Recession isn't only thing holding millennials back; basic skill sets missing

[NRSKarenRN]

Recession isn't only thing holding millennials back

Pittsburgh Business Times by Jordan Markley, Editorial Intern

Date: Friday, June 29, 2012

..."I'm hearing that a lot of the millennials that are entering into the workforce are struggling with some basic skill sets," she said. "The basics of grammar and writing have been taken over by texting."

She said the millennial generation's penchant for electronic communication has also created a more relaxed, short-form style of communication that doesn't always sit well with older managers.

"Because of the relaxed nature of shortened communication like texting and the casual nature of email, the biggest complaint about millennials today is that they've taken (a) casual demeanor into the work environment instead of graduating to a professional level," Dietrich said....

..."They have to understand their audience. The millennial needs to understand things like wearing a suit and tie, turning off your cellphone, not texting in the lobby while waiting for the interview," Bender said. "Focusing on face-to-face interaction and doing that well will really make them stand out from the crowd."...

[HM-8404, BSN, RN]

This article and others like it really make me angry. I am 24 years old. I know how to write well and proofread. I also know that the courses I took in high school were much more difficult and required a greater variety of assignments than those of my parents. It used to be that a project consisted of a poster and a speech. Now it is standard for a teacher to expect a paper, PowerPoint presentation, and a verbal recitation of the summarized contents. Let's not forget that the standards for plagiarism have also expanded, and students are expected to cite any fact with a source. You want students to have more original thought? Ask them to write a 5-page paper without 5 sources and quit threatening them with expulsion if they happen to make a smart conclusion without quoting someone else.

I am bitter about this subject. In an intermediate Spanish course in college, I was accused of plagiarism because my writing was "too polished" and my vocabulary was "too advanced" to come from a student. Without proof, she could do nothing extreme, but that did not stop her from giving me a B on my project.

Please stop stereotyping my generation and look for those of us that don't fit into your preconceptions. It's as silly as my generation talking about how our parents and grandparents look like idiots using social media. If we can have patience with your shortcomings, it's only fair to reciprocate.

Did you stop to consider perhaps you are not the "typical" 24 year old student? Your first clue should have been that your Spanish teacher expected much less of your writings.

You make it sound like your high school classes were harder than the classes of of days gone by. One thing I tend to joke with my younger classmates about is, I tell them back in my day we had it much harder. We had to use these curious, heavy, dusty smelling things to do all of our research. They were called books. We had to drive to these really big buildings called a library, find the correct books, then find the information inside the books. We had to use these funny looking yellow things to write down what we found on paper with lines all the way down it. The worse part was it had to all be done by hand, often taking hours.

I tell them they have no idea how easy it is to research and write reports, essays, and such when you don't have to get off the couch. When you can Google all the information you need, then type it in a Word document. After you are finished you hit spell check and most errors are corrected, then you can edit it with copy and paste. After all of that you hit print and you have a completed, properly formatted paper to turn in.

When my daughter was in 12th grade writing a term paper and complaining about how much it "sucked", I suggested she do it "old school" style. She asked if I had lost my mind.

[HM-8404, BSN, RN]

Just because you know how to write well and proof read doesn't mean that there isn't a change that is very noticeable. I'm not quite old enough to be your parent (biologically yes but...), but I remember writing a 60 page paper in high school that included 10-20 references? I never remember having to have a poster and a speech be a project in high school and definitely not in college. And plagiarism has always been a big deal. It was something emphasized in high school and college for myself.

I've also noticed a change in the college courses and I keep trying to figure out if I have changed so much or if college has changed so much. I think it is a mix of both. I've had a few classes where teachers have provided outlines for things to study for tests. This was unheard of when I was first in college. Teachers offering regrades on papers, again unheard of when I was first in college. Classes just seem a lot easier than when I took them nearly 20 years ago.

Leenak.... The first time I heard a college professor talking about grading on a curve I thought he was kidding. Then I had later professors throw out test questions due to too many students missing them others giving 6 tests and only counting your best 4 grades. I must admit the grading in many of these classes is much easier than my high school classes of the late 70's and early 80's.

[leenak]

Leenak.... The first time I heard a college professor talking about grading on a curve I thought he was kidding. Then I had later professors throw out test questions due to too many students missing them others giving 6 tests and only counting your best 4 grades. I must admit the grading in many of these classes is much easier than my high school classes of the late 70's and early 80's.

Throwing out tests completely is crazy and one of the classes I had did that.

