Article 1 - Unit 1

Taylor, Mark L. (2005). Meeting Generation NeXt: Today’s Postmodern College Student. Collection of Papers on Self Study and Institutional Improvement

Summary:
In his essay, Mark Taylor describes how we come to label and define generations of Americans, and goes into detail on how Generation NeXt fits into the overall picture with other generations. While doing so, Taylor goes into the history of our major generations, such as the Baby Boomers and Generation X. He also details how ideas of postmodernism have influenced Generations X and NeXt, and how concepts that are a part of postmodernism, such as consumerism, have influenced the people within these generations (an example of this is tying education and students to consumerism by calling education a product and students customers). Finally, he goes into detail on how we might best educate Generation NeXt, and lists twelve guidelines that educators should follow in order to better reach the students.

Reaction:
I found Taylor’s article to be lacking when talking about Generation NeXt. While I found his history of the major generations of Americans to be interesting, I did not think it added much to his article, and instead found myself wanting more about the major postmodern concepts that have influenced the current generation, as well as a chronicle explaining how certain movements in America have influenced it. Instead of giving this, he merely writes a few sentences explaining that Republicanism reigned in the ‘80s, and that consumerism is the most powerful concept guiding Generation NeXt. I also felt disappointed by his large generalizations about the generations, and while he does explain that generalizing about large amounts of people is dangerous, he did not go into detail about choosing the major traits that he uses to describe the generations, which I feel would have been helpful.