Gloria Dean Randle Scott is credited with saying, “The critical responsibility for the generation you’re in is to help provide the shoulders, the direction, and the support for those generations who come behind.”
Gloria has certainly lived that out in her life. Born 70 years ago in Texas, she was the first African American woman to graduate with a degree in zoology from Indiana University. She was the first African-American to head the Girl Scouts of the USA (1975-1978). She was the president of Bennett College, a Historically Black College for women, in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 1987-2001.
This time in 2007 Matt Novak started a blog, PaleoFuture, to examine the ways that those in the past envisioned the future. Over twelve months Matt has covered topics such as architecture, cars, cities of the future, flying cars, food, homes, ocean life, picturephones, space colonies, and the year 2000. His blog is littered with the imaginative pictures and descriptions of the future, sourced from the 1880s to the present.
In an article at Mung Being Matt notes that over the last ten years we’ve been reluctant to project very far into the future. There’s less job security for futurists these days. He wonders if it’s our sense of postmodern sense of irony and sarcasm that has led to more modest speculation.
I have a hunch that crossing the boundary between the 20th and 21st centuries has made us less dreamy eyed about the future. We’ve become used to rapid change, so much so that predictions about life in ten years time are bound to be out of whack with the advances made in that time. We do have picture phones that have us speaking in video imagery. No big deal now.
However we do seem to have lost our obsession with getting into outer space. The realities of attempting to send people into the solar system have made it clear that flying to the stars involves crossing unthinkable distances. While our world becomes smaller the universe has become larger.
We’ve used virtual reality to simulate the experiences of galactic travel. Microsoft’s Halo 3, for example, takes players to many worlds in an alternative fantasy version of our reality. I wonder if Halo players hold that version of the future as a possibility?
Generational change - developing responses to generational change in environments including work, church, family, not-for-profit organisations.
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I’ve spent today at a conference in Melbourne in which Christian Research Association researchers are sharing the results of their work on Gen Y spirituality in Australia. The research reflects the strong buy in from major denominations and, understandably, the attendance this week reflects an in-house institutional response. I’m part of that, connecting with a team of Uniting Church mission, youth ministry, social justice and communications staff from around the country.
Today we had a look at the results so far, putting our hands on the freshly published book, “Putting Life Together”, Findings From Australian Youth Spirituality Research by Philip Hughes. The other three researchers on the team, Michael Mason, Andrew Singleton and Ruth Webber, are publishing “The Spirit of Generation Y” in July.
It’s clear, from the conversations with them during the day, that there is more than one way to interpret findings from the research. But a common theme coming through is that so-called generations are not necessarily different to one another. There is a strong sense of continuity between the present beliefs and values of Baby Boomer parents and their Gen Y children.
Attending this summit has been a part of the re-emergence of my doctoral studies project, “Generations in Conversation”. Now that I’m in the second year of my latest job, it’s time to get stuck in and finish off the work I started when I was living in NZ. I’m planning to spend some time in the USA this year, focusing on interviewing and writing for the theological reflection course I started developing last year.
On Friday afternoon I was part of a panel responding to Dean Hoge’s lecture on young adults in the Catholic Church.
Dean’s a Presbyterian who’s been lecturing in sociology of religion at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC for thirty years. He was part of the team that published the 1994 book, “Vanishing Boundaries: The Religion of Mainline Protestant Baby Boomers”. On Friday Dean was presenting research on Catholic young adults in the United States, to an audience consisting mostly of Catholic educators and youth ministry staff from Brisbane.
Dean Hoge is pictured below (left) with my fellow panel members Selina Harris (Sunnybank Catholic Parish) and Paul Mergard, (right) photographer and Salvation Army church planter in West End, Brisbane.
A couple of weeks ago the Generations in Conversation course I’m leading took the September Synod gathering as a text as we considered the impact of generational cultures in the church. We looked at worship, decision making, multi-cultural encounter and humour. We thought about the use of mobile phones to keep youth representatives connected. We reflected on the technological brilliance of presentations and registered concern that without evidence of intent and action such presentations could be substantially bankrupt. It’s all written up at Postkiwi’s Generational Posts.
Darren Wright from Canberra has written his reflection in reponse - dreaming up a new model for a Synod of generations in conversation. He’s included some great suggestions, including wireless network, interactive workshops, an all-age celebration day, an art gallery, and aids for spiritual disciplines. It’s all online at Planet Telex.
During our first session together, the Emerging Generations in Conversation group identified a number of potential texts to study over the next eight weeks. We included:
1. Reality TV Shows - Survivor, Big Brother, The Mole. What are these shows telling us about the values or aspirations of those who watch them and those who make them? Are they aimed at Millennials or Gen X?
