Much thanks to my friend Mike Lopez for forwarding this article my direction. Tim Elmore of GrowingLeader.com has written an informative article about the uniqueness of the up and coming generation.

Take a look.

From Growingleaders.com

History is full of people who’ve gone first, especially during the last century. There is something about being first that tugs at the human spirit, and pushes it forward.

  • Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk on the moon.
  • Howard Perry was the first black man to enlist in the Marines.
  • Second Lieutenant Kristin Bass was the first female F-16 fighter pilot.
  • Roger Bannister was the first person to run a mile in under four minutes.
  • Ann Bancroft was the first woman to reach the North Pole on foot
  • Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
  • Sergei Krikalev was the first cosmonaut to spend ten months in space.

Did you know you have some “firsts” on your campus as well? Your high school or college students are among a generation who’s the first to experience a number of realities. In fact, because they’re initiating these realities, they may present a challenge to your parents and teachers. Adults are grappling with how to raise this population of kids who grew up on-line, with a screen in their hands. The pixels and format of those screens have re-wired their brains: they think differently, react differently, communicate differently, and process information differently than adults. Some call them “screenagers.” Consider the following “firsts” they represent.

This is the First Generation of Youth Who:

1. Doesn’t need adults to get information.

Consider how this difference changes the role of an adult. Because information is everywhere, we are no longer brokers of data. They don’t need us for information, but for interpretation. We must help them make sense of all they know. Our job isn’t to enable them to access data, but to process data and form good decisions.