The Confusing New Breed

            I am a part of a generation of philosophical activists, a generation of new, open-minded thinkers. Despite the fact that we are strong in our ideas and opinions, we are always willing to reform them accordingly, for ourselves, to new arguments that are always being presented in our media-driven world. We are a confusing new breed to the generations that preceded us. “Your generation interests me,” was what Scott from the Chicago Center said to us, “You’re doing a lot of things that our generation fought against and fought to change.” Yes. We are. The conversation was brought up after seeing the show, Time Stands Still. In the after show discussion someone brought up that Mandy, the younger of the two females in the show, becomes the expected "norm." In the show Mandy has a child and makes the choice to stay home rather than go back to work, while the other female, Sarah, is a working woman and chooses her career over any kind of family. Scott was frustrated with Mandy, as she obviously represented the twenty-something generation, and here she was choosing to be a homemaker, something his generation fought against. Megan, our professor, put it well when I brought it up to her. "You fought for us to make the decision you want us to make? That makes no sense." Some people make the choices that the generation above us fought for us to have. Others do not. The point that stands is that I, as well most others in my age group, appreciate what the older age group has done for us, because you gave us the choice. In addition, we are under a lot pressure from our elders because of the political and social movements that they were involved in. Our parents, as well as our teachers and mentors, want us to have a better life than they had, in every way. Educationally, socially, and financially. Our teachers push us to do well in school, our parents want us to get a good job, or get into a good college. They want us to make good choices. But what is a good choice?   Does that not differ from person to person?

The Chinatown Gate. I think the blur adds artistic value. Don't you?

            Chicago gave me an opportunity to practice one of my favorite hobbies in a new location: people watching. With the diversity of culture and the setting change, the type of people I had a chance to observe was much greater and expansive than anything I had witnessed before. One individual in particular that I noticed popped up when our group went to Chinatown before we went to see our scheduled play that evening. We ate at a nice restaurant called Emperor's Choice. Unfortunately I was not extremely hungry, so I found my eyes wondering most of the time. I noticed one of the waiters was a young girl, about our age, or younger. She was waiting on most of the tables as the restaurant filled with the busy dinner hour. Unlike our waiter, who we often had to struggle to understand through her thick accent, the girl spoke fluent English. This got me wondering: how many more opportunities is that going to give her than her parents. As explained earlier, our waiter, despite her incredibly friendly and helpful nature, was difficult to understand at times. This is one of the many socioeconomical characteristics of the American workplace, that if you are not fluent in English it is more difficult to work your way up the corporate ladder as an entrepreneur. Our waiter may have more difficulty in the job market outside of Chinatown, especially in the current economic situation. This young girl that I noticed for a brief period in that restaurant will have so many opportunities that her parents could not have, simply because of her American education.

           And education is one of the greatest weapons that has been given to my generation, no matter what culture we aspire from. What, you say? Education has always been around, you say? True. Very true. However, there has been a big change in the educational system between the time of Civil Rights movement and today. Not only are schools integrated, but the way we teach is different. Through the studies into the three sections of learning, visual, auditory, and kinetic, teachers are more prepared to help students' different learning styles. Many also believe that we cannot just focus on their main learning type, because all students need a mix of the learning styles. We had the privilege of visiting one of these wonderful education opportunity providers while in Chicago. After a nice lunch at Whole Foods, we headed over to Little Black Pearl, an art-focused educational program which recently opened up a school program for kids who are having issues with the public school system. The program is arts based, so it makes the kids really enjoy coming, despite the fact that they still have classes like English, Math, and Science. On top of the fact that it keeps the students coming back, it gives them some hands-on approaches to school that many public schools leave out. "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." -Aristotle. This innovation is integral, considering that public schools have developed the issue of polarizing our educations. Students in middle and high school are often forced to choose between two things they are interested in, and fine arts students lean one way, jocks another, and it polarized not only the education of those students, but their social pools.

A mural in the Mexican-American Community. Jose, our guide, said it showcased the importance of education.
(Also Cody looking into the distance rather dramatically.)

