Demographic trends are fascinating things. The Ministry of Education and indeed schools traditionally access census data to ascertain where the ‘bulge’ might be, where the decreases in numbers coming through will be, where families are living and moving to. This is how long term planning can be put into place. This planning is not just about buildings, but also about the types of programmes we run, the changing abilities and needs of the students and the issues we might need to address. Within these discussions there are often references to Gen Y, Gen Z and so on.

I admit to some scepticism about the allotting to generational groups specific characteristics, but there is no doubt that the societal context in which people grow up has an effect on behaviours, perceptions and values. There are now a number of speakers and writers who have made a considerable amount of money by becoming experts in this field of ‘group characteristics’ – in defining, analyzing and then advising the rest of us how to parent, teach and employ these particular groups of people. Amidst the plethora of generalizations and anecdotes there is, I must admit, some interesting and valid observations.

Possibly my scepticism is related to the fact that as a baby boomer, I feel we get rather a lot of bad press. But this aside, along with other baby boomers, I was fortunate enough to experience free university education and I entered teaching at a time of plentiful jobs. It wasn’t a question of whether there would be a position, but more whether it would be in Christchurch. At the same time we baby boomers were influenced by the context of the hippie movement and Woodstock, the women’s movement, the anti apartheid movement, the Vietnam war, the music of rock and roll, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and the other aspects of the social context of the late 60s, and the 70s.

The often cited Gen Y or those born between mid seventies and the early 1990s, grew up with the growth of digital technology such as the internet, cellphones and social networking sites, a time of relatively stable economy and the introduction of user pays for tertiary education. It was a time of Eminem, Backstreet Boys, the Matrix, and Harry Potter, the time when authority was being increasingly challenged, and it was a world where wanting to make a difference became important.

This group has been followed by those entering secondary school now, the so-called Gen Z, who are the first group of people born into an internet world. Their social world, from the beginning, has been a markedly different one from any other generation in that it exists not just in the physical but also in the digital. This is the highly connected generation of MP3 players and You tube but it is also a generation that has connected parents as well.

While there is always a real danger of applying generalizations to individuals there is no doubt
that the context within which one grows up has an influence on one’s outlook, values and ultimately ones behaviour. We are shaped not only by our genes, but by our environment – the immediate one of our family but also that of the society around us. As technology has brought the world into our homes increasingly that becomes a greater influence. Baby boomers weren’t immediately aware of the things happening overseas but today such events are part of our lives in vivid detail not only on television but more importantly through the internet. Whether it is Al Qaeda, Iraq, Palestine, natural disasters or human rights atrocities, these are all a real and immediate part of our environments and those of the young.

The challenge for parents and schools is always to look at individual needs while being aware that the social context for the young of today is such a very different one to that of our own. We need to deal with the current while being very aware of the future. We need to be able to help young people put things in context, to talk, to explore, to think critically.

As a school, we at Rangi Ruru are very mindful of the possible effects on New Zealand of demographic and generational trends: trends such as the large group of people now approaching retirement, and the smaller groups that will be providing the tax base and the parent group, the trend towards smaller families, the changing nature of the workforce and the skills required.

In addition, the current economic crisis has produced some interesting and documented trends. We are seeing a move away from consumerism, the aggrandizement of wealth, especially the ostentatious kind, the corporate culture and easy credit and a move towards valuing family, prudence, loyalty and the increasing growth of the moral and the green consumer.

Those who have left school in the past ten years, the Gen Ys, are moving into the work force but later their expectation of jobs and a certain life style might now be undergoing a reassessment. At the same time, however, many are burdened with student debt. Thus their earning capacity and their ability to contribute to the economy as a whole is quite differently configured to that of their parents. These young people, many of whom have double degrees and have travelled extensively, are entering the work force later and often have children later. Bernard Salt, an Australian demographer, in a recent address to the Independent Schools’ of New Zealand Conference, referred to the extension of the teenage years, which traditionally have been seen to end around the time of home buying, permanent relationship and position building, which used to be somewhere around the early twenties. He commented that this has now extended in many instances to the late twenties. There are parents with ‘20 somethings’ arriving back home who will identify with this trend.

At the same time interesting changes are happening at the other end of the population. The 60 year old of today is nothing like the 60 year old of twenty or thirty years ago. The stereotypical grandparent as depicted in stories and even on television is the exception as people move into their 60s and beyond with active lives, often still in the workforce or pursuing a multitude of interests. It’s probably a good thing that more of this age group remains in the workforce than previously as from 2011 there is a predicted decline in the numbers coming into the work force.

The world recession is having an impact on some of our young people and in particular those working or intending to work abroad. Already there is an increase of New Zealanders returning to New Zealand and a decline of those leaving. Many of those in this latter category are the young people off overseas to work, some hoping to pay off student debt. That may well be more difficult now.

So where does that leave parents and schools? Society constantly changes and we all need flexibility, resilience and a sense of humour to deal with these changes. Sometimes I’m sure we feel as if we are playing catch-up as the lives of the young people of today differ so markedly with those of our own and we constantly have to upskill and learn about areas in which they operate with ease. We have to remember that, depending on our age, our perception of the world is actually different. Not better nor worse, just different. We are all shaped by common and by different things; we respond differently to situations and we have different expectations about life. The important thing is that we realize all of this and that we remain open to change, to new ideas and to constant learning and we value the human relationships we have, whatever the generational differences.

As George Orwell said “Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one that comes after it”.