Dive Summary:
- A new book, "Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today's College Student," uses surveys of students and college officials, interviews from campus visits and other data to make the case that the conflicting attitudes and traits of today's young people give colleges and employers plenty of work when trying to help them make it through the fast-changing economic and technological environment.
- The book's authors--Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow WIlson National Fellowship Foundation, and Diane R. Dean, an assistant professor of higher education policy at Illinois State University--report that today's students are defined by technology, which both connects them to more people than ever and isolates them socially when it comes to face-to-face communication, interpersonal skills and problem-solving abilities.
- The modern generation is also much more dependent upon parents than future generations, due to both the deep recession and a greater amount of parental coddling, which has led to a generation of "rules followers at a time when the rules are changing"--as well as increased parental involvement (and intrusion) on campus.
From the article:
Colleges and employers have their work cut out for them in helping today's young people navigate the fast-changing economic and technological environment in which they are coming of age, given their often-conflicting attitudes and traits, a new book argues. The book, Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today's College Student (Jossey Bass), uses surveys of students and college officials, interviews from campus visits, and other data to characterize the current crop of college-age Americans as confounded by a series of contradictions -- and, in turn, often confounding to parents, colleges and employers trying to understand them. ...