The Entitled Generation
Helping Teachers Teach and Reach the Minds and Hearts of Generation Z
By (author) Ernest J. Zarra
Publication date:
04 May 2017Length of book:
146 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersDimensions:
240x159mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9781475831917
The Entitled Generation: Helping Teachers Teach and Reach the Minds and Hearts of Generation Zbrings teachers into the twenty-first century world of 24-7 technologically-wired up and social media-driven students. This book asks teachers to consider pragmatic and sensible ways to teach Gen Z and to understand the differences between today’s students and those of the past. Teachers are offered keen insights by colleagues, in terms of how Gen Z thinks, the various ways that males and females learn, and the distractions and struggles each faces by device addiction affecting today’s classrooms. American culture is perpetuating the notion that today’s students are entitled to economic and social outcomes on equal bases. Gen Z “feels” everyone should be treated as equals, receiving the same rewards for unequal efforts, thus promoting a feeling of entitlement. Teachers will understand the reality of today's American classrooms. Even with the assumed addiction to smart technology and social media, teachers can use this to their advantage and reach the minds and hearts of Gen Z to prepare them for their futures.
In this well-documented and sobering book, Ernest Zarra examines the staggering challenges of educating America's Generation Z: a generation of students increasingly addicted to technology, disoriented and distracted by social media, consumed and often manipulated in its craving for instant gratification, and taught to believe that its feelings are the prime determinant of truth. Zarra cites disturbing evidence that the developing brains of Generation Z are becoming “hard-wired” in ways detrimental to traditional learning. He unabashedly criticizes those—such as overbearing “bulldozer parents”—who are making matters worse. But there is hope. As an experienced California educator, he offers practical measures that teachers and parents can take to cope with the technology-driven emotionalism, impulsivity, and educational faddism that are ensnaring and threatening to shortchange an entire generation of American youth. Dr. Zarra has written a necessary and provocative book that parents, teachers, and educational administrators should ponder.