Being so new to the teaching profession means I’m on learning overload. If that’s too vague, what I mean is that I’m having to take in so many lessons for how I can better myself for the following class/semester/year/rest of my career.
For my few followers, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Crystal and I teach at one of the major colleges in Toronto, ON. I started working at this college as an administrative assistant of sorts back in August 2010, and because of my MA in Communication and Social Justice, I was quickly recruited to teach a first-year College English course. This semester was my first shot at it, and I was given three three-hour classes per week to teach, for 14 weeks. Keep in mind that I do not have a teaching degree, so when it came to lesson planning and all that other valuable stuff you learn in teacher’s college, I was lost!
In any case, I did know about ice breakers. So on the first day of classes I did what I hated my own teachers for - I introduced myself (like a braggart by the way, which was something I hated my teachers for, but suddenly realized why they did it when I was in the same position), and then I went around the classroom and had each student state his/her name, program, what they wanted to do post-grad and their favourite childhood cartoon.
I taught two classes of Hospitality students and one class of Architectural Technician students. While the general consensus among the students was that they wanted to make money post-grad, another popular ambition among my future chefs and restaurant managers was to be on TV in some way or another. One young woman in particular stated outright that she wanted her own reality television show because it is now the only way to quick fame.
This was really interesting to me because the bulk of my MA studies centered on reviewing literary theory pertaining to reality television. A very (VERY VERY) Cole’s notes background is that it developed in response to media deregulation. There was less money to go around when all of the major Reagan-influenced media mergers happened back in the ’80s, so costs needed to be cut any way possible. Well, reality television was the answer to conglomerate prayers: talent didn’t need to be paid, there was no need for script writers and so on and so forth.
The effect reality television has had on the generations that have grown up with it, however, has been HUGE. And this one student’s answer to the introduction questions proved just how influential the industry has been.
Technology itself, I believe, has turned society into a mass of people constantly wanting things to be faster (to the detriment of quality, I fear). This goes for fame. The proliferation of reality television led to ordinary people becoming famous very quickly. And often, the people who were most famous were the people who were over the top in some way or another (think Omarosa from The Apprentice, Richard from the first Survivor, and I’m sure you can name so many others).
We have people like Paris Hilton who acquired much of her fame from simply being a socialite who gained exposure through The Simple Life. How much more mind-numbing can television get?
Anyway, the point is that people no longer have to actually BE talented to be famous. When I think of actors like John Cusak or Meg Ryan (my two personal faves), they represent quality. (I must apologize for being too young to be able to list off great, quality actors from decades earlier than the ’80s.)
I saw Scream 4 last night and wanted to kick myself for wasting the money. I was a huge fan of the original Scream. Hell, I even loved Scream 2 and 3. But there were so many of these new teen actors in Scream 4 - people I simply cannot respect - that the movie seemed like a joke to me. Anna Paquin was in it briefly though, and I have a secret love affair with True Blood, so that made up for all the crap.
SEMI-SPOILER ALERT!
The person who ends up being the killer is one of the new teen actors. She gives a big speech to Neve Campbell right before she tries to kill her, stating that she was going to gain so much fame for framing the murders on someone else; that she wanted the quick road to fame, so by making herself out to be the sole survivor of the massacre, she’d gain that fame without working for it for years.
And when she was speaking, it was like an entire generation speaking. I’m not saying an entire generation of young people want to murder to become famous. What is relevant is that she didn’t want to work for the fame. Young people do not want to work for fame, they simply want the fame and all of the seemingly glorious things that come with it. How could they not when people like Paris Hilton, Lauren Conrad or Kim Kardashian show us daily how amazing fame can be.
They want the attention. They want everything to revolve around them. The epitome of Generation Me is Facebook (or social networking sites in general). Now I do have a Facebook page, so call me a hypocrite if you wish, but I do believe it has contributed quite strongly to how narcissistic and self-entitled today’s youth appear to be.
Being a new teacher, I’m constantly flabbergasted at what my students demand of me. The youngest these students might be is 17 years old, but I often times feel as if I’m teaching 10-year olds. They want everything handed to them. They complain about doing an in-class activity. They get upset if they have to write a paragraph in class, and it doesn’t count for any actual in-class marks (to hell with the idea that practicing writing can lead to better writing ability). And I can’t even begin to talk about how upsetting it is when students miss due dates because they weren’t aware there was an assignment due to begin with. This is not for lack of me making them aware either. My course outline is quite possibly the most well-put-together document in existence today. I lay out, in detail, the weekly topics, when assignment instructions will be handed out, when the assignments are due, what resources they’ll need - and I post ALL of this information online so that students who don’t feel the need to attend class can still end up passing the course.
They want the easy way out. I think many things are to blame. I won’t go into detail on each of these because I could end up writing for hours, but most notably we must point fingers at:
1. Capitalism (for VARIOUS reasons)
2. Parents
3. The Canadian school system
4. The media
And perhaps there are more - you tell me.
Dr. Jean Twenge has written a couple books about this new generation of youth. I’m considered Gen-X. I was alive before computers were the be-all and end-all of life itself. In fact, I didn’t own a computer OR a cell phone until I was 18 (so it makes it really hard for me to look at my 10-year old cousin using his iPhone, BELIEVE me).
Twenge writes that this new generation is being referred to as Generation Me. They have been brought up to believe they can do anything they want if they put their mind to it. They are told constantly how special they are.
The problem is that people rarely ever get what they want, no matter how hard they work. And no one is a unique snowflake, special and infused with all the possibility in the world. Life just doesn’t work that way.
So I fear for this generation. I fear they’ll melt under the stress of realizing they will not be the next reality television star. I fear they’ll spontaneously combust when they graduate college and do not immediately begin making six figure salaries (I mean good luck even finding a job right out of college).
I try to share insight with my students. I mean, when you’re responsible for teaching students how to write decent essays, shit can get boring. Because I’m not an English graduate (simply a decent writer with an MA in something), I feel I’d do myself and my students a great disservice if I didn’t incorporate my area of expertise into the College English class. Not only does it break up the monotony of essay writing lessons, but the stuff I learned about in school is the kind of stuff that makes someone a great person to talk to or listen to. It’s the kind of stuff that makes someone interesting and it’s the kind of stuff that gets people fired up and ready to share opinions.
To me, that’s the greatest part of teaching so far - knowing that I am in the position to inspire others with my own knowledge and well-informed opinions on issues of social justice and social justice wars being waged today.
What a rewarding field in which to work.
