MARY ANN BECKER

A s s o c i a t e D i r e c t o r o f Wr i t i n g P r o g r a m s a n d A c a d e m i c S u p p o r tL o y o l a U n i v e r s i t y C h i c a g o C o l l e g e o f L a w

Understanding the Tethered Generation: Net Gens Come to Law School

“Young Americans are no less intelligent, motivated, ambitious, and sensitive than they ever were, and they are no less adolescent and fun-loving either. It’s not the under-30-year-olds who have changed. What has changed is the threshold into adulthood, the rituals minors undergo to become responsible citizens, the knowledge and skill activities that bring maturity and understanding.”MARK BAUERLEIN, THE DUMBEST GENERATION: HOW THE DIGITAL AGE STUPEFIES YOUNG AMERICANS AND JEOPARDIZES OUR FUTURE (OR, DON’T TRUST ANYONE UNDER 30) 160 (2008).

Peer Personality

Every generation has oneReflects the common events

and occurrences of that generation

Though, not every member of that generation possesses all of that generation’s attributes

Millennial Cycle

“[H]as been a cycle of relative peace and affluence, mixed with growing individualism, cultural fragmentation, moral zealotry, and a sense of political drift and institutional failure.”(1) Baby Boomers (1943-1960) – Idealist Generation(2) Gen Xers (1961-1981) – Reactive Generation(3) Millennials (1981- late 1990s)– Civic Generation(4) Net Gens (approximately late 1990s-late 2010s)*– Adaptive

Generation*Some studies predict that it could have started as early as 1994

Idealist Generation

Grows up as increasing indulged youths after a secular crisis

Comes of age inspiring a spiritual awakening

Fragments into narcissistic rising adults

Cultivates principles as moralistic mid-lifers

Emerges as visionary elders guiding the next secular crisis

Baby BoomersBoomers “resisted permanent linkages to mates, children,

corporations, and professions” and instead focused on their

own self-identity.

Reactive Generation

Grows up as under-protected and criticized youths during a spiritual awakening

Matures into risk-taking alienated rising adults

Mellows into pragmatic midlife Leaders during a secular crisis Maintains respect (but less

influence) as reclusive elders

Gen-X"It's no wonder Xers are angst-

ridden and rudderless. They feel America's greatness has passed.

They got to the cocktail party twenty minutes too late, and all

that's left are those little wieners and a half-empty bottle of Zima.”Tracey McGaugh, Gen X in Law School, the Dawn of

the Light or the Dawn of New Day?, 9 J. LEGAL WRIT. 119, 121-22 (2002) (quoting the comedian

Dennis Miller).

Civic Generation

Grows up as increasingly protected youths after a spiritual awakening

Comes of age overcoming a secular crisis

Unites into a heroic and achieving cadre of rising adults

Sustains that image while building institutions as power mid-lifers

Emerges as busy elders attacked by the next spiritual awakening

MillennialsTypically, civic children grow up with idealist parents who “look upon these children as special, an instrument through which

their inner visions can be achieved or defended.” Further,

“[t]he child environment, now perceived to be dangerous, is pushed back toward greater protection and structure.”

Adaptive Generation

Grows up as overprotected and suffocated youths during a secular crisis

Matures into risk averse, conformist rising adults

Produces indecisive midlife arbitrator-leaders during a spiritual awakening

Maintains influence (but less respect) as sensitive elders

Net GensThey are the children of a more

dominant generation, meaning they are raised in an “intensively

protective, even suffocating style of nurture. Children are expected to stay out of the way of harm—and of busy adults. And though assured of their collective worth, they are told

their individual needs take a low priority as long as the community is

struggling for survival.”

Net Gens and Their Unique Cultural Viewpoint

(1) Education reform through No Child Left Behind

(2) Different standard for cheating

(3) Higher education as a commodity

(4) “Horizontal peer groups” created online

Testing Instead of Critical Thinking Through Writing

First generation educated by No Child Left Behind

--Teachers and Administrators concerned about “teaching to the test”

--Students told what to learn and how to learn it to do well on the test

--50% of students say their school work requires writing every day; 35% write several times a week. Of the students writing in high school, 82% report that their typical writing assignment is only one paragraph to one page long

RESULT: college and, eventually, law students have little experience writing, researching, and learning on their own.

Cheating is Not Cheating Anymore

32% of undergraduates thought that “working with others on an assignment when asked for individual work” was a serious offense though 82% of the faculty thought it was.

56% of MBA students had cheated and 47% of students in non-business programs admitted to cheating, while another 25% of graduate students admitted to unauthorized collaboration, “cut and paste plagiarism,” and fabricating or falsifying a bibliography.

Net Gens are Mimicking Culturally Acceptable Cheating

(1) Competitive marketplace

(2) Big payoffs

(3) Temptation

(4) Trickle-down effect

Further, cheating may also result from the continual positive reinforcement Net Gens’ have experienced.

“Ethics is defined as an individual’s personal beliefs about whether a behavior, action, or decision is right or wrong. Ethical behavior is defined as behavior that conforms to generally-accepted social norms.”-Daniel Owunwanne et al., Students’ Perceptions of Cheating and Plagiarism in Higher Institutions, 7 J. C. TEACHING & LEARNING 59, 59 (2010).

For instance

To give every child an award:The Most Valuable Player Award is switched to different children every

year to give everyone a chance, even though “everyone knew” who the MVP was.

The Coaches’ Award goes to “the kids who were picking daisies, and the only thing we could think to say about them is that they showed up on time. What would that be, the Most Prompt Award? That seemed lame.”

The Spirit Award went to “the troublemaker who always talks and doesn’t pay attention, so we spun it into his being very ‘spirited.’”

Not keeping score so that not one of the kids “feel bad” by losing a game.

-Lori Gottleib, How to Land Your Kid in Therapy, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY (June 7, 2011)

Education as Commodity

College tuition doubled since 1970

Students see grades as part of an economic exchange; relatable to anonymous faculty evaluations

Universities also treat students as consumers to generate tuition dollars

90% of four year colleges show an increased frequency of parental involvement since

2001.

Social Media Friends are the New Advisors

Millennials and Net Gens - 72 hours/week or 10 hours/day using online media

Essentially non-stop connection to peer group= A uniquely, solely peer-focused horizontal group with no vertical modeling

Where now?

Because the reality of the expectations that they must meet at law school can be shocking and completely

unexpected . . .

As law professors and educators, we have unique opportunity to work with

students in fully explaining what older generations will

expect from them in the practice of law and to

prepare them to meet those expectations and succeed as

a lawyer.

Mary Ann Becker, Understanding the Tethered Generation: Net Gens Come to Law School , 53 DUQ. L. REV. (forthcoming 2014), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2531806.

Thank you!