I do remember some classes curving in my undergrad but it was more a technique for laziness on their part. If everyone does poorly on a test, you know something is wrong with either the teaching or the test. They never strived for a perfect bell curve though and the curve didn't actually change too many grades.

I do remember in my undergrad when a professor came up to a friend of mine and shook her hand because she got an A in his class, He hadn't given an A in a couple years. And another class I took was called the graduation killer. Basically, 1 teacher taught the class and he taught it poorly. He would fail 50% of the students that didn't drop out. It was horrible. I passed but only because I dedicated my life at the time to passing and I sat with the TA every hour I could to try to understand the subject (it was an advanced math course which was required for my major - which wasn't math).

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

Eh. And my maternal grandparents thought my mom was going to hell because she listened to Elvis.

Kids these days.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

"in my sociology class myself and another student close to my age were the only students that voiced an opposing opinion. it appeared the other 130+ students were afraid to be seen as individuals. i have tried to raise my kids to be free thinkers but i have noticed they and their friends are not very accepting of those with different opinions. even less so than when i was a young adult. "

i don't know if it's that they are not accepting of differing opinions-- that's pretty common c late adolescence and young adulthood. i think they just don't have many differing opinions, or any opinions. they can't be seen as individuals because they aren't yet-- they have not had much in the way of different life experiences to get them to different perspective points. they're all pretty much high school->college, still living with / off of parents, generally untouched by tragedy or real responsibility for anything of consequence (think, a child, a chronically ill parent, a mortgage, other people's jobs or welfare). it's not that they don't want to be free thinkers. it's just that they don't, well, have that much to think about.

when i was 8 i started reading the daily paper my dad brought home from work. at that age mostly i read the headlines, dear abby, and the funnies, but in more than 50 years i have maintained the habit of reading a daily newspaper (or two) cover to cover (i read all of it now ). i don't know anyone of my children's generation who do that, or listen to npr news, or read anything in excess of what comes up on their texting screen. they are responsible adults with good jobs, my kids, with graduate degrees and a good appreciation for science and such, but they are not well-exposed to other types of life-content. of course they aren't as exposed as i am-- i was the same at their age. but at least i had a better appreciation for what was going on outside my immediate sphere.

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

This BS article and others in this vein are just giving hiring managers excuses to not hire people, especially those in their 20s. While some young 20-somethings are exactly as described in the above article, many are not. To be lumped in with the useless (or rather useful) idiots is unfair and demoralizing.

I am beginning to think that the media is shaping the narrative that 20-somethings are a good-for-nothing lot, so that the powers-that-be can forever have their lost generation, forever dependent on the government just for basic living. The Democrats have their voting base for years to come, and the Republicans have their convenient scapegoats to blame for why our country is in the toilet.

Today, I have another interview with a manager. I hope she sees past the generalizations, and sees me for who I am.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

In 20 years the folks who get wrapped around the axle by someone deigning to read a text message on their phone while waiting for an interview will all be retired. It will not mean gloom and doom and the end of civilization.

Now, why would an applicant be cooling her heels in the waiting room for any length of time? Might it be because the interviewer was running late, or was backed up, or didn't plan well, and did not have the technological fortitude to alert the applicant to that fact, so she had to wait in the waiting room and demurely stare at the wall, with her hands in her lap, ankles crossed, as you did when you were a little girl?

I doubt it I'll only be 50ish in 20 years thus more likely to be in a position to be upset at interviewees tapping away on the phone. Teaching kids to cross their legs and arms and sit quietly teaches them that it's ok to be still and be with your own thoughts. Are you really that uninteresting that you can't sit for 1 hour or so and just think. I can.

[decembergrad2011, BSN, RN]

I can't wait until I'm old enough to complain about the younger generation!! It solves everything!

Possibly I am not the "typical" 24 year old, but I have plenty of friends around my age and we're all fairly intelligent. Maybe I do not hang out with these inferior young adults that are being described here. However, if you were to judge me off the fact that I'm texting while waiting for an interview, or that I wear jeans with holes in them while I'm out at the mall, or because I'm laughing with my friends about a joke, then so be it. It doesn't really affect my life and just makes you come off as old and bitter. Here's a theory: why not look at the fact that society is changing? We do not value the same things that the older generation values. We interact in different ways than the older generation did. You can get into a philosophical debate over whether one is better or worse, but that's not the issue at hand here. It has always been this way. To think otherwise is strangely naive.

If you think technology makes things easier, you're out of touch. It makes us more accessible, and because of that, it means that the goalposts can shift at a teacher's whim. I don't know how many times I've been contacted at the last minute because of a schedule change through email. Because we have the ease of access of finding sources, we are expected to turn in assignments more quickly and in greater quantity. If you think that Google is an acceptable search engine for collegiate papers, you were lucky. I've never used it for more than a starting point, and certainly it's never led me to a legitimate resource.

