Generation Gap
Are all generation gaps this large? Or does the looming Internet-related generation gap just seem particularly huge because I am now old?
From the Los Angeles Times:
Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference between a person LOLing and crying -- but I am definitely weeping. The cause for my earth-shattering depression is an April 25 Pew Research Center study that polled 12- to 17-year-olds on their attitudes about writing. A heart-stopping 38% said they let chat-speak -- such as LOL (for "laughing out loud"), ROFL ("rolling on the floor laughing"), BRB ("be right back"), TTYL ("talk to ya later") -- slip into essays and homework.
I propose a new chat term: KMN. "Kill me now."
I'm an occasional tutor in San Francisco public schools with 826 Valencia, a writing-based community outreach program, and I have seen some linguistic horrors in the trenches. I've been asked how to spell "here" and "one" by high school seniors and seen more your/you're, there/their, to/too mix-ups than a homophone workbook. But at least those students were using actual words. I dread my first encounter with text-speak, but I know it's coming: "Marcel Marceau lived in France and totally brought the LOLz." Even more gut-tossing is the fact that 25% of teens in the Pew study have used emoticons on tests, homework and essays. Oh, imagine the history papers: "When President Abe Lincoln was gatted, the whole country was =(, even though some in the South must have been =P."
KMN, KMN, KMN.
Link
There's obviously no direct PA tie-in for this story. Except that more and more I feel like there's a huge generation gap within the PA profession. There is a dramatic difference between veteran PAs and relatively new PAs, and I think one of the main differences is in the way they view the profession.
Older PAs seem to understand that the PA profession is relatively new, unique and still pretty fragile. They have a very strong identity as PAs and feel more of a responsibility to be involved in the profession.
Most new PAs just don't seem to feel the same way.
Maybe I'm wrong about this. Or maybe I'm just a cranky old guy. Or maybe both.