coming home from war. So our generation was kind of war-free.”

The traditionalists of the Silent Generation tend to be more familially centered.

“We grew up with, for the most part, parents that were in home,” Humes said. “So, there was more of a close-knit family relationship.”

Being surrounded by five different generations has allowed “Silents” like Humes to become open to the changes with current youth.

“I would have to say that I have gotten this from the last three years when I have been in public schools … for the most part the students seem to know what they want to do,” Humes said. “They seem to — maybe not know the exact job they are going to get — but they seem to have a purposefulness about education and about … going out and getting a job and knowing that that’s what they need to do.”

Baby Boomers (1946 – 1964)

“It was a fun time to be young in a lot of ways but, [in] a lot of other ways it was a very divisive time period in the country and it certainly divided friendships,” social science teacher Lee Woodford said.

Save-the-world revolutionaries and affluent teens helped define Baby Boomers. Woodford was born in the middle of this generation in 1951. Starring the Civil Rights Movement and a time of economic success, the Boomer Generation holds a common definition associated with the ‘60s: “sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll.”

“[Most stereotypes] are not [accurate]; if they were, then I missed it,” Woodford said. “I was there, and certainly people’s perception is different than the reality. Those kinds of things were out there, but they were not the norm.”

“Workaholics,” open individualism and American youth culture began with Woodford’s generation. Through the younger years of the Baby Boomers, the modern culture that today’s adolescents are experiencing was created.

“We were young and we experimented in life, and kids today are still doing the same thing,” Woodford said.

Every day, Woodford has the opportunity to learn from the other generations.

“[The generational gap is] one of the reasons I stayed and one of the reasons why I enjoy my job,” Woodford said. “The nice thing about it is I still can learn and I have the opportunity to learn things that I believe most people my age don’t get exposed to.”

Generation X (1965 – 1980)

“We went through, like, mock elections and stuff like that going through school, so there was always an interest in paying attention to different things,” math teacher Lisa Heller said.

Raised in the middle of a technological standstill, Heller, born 1980, grew up in a more social and invested society.

“It was more like, schoolwise, you were there to go to school like everybody; went to class, you know, you did your homework every night; there wasn’t as many distractions,” Heller said.

With her students’ generation, Heller sees many differences.

“It almost seems like the current generation has a little bit more of a lack of understanding of politics than my generation, because it was something you really learned about and understood,” Heller said. “[And] I don’t know if this generation realizes some of [the] things that they do in high school will effect them on their job.”

Generation Y (1981 – 2000)

“Maybe we haven’t made big enough mistakes yet … or we haven’t done anything great enough yet to compare to,” social science teacher Jacob Theis said.

Born in 1982, Theis was one of the few teachers that led the beginning of the “Millennium;” which is characterized by respect for authority and a need to have their hands held.

“Really a change I’m seeing [is] a change in values just as far as respect, courteousness, dependability, that sort of thing,” Theis said. “But that’s the same thing every generation says about younger generations, so more than likely I’m getting old and forgetting what it’s like to be young.”

Being close in age to his students can make some things in teaching easier.

“The first part of teaching it was definitely my generation, which was pretty cool because what I thought they thought [and] what they thought I thought … like I could give movie references and they’d all seen them,” Theis said. “I was more open with the students, more willing to tell them what they needed to hear rather than what they should hear; that sort of thing. Whereas that you become more reserved once you realize there’s not these common generational experiences and so things you say will generate different responses because of that lack of shared experience, which then makes it more difficult to teach a different generation.”

“[The Millennial] generation comes up with a lot of stuff that seems kind of weird on the outside until you actually get it,” sophomore Kalea Fraser said.

Students like Fraser, born in 2000, were raised at the end of Generation Y and the beginning of Generation Z, which provided for a mixed view on the continual growth of the Millennials.

“I feel like we just, kind of, throw everything away that we’ve had through generations just because we’re like ‘oh that’s stupid let’s do this instead,’” Fraser said.  “We should not only have all of the new stuff that we decided we want, but also keep some of the older things.”

Students also see both the benefit and consequence of a generational gap.

“A lot of the teachers let you talk to them [about their views], which is good because they’re learning just as much [from you] as you’re learning from them,” Fraser said. “I feel like a lot of times if someone’s from an older generation, it’s a lot different because if you have someone from the same generation as you, you can, like, talk about things that have happened … but older generations will talk about stuff you don’t, like, know about.”

Generation Z (2001 – 2020*)

“I’m kind of disappointed in some of the stuff that we do. Because, like, the kids are, like, horrible these days. Like, they’ve been out drinking and doing drugs and it’s pretty sad,” freshman Kristan Thompson said.

Born in 2001, Thompson is one of the students leading Generation Z, which is predetermined with ideas of KGOY (Kids Growing Older Younger) and eco-fatigue.

“I feel like [kids] should enjoy their childhood at the time before they start growing up, because when you start growing up it’s going to get harder, so they should enjoy their freedom while they can,” Thompson said.

Although the electronically dependent generation of the Boomlets provides for a new way of life that youth are growing up in as compared to the traditional values of the Silents, the generational gap allows for a learning and developmental opportunity for students and teachers.

“The people that [lead] with … criticisms are people that are not around you and they don’t know you,” Woodford said. “The thing that I heard often [about Generations Y and Z are] “America’s Dumbest Generation” because [they] don’t know what the Bill of Rights is or when the Civil War was, but I don’t buy it at all,” Woodford said. “Kids today are better informed and have better information and certainly they are as smart as of the previous generations, if not smarter.”
*Due to the continuation of the “iGeneration” into present day, the end date is subject to change.