OP-ED: Globalization and its discontents, By Henry A. Kissinger, International Herald Tribune, May 29, 2008
I think a lot of this elder angst over Gen Y/Millennials is misplaced, meaning they don't understand the kids AND the kids will be all right.
I see this distinctly in my own kids: they don't know as much as I did but are far more adept at finding than I am now!
Einstein didn't know his own phone number. "Why should I?" he said. "It's written down in a special book if I need it."
Our "mastery" of knowledge relative to the Millenials is a different type of intelligence, but not necessarily a better one, than the mastery of searching. Humans have lived as searchers more than owners, so yeah, we'll survive as always and--CANUBELIEVIT!--actually prosper.
(Thanks: Matthew Garcia)
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Comments (2)
Dr Barnett,
I agree. While I'm a Gen-Xer, I'm also a relatively recent college grad (Class of '07) due to military service, so I've had a close-up view of Gen-Yers (are we calling them Millenials now, too?). I've been impressed. While a student at Columbia, one of my motivations in the ROTC-return campaign was that I sincerely believe that these young people have plenty of the 'right stuff' to tackle the present-day and future world challenges our military, and nation, is engaging. They have a broad base of at least superficial knowledge, with the know-how to gain depth, they're not (generally) dogmatic nor easily credulous, they're mentally agile, tolerant and cosmopolitan, and they're willing to try. They're not perfect, of course - they're still young with the inherent youthful prejudices and conceits - but there's plenty of potential.
The progressive reservoir is there. The key to tap into it is to get them focused and convince them to invest and take ownership.
Posted by Eric Chen | June 8, 2008 3:57 PM
Interesting in that the article seems to hint an older topic of your, rules and the sets of them that are never quite in balance at all times. A theme in that article is that economic and political rules must be properly aligned so as not to weaken the other.
How does a country (and eventually a global society) go about aligning these rule sets if in progressive democracies, the rules change on the urgings of the people?
Posted by Matt R.
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June 8, 2008 6:19 PM