On July 1, 2019 the Millennial Generation became a majority in America. This stands to change the dynamics of the direction the country may take in navigating the future.
Unfortunately, Millennials are also a generation that is finding out that, in many cases, they are not better off than their parents. Living at home, student debt, the use of technology and social media and the disengagement from face to face communication is complicating their lives and that of the country.
As parents of the majority of children in school, the generation is increasingly confronted with revitalizing the focus on educational effectiveness. It happens that the schooling quality hit rock bottom with the COVID Pandemic at the same time that Millennials became a majority.
The educational challenge is severe and requires the best thinking and acting that they can offer. The young people of this generation need the best path toward self realization.
In its day, the youth-oriented Chicano Movement at high school and university student levels found themselves on the front lines of major education and other economic and cultural issues facing the community. The challenge to the educational system itself was a way of finding a new basis for understanding of self and questioning a world that seem to be blind and perhaps that did not care enough about the most important aspects of what made people who they are.
I remember the 1970s high school blowouts in Pueblo, Colorado, the demonstrations at school board meetings and the focused effort to establish a Chicano Studies program at what is now CSU-Pueblo. I remember the building of a university curriculum around the subject, creating culturally relevant activities and helping to lead 102 organizations in Southern Colorado in constructing the infrastructure for a fitting Cinco de Mayo celebration among other things.
For Chicano students, the popular subjects were mostly in the Social Sciences as these young men and women found that they had important questions about their own makeup. Being of Mexican descent in an American landscape, not included in an affirming way in that history, losing the lan- guage of their forefathers, finding themselves in between two strong cultures and being punished for not belonging to either was the burden that led to a sometimes violent effort to find what they needed to know.
The struggle against educational institutions on the part of a post-World War II Latino community found an echo in America caused by a loss of faith in government as a result of Watergate and the Vietnam War. At this juncture, Chicano youth found themselves in the middle of a general revolt against the country’s institutions that led to more responsiveness in dealing with the educational needs of their community.
Unfortunately, the post-Vietnam educational scene went into decadence as the children of the Boomer Generation grew up, graduated and left school. The resulting lack of interest and support, especially for K-12 education, has dealt a heavy blow to that institution and one that is a long way from recovery.
Given the current reality, it seems that we need to start again from the bottom. Our educational sector is a challenge to the community in ways that defy common and traditional solutions. We can meet those challenges, but need the most interested party at the table. The Millennial Generation is our new leader and is expected to organize the search for a more appropriate quality education for our 21st Century children.
Leadership is in their hands. We look forward to creative solutions to complex problems.
The views expressed by David conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
