Listening Closely to Generation Z

There is a lot of talk about Gen Z (also referred to as iGeneration, Digital Natives, or Centennials). Gen Z includes anyone born after 1997. Much of this talk maligns this generation as lazy, entitled, demanding, lacking resilience, addicted to screens and social media, impatient and unable to delay gratification (instead seeking instant gratification). Often these characterizations – or frankly, mischaracterizations – originate with previous generations, many of them in the role of an employer, supervisor, professor, or even teacher of the young adults of Gen Z.

I would suggest it may be far more worthwhile listening closely to what Gen Z tells its older counterparts. Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation recently released “The Voices of Gen Z Study,” an annual survey to better understand Gen Z’s perspectives.

The great news is that Gen Zers are optimistic – 80% predict they have a great future ahead of them; the bad news is that only about half of them feel prepared for the future. Current middle and high school students view future success dependent on the level of engagement they experience at school. More than 40% of these students do not agree they have learned anything interesting and over half the students indicate their school work does not align with their interests or talents. It is noteworthy that 60% of Gen Z students say they feel engaged in the classroom when their teacher makes the topic of study “interesting or exciting.”

A recent New York Times article by Jenny Anderson and Rebecca Winthrop, the authors of The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better, makes the case that schools focusing on giving their students agency (i.e. letting them become the agents of their own learning) is the single most important pedagogical approach to engage students. “When students are allowed some opportunity to take their own initiative, they are more engaged in class and better able to master new skills, they have better grades and fewer problems with peers — and they are happier, too.” 

The International Baccalaureate curriculum framework values student agency above all. The IB breaks “student agency” into four approaches:

A hallmark of the IB emphasis on student agency here at GISC is student inquiry. Each and every day, I can hear one of our teachers asking students, especially at the onset of class or a new learning unit, about their interests. Teachers ask whether students may be particularly curious about anything they are about to learn in class or the upcoming unit.

Teachers partner with our students to not only ensure they have the opportunity to ask questions, but often our teachers will not necessarily give the answer but rather guide students to find the answer to their own questions. This builds engagement as students clearly feel and experience the power of inquiry and discover the joy of researching their own answers. Students begin to grasp that they are capable of taking control of their learning.

GISC is now in its eighth year as a fully authorized IB PYP (Primary Years Programme – Preschool-4th grade)  school and currently is in its second year of being a MYP (Middle Years Programme–5th-8th grade). As such, GISC is aligned with the concept of student agency; moreover, the IB provides oversight, guidance, and professional development in helping our school continuously improve in the development of student agency.

Parents, too, can help foster agency in their own children. As the developmental psychologist Aliza Pressman says: “Let kids do for themselves what they can already do. And guide and encourage them to do things they can almost do. And then teach and model for them the things that they can’t do.” This is how parents can help their children build agency.

Gen Z students are asking for a shift toward student agency. “Many recent graduates aren’t able to set targets, take initiative, figure things out and deal with setbacks — because in school and at home they were too rarely afforded any agency,” according to Anderson and Winthrop. Blaming members of Gen Z for some of their shortcomings is easy; taking a closer look at how we educate and parent Gen Z students is maybe a more worthwhile pursuit.

Wishing you a great weekend,

Ben Hebebrand

GISC Director