Remember when the millennials were the new young professionals in town?
Then came Gen Z. Still catching up on their defining traits? Well, you’re in danger of falling behind again.
For those of you hiring your youngest workers — those hourly employees who might be working for you now or could be this summer — you’re about to become the first to employ Generation Alpha.
The oldest of that generation, generally thought of as those born from 2010 through 2024, turn 15 this year. They generally are the children of the millennials, and they bring a different set of formative experiences.
If the millennials were shaped by the terrorist attacks and aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, and Gen Z was shaped by the Great Recession of 2007-09, Generation Alpha clearly was shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Gen Alpha will be the most diverse generation in history, and this reality is shaping kids’ expectations,” according to audience targeting firm GWI.
“If the success of Disney’s ‘Encanto’ wasn’t enough, our data shows that fair representation is already on their minds. Helping people and everyone being treated the same are top of teens’ priority list, and a third already pay attention to diversity in media. The same is true of sustainability. Gen Alphas are maturing in a time of climate emergency, and their attitudes echo this.”
And now, get ready for Generation Beta. The first members will be born this year. They, of course, will always know the pandemic as history. Some of them will live into the 22nd century.
For them, the digital and physical worlds will be seamless, according to demographer and futurist Mark McCrindle in a blog post.
“While Generation Alpha has experienced the rise of smart technology and artificial intelligence, Generation Beta will live in an era where AI and automation are fully embedded in everyday life — from education and workplaces to health care and entertainment.”
This will be the first generation to experience autonomous transportation at scale, immersive virtual environments and intense personalization, driven by AI algorithms that “will tailor their learning, shopping and social interactions in ways we can only begin to imagine today,” he wrote.
At the same time, they also “will inherit a world grappling with major societal challenges,” he continued. “With climate change, global population shifts and rapid urbanization at the forefront, sustainability will not just be a preference but an expectation.”
The world of generations Alpha and Beta is going to be complex in ways we can only start to conceptualize today. The majority of jobs they will hold likely do not exist right now. But what we do know about those jobs is that they will require more critical thinking, sophisticated analysis and innovation. Emotional intelligence will need to reflect a greater social consciousness and an ability to communicate in ways I don’t think I am capable of even articulating trying to project that far into the future.
And, candidly, I am worried that we, today, are not adequately preparing them for it.
I hung onto a report recently from The Dakota Scout that detailed results of the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card.
Average scores are reported on a NAEP scale that ranges from 0 to 500, based on student performance on state tests, it said.
In 2024, the average score of fourth grade students in South Dakota on math assessments was 240, compared with the national average of 237. The average score of eighth grade students in South Dakota was 260, higher than the national average of 257.
Other takeaways from the report card:
What wasn’t lifted up is that there also is a third category: NAEP Advanced. Nationwide, 4 percent of eighth graders met it. In South Dakota, it was 2 percent. And if you look over time, you’ll see that there has been an erosion in the average score of 10 points in the past two decades.
I tried to dig a bit into what these terms mean and came up with this: “Basic, Proficient and Advanced levels always have the same policy meaning — partial mastery, solid academic performance and superior performance, respectively.”
By that definition, “solid” seems to be, well, a solid goal, reflecting a decent level of academic performance. So it’s concerning that only one in three of our eighth graders achieves this in math. And that fewer than three in 10 achieve it in reading. As someone whose business depends on future generations being able to read at a reasonably acceptable level, it was eye-opening.
“The bottom line — these results show that there are troubling gaps in the basic skills of these students,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which gives the NAEP exam, in this piece in The New York Times. “This is a huge-scale challenge that faces the nation.”
And she was talking about the results from the test two years ago, which actually were better.
I was part of a program last week in which several local business owners spoke to a group of high school students. Repeatedly, the conversation involved the fast evolution of technology and how AI already is being incorporated into business operations today and will be much more so as they enter the workforce.
Don’t miss the message here, I said to them: The easy jobs are going away. The tasks that don’t require as much complex thinking or as many specialized skills are or will be automated. At the same time, the demands of our world — everything from our security to our global business competitiveness — necessitate that we educate more effectively than ever.
I don’t think this happens without the business community stepping up to demand more and invest in more. We need to advocate for public policy that drives stronger outcomes, whatever that ultimately proves to look like. I’m sorry, but I just can’t escape the irony that our legislators spent time debating if the Ten Commandments ought to hang in every classroom, when it’s clearly apparent many students wouldn’t be able to read and interpret them even if they did.
The idea that because South Dakota squeaked ahead of the national average somehow validates this performance misses the broader and more concerning takeaway: The numbers just aren’t good enough to meet a future where more is going to be required for people to add value to a workforce and by extension to society. We have to foster a culture that values education at a higher level but that also addresses everything else going on in a student’s life that makes learning challenging.
It is a heavy lift, I’m realizing more and more, but if you look at the pace of change and the global landscape, there really isn’t a choice.
Jodi’s Journal: Get ready for Generation Alpha
The post Jodi’s Journal: Generations Alpha, Beta and the alphabet appeared first on SiouxFalls.Business.
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