Generation What’s Next: Staying Current Through Cultural Shifts

Leah Berkenwald, MA, Brandeis University

Beth Grampetro, MPH, CHES, Olin College of Engineering

Joleen M. Nevers, MAEd, CHES, University of Connecticut

What brought you here today?

• Identify generational attributes of students coming into college

• Discuss the challenges to adapting to cultural shifts

• Discuss positive strategies to adapt to cultural shifts

• Move up, move up

• Notice thoughts that might be judgmental and try to let them go

• None of us are perfect

• We all have biases

• We are all growing

What Is A Cultural Shift?

A definition from Global Education at University of Oregon—this refers to studying abroad but applies to our discussion.

• Psychological disorientation

• Different from frustration- causes are difficult to trace

• Feeling grows gradually as you interact with new culture

• A combo of experiencing elements of new culture and missing elements of old culture

• New ways challenge your existing beliefs and values

https://geo.uoregon.edu/what-is-culture-shift

Generational Characteristics

What are the top 5 things you want other people to know about your generation?

Generational Privilege

• Willingness (or not) to update language

• Financial differences

• Dictating behavior/standards

• Communication differences

• "This generation is…." "That generation….."

• Lack of autonomy

• More connected to family

Generational Differences• Trauma

• Generational/Societal

• Awareness (or not) of what it was like "before"

• Constantly being on/connected

• Attitudes toward social media

• Cultural surveillance/social monitoring

• Lack of unsupervised/unstructured time

• "Adulting"

• Lack of resilience

• Increased attention to mental health

• Worries

• Belief that there is value in adapting/change• "Hills we'll die on"

• Being the "expert" or knowing the "best way"

• Dependence on technology—or giving up control

• Rapid change

• Changing our worldview means rewriting our own autobiographical narrative

• Existing in different spaces with different cultural expectations

Partner Up

Discuss a challenge you experience with another

generation—

it's OK to have them!

Example: Diffusion of Innovation Model

Positive Strategies To Adapt To Cultural Shifts

Strategies

• Growth mindset• We're not bound to your current views/habits/abilities

• The goal isn't to be right or perfect, but to grow and learn

• Separate the behavior from the person's character• "You're a racist" vs. "What you said is racially problematic"

• Try not to take critical feedback personally; instead, take it at face value

• Take responsibility and initiative to research and learn• Don't expect marginalized folx to teach you

• Build personal and community connections by attending/supporting events

• Check in with someone you trust who pushes you to grow

• Take a moment (or a day) to sit with it before responding

“Callout Culture” continued

You might be calling someone out for the wrong reasons if:

• You’re not choosing your battles based on what’s best for the community involved

• You’re centering yourself on behalf of another group

• You’re engaging in respectability politics to police other people’s behavior

• You’re trying to force someone to be accountable

• You're trying to prove how "woke" you are

www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/6-signs-your-callout-isnt-actually-about-accountability-20171019

Calling Out vs. Calling In

"Much like calling out, calling in aims to get the person to change their problematic behavior.

The primary difference between calling in and calling out is that calling in is done with a little more compassion and patience."

https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/guide-to-calling-in/

https://gravityleadership.com/grace-and-truth-matrix/

• Compassion fatigue & burnout• Feels impossible to always be current

• When have I arrived—do I ever?

• Feels impossible to get people or a system to change• When have we arrived—do we ever?

I live for this! I'm burned outI'm trying

I live for this! I'm trying I'm burned outI'm tiredI'm motivated

I'm motivated! I'm tired

Accepting Feedback

• Slips happen; apologize for causing harm, forgive yourself and move on

• Take responsibility for your words and actions

• Thank people when they provide feedback

• Look into language/idioms –where do they come from?

• We can all be stretched; but our learning shouldn’t create work, harm, or distress for our students

• "I am so sorry. I didn’t realize that statement was racist. I will definitely look into that and I will adapt my language. Thank you for letting me know. "

• "Where are you from?"

• bell hooks book club

• Scheduling lessons

• Grammar debate

Scenario 1: A student is meeting with a staff member. You overhear the staff person ask them where they are from. When they say Michigan, the staff member asks "No, but where are you really from?"

• How would you respond if you're a part of the targeted group?

• How would you respond if you're not a member of the targeted group?

• If a member of the targeted group was in the room? Not in the room?

Scenario 2: Your division is doing a summer reading group and everyone is reading Teaching Community by bell hooks. You are meeting with a small group of coworkers to discuss the book. There are no people of color present in the group. One coworker says "I could get behind what she's trying to say if she wasn't so angry and militant about it."

How would you respond if you're a part of the targeted group?How would you respond if you're not a member of the targeted group?If a member of the targeted group was in the room? Not in the room?

Scenario 3: Students are requesting that your health and/or counseling center begin offering online scheduling, but some of your colleagues are resistant to making this change. How might you advocate for it? Would you?

Scenario 4: A staff member has transitioned in your department from using she/her pronouns to they/their pronouns. Some staff are comfortable with the change while others think that using they/their is improper grammar and will not abide by the request of the person to use the proper pronouns.

The End is Not The End

• The presentation is ending, but the work will continue

Thank you!Reach us at:

Leahb@brandeis.edu

bgrampetro@olin.edu

joleen.nevers@uconn.edu