            As the play Translations by Brian Friel taught us, education has ups and downs. Sometimes we must choose between knowledge and culture, much like the girl in the Chinese restaurant will no doubt have to do as she gets older. Similarly, the Irish characters throughout the play are in-between their education and opening up to this new culture and their heritage and cultural identity. Maire in one of the few characters who strongly reflect an urge to join with their English Neighbors, and even goes as far as falling in love with one of the despite the language barrier. Her opinion is strong in her lines; "We should all be learning to speak English ... That's what Daniel O'Connell said... 'The old language is a barrier to modern progress.' " Now, the Gaelic language has been all but lost, because of the education reform imposed by the United Kingdom. Many fear this cultural assimilation as we move towards becoming a more united people, no longer separated by race. This is a truly difficult subject, and no one knows what the correct answer is. Is there a balance that could be achieved? Choices between culture and knowledge are not the only decisions we are being forced to make in today's school systems.  A student must decide between the arts, academics, or sports. Many small schools, whether high school, or college, preach that "you can do everything you want to do here," but this is untrue. I know first hand. I had to choose between sports and theater. I also had to downgrade from an Honors English class to regular English my senior year, because the period time conflicted with my painting and drawing class. Programs like this are something that's only started popping up recently and are being set up by our elders who do it with the best intentions, but sometimes they have unintended results. 

            So we have our ammo; the ability to make more progressive choices, and education, in the form of not only school but also our analytical decision making. How are we using it? Wisely. Many believe that we are an uniformed generation, but this is a horribly generalized misconception. Yes, there are people in my generation who are uninformed, but that is because they choose to be. For those that are, they organize against things they disapprove of, like active Americans, much like those before us. One example was the SOPA blackout and protests. Some may say I am dragging this out, but you have to admit, this was a major movement, whether you were Pro-SOPA or Anti-SOPA. A group of people, mostly young but also some older generations mixed in, organized because they were informed on the Act and they said that it was wrong. Not long after the blackout and the protests, SOPA and PIPA were defeated. Truly this victory is a small victory, but a victory none the less and lets our generation feel we do have some control in our country and in political issues.

My program from what was by far my favorite show.

           It is not just the internet community making this leap. One of the miraculous things we saw in Chicago was the Albany Park Theatre Project. Their mission statement says it all. "Albany Park Theater Project is a multiethnic, youth theater ensemble that inspires people to envision a more just and beautiful world." The ages involved are high school level and they created the documentary theater piece, Home/Land, as well as several others. The students conducted the interviews, crafted the shows, and then preformed it. They are involved youth, spreading political and humanitarian messages through their own activism. One student was so inspired by his interview subject that he, too, has now become an active protester and activist. They are inspiring, and certainly restore some of the faith in my generation, which I was beginning to lose. I had begun to fall into this hole of an idea that everyone my age was out for themselves, uninformed, "average" Americans who were content to go on neglecting their responsibilities to humanity. Granted it is because of my own small view of my part of the world I had begun to believe this. I am not the only one either, as many of our elders believe this about us as well. This project though really restored some of my faith in humanity and helped me see the direction in which I believe my generation can take it. 

            Because of you, our parents, grandparents, mentors, we have not only the want and the drive, but the tools to do what we believe is best for our world. All we ask now is that you let go of the bicycle. We know you are scared for us to go out without our training wheels for the first time, that you do not want us to fall, and we are scared too, but until you let us go we can never succeed and feel fulfillment. There is a want to be able to make decisions without the worry that you will disapprove or tell us you think it is wrong. We want your blessing, the ability to act without fear of being judged by those we look up to, even if you do not always agree. The time has come for us to go out into the world and make a difference, clean up messes, and become integral members of our society, one small piece at a time, and we do need your help and support, maybe not of the ideas we present, but at least of us as human beings. We are a new breed, and its time for us to test our new form of thought through action. Stop forcing upon us what was best for you and let us do what is best for us.

Print References                

Willingham, Daniel T. "Do Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners Need Visual, Auditory,  and Kinesthetic Instruction?" Reading Rockets. Washington Educational Telecommunications Authority, 30 May 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. <http://www.readingrockets.org/article/12446/>. 

Friel, Brian. "Translations." The Wadsworth Anthology of Drama. By William B. Worthen. 6th ed. Independence, KY: Heinle & Heinle, 2010. 945-70. Print.

Olivarez-Giles, Nathan. "SOPA Blackout: Protests Hits Streets of NYC, SF, Seattle, Las   Vegas - Latimes.com." Blogs - Latimes.com. Los Angeles Times, 18 Jan. 2012. Web.  26 Jan. 2012. <http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-blackout- protest-hits-the-streets-of-new-york-san-francisco.html>.