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[diana_prince]

I am interested in perspectives on what's it like working with so many different generations at your college. At the college where I was an adjunct, the students were mostly Millenials, the faculty consisted mostly of Babyboomers with some Gen-Xers, and we also had some faculty and administrators who were in the generations prior to the boomers and those who grew up during the Great Depression.

As a Gen-Xer, I don't think it was just my perception that we weren't exactly the favorites among boomers. Is it easier for the boomers to work with the Millenials? Or are the boomers writing favorable press for the Millenials because they are their own kids? Nobody asked Gen-Xers if we wanted the label Gen-Xers, but according to this, ABC news actually took a poll of the Millenials to ask what they preferred to be called.

Claire Raines 2002:

"They’re the hottest commodity on the job market since Rosie the Riveter. They’re sociable, optimistic, talented, well-educated, collaborative, open-minded, influential, and achievement-oriented. They’ve always felt sought after, needed, indispensable. They are arriving in the workplace with higher expectations than any generation before them—and they’re so well connected that, if an employer doesn’t match those expectations, they can tell thousands of their cohorts with one click of the mouse. They’re the Millennial Generation. Born between 1980 and 2000, they’re a generation nearly as large as the Baby Boom, and they’re charged with potential. They’re variously called the Internet Generation, Echo Boomers, the Boomlet, Nexters, Generation Y, the Nintendo Generation, the Digital Generation, and, in Canada, the Sunshine Generation. But several thousand of them sent suggestions about what they want to be called to Peter Jennings at abcnews.com, and 'Millennials' was the clear winner."

I especially like the myth about the Millenials that they are like Gen-X squared:

"This doesn’t say much for Gen-Xers, who, in fact, have made tremendous contributions to the success of organizations in all industries in the last two decades. But Millennials as a generation have more in common with Baby Boomers and members of the WWII Generation than they do with Generation Xers."

Do I detect a note of hostility toward Gen-Xers?

http://www.generationsatwork.com/articles/millenials.htm

[larryc]

I think these labeled generations are mostly a media invention. I was born in 1961. I guess I am a late baby-boomer, but really I have little in common with someone born in 1946, when the boom started.  I tend to identify with people who share common interests and outlooks more than by age. (And I have never even heard the term "Millenials," has that truly gained currency?)

[schoolmarm]

Larry,

We share a birth year, and I feel the same way about the labels as you do.  I tend to have lots of friends who are 7-10 years older then myself, although in my last position, my friends from my department are mostly younger.

Frankly, I'm just looking for students and colleagues with a good work ethic.  Sometimes they are X-ers, sometimes Millenials, sometimes Boomers....whatever.

[comp_queen]

I was born in 1980, and PLEASE DON'T CALL ME A MILLENNIAL!!!  I am nothing like my traditional age students.  Well, I'm human and so are they, but apart from that.  As I so often do--I agree with larryc.  I tend to identify myself with people based on characteristics, interests, and values rather than birth year.  And like schoolmarm, I tend to gravitate toward people older than I am for friendship.  I'm actually very much a boomer--as an only child raised by two of them, I have very old-fashioned values.

[anthroid]

I was born in 1958 and definitely identify with boomers--my oldest brother was born in 1948, my parents were 35 when I was born, and my dad fought in WWII, so I am absolutely part of the baby boom and have boomer sensibilities (if that isn't an oxymoron...).  My SO was born in 1951 and most of his/our friends are boomers; however, I certainly have made friends with what I guess would be Xers.  As everyone here has been saying, we make friends based on shared interests and (certainly in my case!) a shared sense of humor.

I will say, though, Diana, that my sense has been that Xers are kind of a "lost generation."  We boomers have monopolized attention and resources, and we have demanded the same for our children.  That means Xers have, in some ways, been left out in the cold.  What do you think?