THE GENERATION GAP WITHIN ONLINE CLASS

AIRENE P. DAYRIT, RGC, RPM, LPT

It is known that teachers and instructors come from all different generations, from veteran instructors to new millennial teachers, choosing education as your career will serve you a diverse cast of hardworking and inspiring people. Even in a school, the faculty is filled with different types of teachers. But it is a fact that we all teach students in a common generation. Today, students are now from Generation Z, digital natives who have been around technology almost all their lives. Surely enough, this gives them a head start in managing and being more effective in the new system of academic learning – online classes.

But how does the obvious generation gap between teachers and students affect experiences during online classes? Besides the conversation on digital literacy, is there a sense of disconnect that teachers may feel because they cannot properly translate themselves to their students? No doubt, there are different personalities and approaches that teenagers and children of today have. The presence of social media and trends heavily weighs their development and maturity. Generations of today expend their energies differently, therefore most of us may come off as lost in translation. Whether we like it or not, there will always be a disconnect between the two generations. This makes it difficult in the presence of digital means, where to make relationships much easier and work less mentally and emotionally straining, there must be some sort of shared empathy. Teachers and students must arrive at a common point – knowing that there must be mutual responsibility to make work and study within the pandemic easier for each other.

There will be aspects where a younger student will not agree with or understand the processes of a teacher and vice versa. However, it is a key aspect that both must respect and show appreciation for one’s work and efforts.

-oOo

The author is Education Program Specialist II at SDO City of San Fernando (P)