This past summer, Educational Pathways interviewed Susan Patrick, director, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education, about her views on the Millennials generation. Patrick explained how the Department of Education frequently meets with education market researchers and educators in an effort to develop our nation’s educational technology policies and plans. Part of this development process includes discovering the characteristics of the Millennials, whom, for Patrick and others, are those born between 1982-2000.

There are about 100 million of these young adults. In looking at Millennials in relation to our national education technology plans, Patrick says there are three major concerns:

1. The global economy.
2. The No Child Left Behind Act.
3. Millennials are a unique generation that are often misunderstood.

Perhaps the primary characteristic about the Milllennials is that they have come of age along with the Internet and they see both the virtual world and the physical world as equal (not separate) parts of their daily lives. In terms of education beliefs, Patrick says that some of the data shows that:

•  Millennials believe that education is important, with 96% saying that doing well in school is important in their  lives.
• 88% report that attending college is critical or very important to future success.
• They are interested in the world and the community, with 76% saying they would like to learn more about the world.
• 28% of high school students use a foreign news source to learn about current events.
• 70% report volunteering or participating in community serve.
• Millennials also have substantial purchasing power, adds Patrick. For example:
• In 2002, teens (ages 12-19) spent $180 million (mostly their parents’ money).
• Two out of three report influencing their parents’ buying decisions.

Because they are web savvy (when many of their parents are not), teenagers often become the designated online researchers for their parents who are in the market for automobiles, major appliances, where to go on vacation, and home electronics. "They are controlling decision-making in the home," says Patrick. "They influence everything, from where you go to dinner and what movie to go to. They are self-empowered. They are involved in how the dollars are spent in ways that we (older generations) never did. Now, think about what it’s like when they walk into a classroom."

Patrick asks if our schools are really ready for this generation. "How do we engage this generation to help them reach their full potential? How do we equip these students with the skill and knowledge to be competitive in a global information-based economy? . . . Think about the world that we work in. We are juggling all this information and having to be really critical thinkers and problems solvers. How do we use the media? What do we do with it? How do we analyze it? We need to be preparing our students who have access to all this information both inside and outside school. That is the big idea."

U.S. Department of Education: www.ed.gov