The Challenges of Gen Alpha: A View From the Classroom

As WordPress continues to recycle old prompts, I pulled another prompt from The Coffee Monsterz Co to respond to today

What is a challenge Gen Alpha (people born in 2010-2024) is facing, that you are glad you didn’t have to face growing up?

Right off the bat, the first thing that caught my attention about this prompt is the realization that Kid 1 is considered Gen Z as opposed to Gen Alpha. Actually, he said as much to me the other day, but I digress. I do need to remember that there are eight years separating Kid 1 and Kid 2.

In thinking about this prompt, I have to look at the things Kid 2’s generation faces that I’m glad I didn’t.

Social media has replaced socializing

I’ve been talking about this for years—on this very blog and elsewhere. For several years now (and this probably includes Gen Z as well), I believe that for many young people, social media has replaced active socializing. It would be a modest estimate to say that half of the conflict I see between students in my school as a teacher stems from things that began on social media.

Sadly, I think the COVID-19 lockdowns pushed us further to the edge. For a while, it was the only way young people were able to interact with one another, and I think they got used to it. Social media is here to stay; it’s a part of all of our lives now. Heck, I use it—albeit badly—to promote this blog.

Artificial intelligence is co-opting Actual Intelligence

It might seem a bit hypocritical of me to talk about this, considering I use AI apps like Google Gemini to create art for this blog. However, I worry that young people are going to rely too heavily upon artificial intelligence to solve their problems. Rather than doing deep critical thinking or exercising research skills, they may simply ask an AI app to answer questions for them.

The good news is that AI is not nearly as sophisticated as what we’ve seen in science fiction movies. Still, I don’t want to see people become as slothful and slovenly as the humans in the backstory of the movie Wall-E.

A More Divided Political Climate

I miss the days when Republicans would just laugh and joke about Democrats being “tax and spend liberals” who were too worried about social causes to fix the country. On the flip side, I miss when Democrats just mocked Republicans for only caring about making money and not giving a crap about society as a whole.

Many would argue that the great rift between the two political parties exploded during Ronald Reagan’s two terms. That’s a very solid argument. But the fact of the matter is, I believe the two parties are more divided today than they have ever been. Even his staunchest supporters would likely agree that the current president doesn’t mince words; he says the quiet things out loud and ends up becoming an echo chamber for the worst traits of his supporters.

However, I am seeing some signs of light at the end of the tunnel. I’m seeing lifelong Republicans refuse to support the current president. I’m seeing people who voted for him once—or even twice—hitting a breaking point and saying, “I can’t support this guy any longer.” But the damage has been done. At some point, America will have to find a way to mend its own proverbial fences and re-establish international relations with its longest-tenured allies.

My biggest fear is that the worst is yet to come. I worry there’s going to be an absolute breaking point for this society; some disastrous day of reckoning. I pray to God that I’m wrong

The Silver Lining: A More Tolerant Generation

Okay, that’s enough yelling at the clouds for one day. I’ve always tried to balance my critiques with a bit of optimism

On the positive side, I think this current generation is a heck of a lot more tolerant of one another than previous generations were. That’s not to say there is zero racism or ageism today, but I think kids are generally more accepting.

I believe a big part of this was the “inclusion” movement, where students with special needs were mainstreamed into regular classes. Being around special needs students more often has made this generation more sensitive to unique needs and challenges. Back in my day, students on a “special track” basically spent the entire day in one classroom. If I recall correctly, they were only allowed to take part in electives with “mainstream” students. I remember going to elementary school with a handful of students in special ed, and by the time we got to high school, I never saw them for almost four years.

So, while there are things I think this generation is really struggling with, there are quite a few issues my generation faced that they have overcome.

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