Generation Z Goes to College

Corey Seemiller, Meghan Grace

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781119143482
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

Say Hello to Your Incoming Class—They're Not Millennials Anymore

Generation Z is rapidly replacing Millennials on college campuses. Those born from 1995 through 2010 have different motivations, learning styles, characteristics, skill sets, and social concerns than previous generations. Unlike Millennials, Generation Z students grew up in a recession and are under no illusions about their prospects for employment after college. While skeptical about the cost and value of higher education, they are also entrepreneurial, innovative, and independent learners concerned with effecting social change. Understanding Generation Z's mindset and goals is paramount to supporting, developing, and educating them through higher education.

Generation Z Goes to College showcases findings from an in-depth study of over1, 100 Generation Z college students from 15 vastly different U.S. higher education institutions as well as additional studies from youth, market, and education research related to this generation. Authors Corey Seemiller and Meghan Grace provide interpretations, implications, and recommendations for program, process, and curriculum changes that will maximize the educational impact on Generation Z students.

Generation Z Goes to College is the first book on how this up-and-coming generation will change higher education.

Chapter 1
Who Is Generation Z?

Generations, much like cultures, have their own attitudes, beliefs, social norms, and behaviors that define them. For some, Generation Z students might seem as if they are from a foreign land. Judgmental attitudes, lack of understanding, and stereotyping are barriers that might stand in the way of older generations in understanding this new culture.¹ Natives to the digital and online world, Generation Z will soon fully inhabit higher education and then the workplace, taking on roles that will influence the physical world beyond the screen. Before diving deep into the culture and personality of Generation Z, it is important to take a look at what characterizes and makes this generation unique.

Back in My Day …

“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”

George Orwell²

Each generation has experienced being “kids these days,” but as every new generation emerges, it is subjected to a certain level of disdain from older generations. Could the disdain be coming from the fact the new generations are indeed disrespectful and lazy? Or is it that those in older generations do not fully understand who these young people are and how social rules are changing because of them? In order to embrace and engage Generation Z, it is critical to understand who these students are and what makes them different.

Older generations create the environments that younger ones are raised in, so to fully understand Generation Z, it is important to start by understanding the generations that came before them.

Baby Boomers

The Baby Boomer generation gets its name from the surge of babies born after the end of World War II, between 1946 and 1964.³ During the war, many men who would otherwise be fathers were busy fighting. As the war ended and troops returned home, there was more stability for the country and certainty for families, and thus began the boom of babies.⁴

Postwar America experienced a healthy economy; consumerism was seen as the cure for the Great Depression and the minor recessions leading up to and through World War II.⁵ Baby Boomers grew up with the philosophy that hard work is the path to success⁶ and the goal was to achieve the American dream of having their own houses, cars, and material possessions.⁷ Driven by ambition to succeed, advance, and earn,⁸ Baby Boomers are characterized by a strong traditional 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. work ethic.

Boomers also saw the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam war demonstrations unfold before their very eyes, and the oldest participated in the unrest. They have gone on to become parents, some to Generation X, but primarily to Generation Y, also known as the Millennials. At the time of this writing, the 74.9 million people in the United States are Baby Boomers.⁹

Generation X

Those in Generation X, born between 1965 and 1980,¹⁰ grew up during the height of cable television, MTV, leg warmers, and Michael Jackson.¹¹ They saw the first personal computers from Apple and IBM and likely played Pong on their Ataris. Much smaller in numbers than the Baby Boomers before them and the Millennials after, Generation X has a population of close to 50 million.¹²

With a 25 percent increase in married women in the workforce between 1968 and 1978,¹³ Gen Xers were raised during a time in which it was becoming more of the norm for both parents to work. Thus, Gen X children, many of whom let themselves into their homes after school, were deemed “latchkey kids,”¹⁴ leading them to having to be independent at a young age.¹⁵

Generation X has been viewed as cynical about the world, skeptical, and pragmatic.¹⁶ They are often regarded as the “middle child” between two very large generations that have received a great deal of attention.¹⁷ Where shows like Leave It to Beaver¹⁸ idealized the nuclear family for the Baby Boomer generation, Generation X saw increased rates of divorce.¹⁹ As Baby Boomers were excited and hopeful about the country's race to the moon, Generation X witnessed the Challenger explosion. Where post-World War II saw an economic boom,²⁰ the 2008 economic recession began just as many in Generation X arrived at what should have been their peak earning years. But in the end, despite all that defines Generation X, they lack a coherent generational identity of their own.²¹

Despite the rise in divorce rates during their childhood, two-thirds of Generation X are married and 71 percent have children.²² Generation X plays an important role, if not one of the most important ones for Generation Z: their parents. The level of independence with which Generation X was raised has set an interesting stage for their own parenting. Taking a lesson from their hard-working parents, they strive to balance work and family.²³ They seek to play active and supportive roles in their children's lives and thus place great value on the time spent with family.

Generation Y, aka Millennials

Generation Y, more commonly know...