Do Not Compare Today's Generation with Yesterday's Generation

Writer: Samah Hussein

We often hear from teachers and parents phrases like: 'In our age, we could endure more', 'Our generation didn't complain', or 'We went through tougher circumstances and nothing happened to us'. These comparisons may stem from real experiences, but they do not mean that what was suitable for our generation necessarily applies to today's generation.

The new generation lives in a completely different time. A fast-paced world, full of information, competition, expectations, comparisons, and pressures that start at an early age. Today's child does not live the life we lived, nor do they face challenges in the same way we did. Therefore, it is unreasonable to demand that they be a copy of our generation.

Teachers, we need to pause and stop describing this generation as 'weaker' or 'less resilient'. Perhaps they are not weak, but rather need a different approach to engage with them. Generations change, their needs change, and methods of upbringing and education must change with them.

This does not mean we eliminate responsibility, or protect our children from every difficulty, or allow them to give up at the first challenge. On the contrary, we need to teach them patience, discipline, responsibility, and the ability to face failure. But there is a difference between teaching a child how to endure pressure and placing them under continuous pressure and then demanding that they be strong.

Excessive pressure does not necessarily create a more successful student. Sometimes it makes them afraid of making mistakes, hesitant to try, and lose their self-confidence. When the goal becomes pleasing the teacher or parent instead of learning, we have lost an important part of the meaning of education.

Let us also remember that our time was different. Life was simpler in many aspects, comparisons were limited, and children did not live under a continuous stream of information, images, and expectations. Today, however, a child carries an entire world into their room and school through a small screen.

Therefore, instead of telling our children: 'We endured more than you,' let us ask ourselves: What does this generation need to be able to endure its own time?

They may need a teacher who listens to them before judging them, guidance instead of reprimand, a chance to make mistakes and learn, and someone who believes in their ability even when they fail.

Teachers, we do not say to you to ease all difficulties for our children, but we say: Choose the challenges that build them, not those that break them. Education is not a race to prove who can endure more, but a journey in which we help our children gain strength, awareness, and confidence.

Let us leave the comparison between 'our generation' and 'their generation', because each generation has its own circumstances and challenges. Our task is not to make them live as we lived, but to help them prepare for the life they are living today.

The new generation does not need someone to tell them: 'Be like us', but rather someone to say: 'We understand your time, and we will help you be prepared for it.'