2. Synod in Session. The most recent Synod showed indications of emerging generations of leaders and their approaches to community and decision making. At the same time we were able to see fine examples of postwar generational leaders in action.
3. Television Advertisements over time. We considered, for example, the changes in advertisements on the topic of AIDS. Another possibility is the history of Coke ads.
4. Technological Advances. What does the prevalence of mobile phones and other such devices say about the generation about to leave school (aged 8 - 18)? How will the mp3 player and portable playstation, not to mention the palm top computer, change the way Generation M thinks, acts and interacts?
I’ve just been up to Alexandra Park on the Sunshine Coast to be at the Calvary Christian College staff retreat. There’s something like 130 staff there, teaching at a P1 to 12 school on two campuses.
I was there to take a workshop for 25 people on generational change. We looked at the formation of new generations, including our own, and considered the role of educationalist in the emergence of young adults.
There was a fair bit of energy given to the question of engagement with teenage tribes or communities. Peer groups have always been a part of youth culture. But now they’re not so easy to observe. Many teenagers are members of several communities, some of them online.
I heard from a couple of the teachers on their experience of online gaming communities, including their observation that teenagers are being coached by men in their thirties. The coaching in some cases includes the development of racist and sexist ‘redneck’ language and attitudes.
Another reflection from staff was on the distinctions between youth culture in the USA, Europe and Asia. I’ll write it up soon at Postkiwi’s Generational Posts.
One book worth checking out is “Growing Up Generous: Engaging Youth in Giving and Serving” by Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Elanah Delyah Naftali, and Laura Musegades, published by Alban Institute, 2000.
Lucky for us the first chapter is online as a pdf. In that chapter the authors say that giving and serving go together. They point out that young people are not likely to internalise values of generosity unless they’re in a generous community with the following commitments:
1. Commit to the well being of others
This first key focuses on the importance of an articulated, faith-based vision and commitment to the common goodto the well-being of others, meeting needs in the world, and tikkun olam (repair of the world). This clear commitment is embodied in the examples set by leaders and the exposure of young people to social issues in light of their faith tradition.
2. Cherish children and youth. Children learn generosity when it is shown towards them. Makes sense doesn’t it.
3. Connect to faith and traditions.
Generosity needs to be seen to flow out of a life-giving faith.
4. Establish norms and expectations. A generous congregation has found ways to link serving and giving with every aspect of its life - so that it’s now normal.
5. Provide opportunities for youth to practice giving. These keys must be connected to concrete opportunities for young people to give financially within the context of a broader understanding about their responsibility as people of faith for how they earn, save, invest, and spend their money.
6. Provide opportunities for youth to practice serving.
Young people need and want to serve through acts of compassion, justice, or charity. This engagement in service has the greatest impact (both for the youth and those being served) if it is thoughtfully planned, undertaken, reflected upon, and recognized.
7. Support Families
Generosity begins at home. The more we support families in conversation and practice of generosity the more we support children and young people in the development of generous culture.
8. Support Generations Intergenerational relationships cement the expression of generosity. If the ladies in the kitchen become possessive with their equipment, what does that say to the 16 year olds preparing for their dinner?
Talking with the seminar group over the weekend, the question of dominant values came up. We had no problems accepting the idea that people who came of age during the Great Depression came to place a high value on financial security. But it was a bit different when considering people who came of age in the 1950s, a time of conformity. Schewe and Meredith say that this generation came to value independence and rebellion. But what about the many people in that generation who still toe the line?
We used the bell curve to explore the spread of values throughout a generational cohort. A minority push the boundaries of new thought and behaviour. Another minority attempt to live out the values of previous generations. And in the middle are the people who gradually adopt and adapt emerging generational values.
Next time we look at this I’ll bring in Everett Rogers’ innovator theory, published in his book, “Diffusion of Innovations”. Rogers classifies consumer attitudes towards purchasing products into five categories according to how quick consumers are to purchase new products. The results are mapped in a bell curve.
1. innovators (2.5%),
2. opinion leaders or early adapters (13.5%),
3. early majority (34%),
4. late majority (34%), and
5. laggards or late adapters (16%).
The chart is often used to describe the adoption of technologies. The same could be used for adoption of generational philosophy, values and behaviours.
The Bell Curve is also the name of a controversial book published in 1994 by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray exploring the role of intelligence in understanding social problems in America. The title is a reference to the bell-shaped graph of IQ scores. The book purports to chronicle the rise of a “cognitive elite”, a social stratum of persons with high intelligence and an increasingly high chance of succeeding in life. (From Wikipedia)
Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
One book worth checking out is “Growing Up Generous: Engaging Youth in Giving and Serving” by Eugene C. Roehlkepartain, Elanah Delyah Naftali, and Laura Musegades, published by 
