Pokémon, Beanie Babies, Gameboys, Harry Potter, and Dawson's Creek. I like getting a dose of what interests young people. Some of the things that may become the cultural artifacts of their times appeal to me, too. Some of them do not. Some of the TV shows that I consider exploitative, young teenagers see as authentic depictions of the way they are or want to be.
And it bothers me that kids today don't value the culture of past times more highly. How can two kids I know, 11 and 13, think Williamsburg and the U.S. Capitol boring but give an amusement park a rave review? Then I remember that they are, after all, 11 and 13. Their ideas might change—or not.
Y2K, Year 2000, is almost here. In the publishing business, we have a similar phrase. TK is what the editor or designer writes in a blank space on a layout where a photo or piece of copy will go: TK means to come; in other words, not ready yet, still in the making.
The phrase could be used to describe youth and their culture. It is amusing to see how cultures are unique to each time. Every generation remakes itself, and no group has a corner on wisdom or silliness. We all know this, but if you would like a refresher course, log onto the Beloit College Web site and others mentioned in "Web Wonders" (p. 89) and see whether you are with it—or just how far out of it you are.
It is a mistake to think that the younger generation wants us to abandon "adult culture" and take up theirs. Young people want to have a culture all their own—and just to retain their apartness, some of them like to shock us with their body piercings and green hair.
Sometimes, they don't see that just as we have been shaped by generations before us, they are being manipulated more than they know. And sometimes they don't see the value of embracing a more inclusive culture that transcends the generations.
But this issue is about "Understanding Youth Culture," not about getting youth to understand us. In "Generation What?" (p. 8), Associate Editor Carol Tell explores the paradoxical ways that the new generation is portrayed and the special problems that young people face. They are more immersed in technology than those of us who didn't grow up with it—more skilled and more blasé. They are savvy consumers, but, sometimes, slavish materialists. They are alone a lot; some like it, but many of them are lonely. They want their own identity, but they want their teachers to know them and their peers to like them.
Are youth really so different from you and me? To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, yes, because they have more time. But not always. A principal reports that on the first day of school she had the duty to announce to her high school students that several classmates had died over the summer. Some of the students expressed regret; others wished that she hadn't told them such depressing news. The riskiness of our time is shaping our youth, making some callous, some afraid, some wiser and kinder beyond their years.
This issue is dedicated to the child of ASCD staff member Jan Schmidt. Leah Schmidt, 11, was killed in a car accident this past October. In a church packed with mourners—many of whom were children and young adults—Leah's father shared memories of his daughter. He seemed to be talking directly to the kids.
He said that Leah was a funny kid. She always said things that made the family laugh. He said she was affectionate and used to give him "gorilla hugs." He said that she had compassion for others and had recently tried to keep her classmates from bullying a new kid. And then he said, "Leah was tough." She loved the give-and-take of soccer games and could withstand pain that a lesser person could not.
Leah will live on in her loved ones' hearts. Her own heart her parents donated to a waiting 9-year-old, and they gave her eyes and lungs to other needy people.
Whether or not we understand kids today, we need to love them. They are young for a short time, and they are our generation TK.