By the way, how many miles uphill in the snow was the walk to school?

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

I do remember some classes curving in my undergrad but it was more a technique for laziness on their part. If everyone does poorly on a test, you know something is wrong with either the teaching or the test. They never strived for a perfect bell curve though and the curve didn't actually change too many grades.

I don't mind grading on a curve if its for the right reason. When I was in High School in New Zealand you took standardized tests in the last three years of high school that determined your university entrance. Everyone took exactly the same test on the the same day at the same hour. In order for the grades to be relative and comparable they would grade on a curve to account for variations in a test that made it easier or harder. So a 67% would always mean the same thing. BTW a passing grade was 45%.

I had a class recently that does grade on a curve mainly because he needed someway to get the scores into the range the college wants. He maintained that no one not even the textbook writers knew 90% of the material so how could he write a test where you could get 90% right. Some students got 10-15%. I think low test scores make you work harder. Some classes you learn nothing because you don't have to know the material to get an A.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

I can't wait until I'm old enough to complain about the younger generation!! It solves everything!

I'm sorry but I'm only a decade older than you but have HAVE been in college over a wide period of time from when computers were slowly creeping in to today when students whine if there is no powerpoint, handouts or if they can't use their laptops or recording devices.

I was harder then and the shifting goal posts reflects that but it's not harder. It's really not. I love going to college now because I never had it so good. I've experienced it both ways and it IS easy now but maybe because I have the superior skill set from doing it the hard way.

Oh and this street was on my way home at some point and I never realized it was one of the steepest streets in the world until years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Street,_Dunedin

[leenak]

This isn't about 'these kids these days'. Also in terms of changing goal posts, we had email 20 years ago so you'd still get emails from teachers and oh you were expected to check your email even if you didn't have your own computer and you definitely didn't have a phone with email on it. Now I won't say all classes were like that but I had plenty that were. Teachers now days are also more apt to answer emails than expect you to come to their office hours.

You'd still have to go to the library and hope to find the book that had information you were looking for. You might be able to order the book from another library so you had to plan ahead.

And in terms of technology, it is going both ways. Companies are expected to have decent websites and many are going to social media including Facebook and Twitter. It isn't a 'kids these days, this technology thing will never take off' but more you have to maintain certain standards (like proper grammar and spelling in communications) but also adapt to the changing environment.

And you can also say that a common accepted form of communication is even more important these days as we are in a more global economy. Businesses that used to try to stick to just the US have expanded out quite a bit. Proper written communications may be emphasized even more due to having to deal with people of different cultures (even if english is a common language) and different native languages.

[HM-8404, BSN, RN]

I can't wait until I'm old enough to complain about the younger generation!! It solves everything!

Possibly I am not the "typical" 24 year old, but I have plenty of friends around my age and we're all fairly intelligent. Maybe I do not hang out with these inferior young adults that are being described here. However, if you were to judge me off the fact that I'm texting while waiting for an interview, or that I wear jeans with holes in them while I'm out at the mall, or because I'm laughing with my friends about a joke, then so be it. It doesn't really affect my life and just makes you come off as old and bitter. Here's a theory: why not look at the fact that society is changing? We do not value the same things that the older generation values. We interact in different ways than the older generation did. You can get into a philosophical debate over whether one is better or worse, but that's not the issue at hand here. It has always been this way. To think otherwise is strangely naive.

If you think technology makes things easier, you're out of touch. It makes us more accessible, and because of that, it means that the goalposts can shift at a teacher's whim. I don't know how many times I've been contacted at the last minute because of a schedule change through email. Because we have the ease of access of finding sources, we are expected to turn in assignments more quickly and in greater quantity. If you think that Google is an acceptable search engine for collegiate papers, you were lucky. I've never used it for more than a starting point, and certainly it's never led me to a legitimate resource.

By the way, how many miles uphill in the snow was the walk to school?

Teachers contacting you to tell you about a schedule change makes it harder to be a student? Try being told that in class, or showing up for a class to find a notice posted on the door that the class has been cancelled and now you have to hang around, sometimes for hours, waiting for the next class to start.

Since you are a young student I will assume you have no idea what school was like 30 years ago. I on the other hand have experienced school before all this technology and am now a current student. From firsthand experience I can assure you it is easier today than it was.

I grew up mostly in Florida, no snow, no real hills, and I rode my bicycle to school.