About the cover: This photograph, hanging in Centennial Hall, captures a progression of Marksmen, representing each grade from first through twelfth, standing in a line symbolizing growth and maturity.
Photo Courtesy Marksman ‘63
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF: ARJUN POI & JOSEPH SUN MANAGING EDITOR: JOSHUA GOFORTH
WRITERS: CHRISTIAN WARNER, KEVIN HO, DOAN NGUYEN, KAYDEN ZHONG, ROHAN KAKKAR, WILLIAM KOZOMAN, DIEGO ARMENDARIZ, HOLDEN PURVIS, SHIV BHANDARI, EMILIANO MAYO, KIRAN PARIKH, MARSHALL SUDBURY, CHRISTOPHER HUANG, NICHOLAS HUANG, SAM MORSE
ADVISER: JENNY DIAL CREECH
CONTENTS
STAYING TRENDY
From handlebar mustaches to mullets, hair and fashion are always evolving.
VINYL TO VIRAL
‘Boz’ Scaggs. Steve Miller. St. Mark’s has seen legends — and the soundtrack keeps changing.
LEISURE
Due to technology, countless old pastimes have quietly faded away.
A DIGITIZED LIFE
Senior Matthew Freeman and his dad, Michael Freeman ’91, reflect on technology’s impact.
THE MEASURE OF A MARKSMAN
As technology has advanced, so have teaching methods and the classroom experience.
NO LAUGHING MATTER
Bruises have been replaced by hurtful words — teachers now face a new kind of challenge.
A SOFTER GENERATION?
Each generation faces its own battles — some say softer, others say just different.
ROSE-TINTED GLASSES
Times have changed — whether for better or worse.
PASSING THE TIME
As entertainment becomes easier, it often distracts from true ambitions and goals.
A GENERATIONAL DEBT
Today’s generation navigates the environmental and financial burdens left by the past.
FROM BOOMERS TO GEN Z
Each generation is unique, yet labeled in ways that may not capture their true essence.
YEARS PAST
A nostalgic conversation between sophomore Sam Morse and his grandpa, Hugh King.
Left: Campus in 1963, with students walking by and Wirt Davis Hall in the background.
Photo Courtesy Marksman ‘63
28 26 22 20 18 15 12 10 8 6
Focus, a magazine supplement to The ReMarker covering a single topic, is a student publication of St. Mark’s School of Texas, 10600 Preston Road, Dallas, Texas, 75230. AI Usage Disclosure: Images in this document were created with assistance from AI tools. This content has been reviewed and edited by Focus editors.
Generations consist of people born and living around the same time, who often share similar historical experiences and cultural and technological influences. To understand the unique traits and values of each generation, we started by looking back.
, we explore the evolution of fashion, music and other forms of expression that have defined each generation’s identity and life experiences. The recent resurgence of the perm and mullet hairstyles. The grip that arcade games had over everyone in the 80s. The impact of music streaming platforms on how we discover and consume music. In examining these differences, we look for the similarities and differences between generations.
, we look at how the school has evolved over the last few generations. Here, time slows down. With alumni who graduated decades ago and students reliving the same experiences and traditions through a new lens, an overlap between generations is created.
, we ask if our generation is equipped to handle the issues it faces today that no generation has encountered before. Issues like climate change and the social media-fueled mental health crisis. Is today’s Albert Einstein spending hours a day scrolling on Instagram Reels, curbing his potential? As you scroll through this magazine, we hope you learn what makes each generation unique while still seeing the values that connect us-
-more than we think.
ARJUN POI JOSEPH SUN editors-in-chief
Pop culture, technology, and our day-to-day lives have changed significantly over the years, with each generation leaving its mark on the way we live.
Section One
staying trendy
Each decade has had its fair share of fashion trends. The 70s had tie dye shirts. The 80s had leather jackets. The 2010s had the Bieber swoop. Science instructor Dr. Jonathan Moody discusses the ways in which fashion trends have evolved in his lifetime.
BY JOSEPH SUN, SHIV BANDHARI AND MARSHALL SUDBURY
Over the years, fashion has transformed itself, replacing countless cornerstones of older fashion with the trendy, stylish outfits of today.
Despite the evolution of dress over the years, some icons of the 80s still remain in the current culture––most noticeably, the classic mullet.
A staple of the 80s, the famous haircut was popularized by rockstars, celebrities
and athletes for its business in the front, party in the back appearance.
Nowadays, the mullet is now replaced by shorter, more professional looks, but for freshman Jake Pinnell, with inspiration from his dad, the haircut is still his go-to look.
“My dad gave me $20 to get my first mullet because I wanted a buzz cut. Summer going into 4th grade, that was my first ever mullet,” Pinnell said. “But you
have to have a certain type of diamond face shape because it really pops out at certain angles.”
Pinnell doesn’t just see the mullet as a haircut; to him, it’s a symbol of American freedom. The style first came from the counterculture of the 1960s, when various groups started to rebel against traditional social constructs.
“Post World War II, in the 50s and 60s, everyone had short hair and wore suits,
and everyone conformed to the system,” Pinnell said. “What grew out of that was a rebellion of styles that were very unique, like with hippies and counterculture, for example, and that evolved into the mullet.”
The mullet quickly grew from a counterculture phenomenon to a mainstream staple over the 1970s and 80s. Billy Ray Cyrus, Patrick Swayze and Andre Agassi were among the most famous stars who brought the mullet to the public, creating a craze behind the hairstyle.
“You see a lot of great icons with mul-
lets throughout the years, like John Daly, who was a free man… that did what he wanted,” Pinnell said.
However, the mullet’s popularity began to fade as newer looks, such as frosted tips and shorter hair, became more popular in the early 2000s and 2010s. But in recent years, the haircut has seen a resurgence in a new form. Celebrities, influencers and the low-effort look of the mullet all worked together to create a new rendition of the classic cut.
“There’s a key difference between the modern mullet and the traditional
70s, 80s mullets. The older mullets were very unkept, very long in the back, often curly… very messy,” Pinnell said. “Whereas the modern mullet is a lot shorter, buzzed on the sides. It’s got more of a clean look to it.”
Although the mullet’s popularity has generally faded along with 1980s fashion, Pinnell isn’t worried if it seems out of style or outdated.
“I think if you take out any decade and look at it individually, it’s going to look weird. A lot of the modern styles today are super weird,” Pinnell said. “Every generation of parents say that ‘your styles are weird,’ but you’ve got to understand that it all weaves together and what’s going to be cool at any time is what’s pushing the boundaries.”
And although the school encourages students to express themselves, there are certain guidelines that boys must follow when it comes to their hairstyle. Science Instructor Dr. Jonathan Moody is no stranger to unconventional haircuts in his classroom, and he emphasizes the importance of maintaining a regulation haircut while in school.
“If your hair is long enough that you need to tie it back to safely complete a lab, maybe it’s time to get it cut,” Moody said. “I get that it’s the shaggy, going-everywhere look that a lot of guys are looking for, but I would be aware of the rules—they’re there for a reason. Once you grow up, you can be as crazy and unkempt as you want, but I’m a big fan of getting a haircut every once in a while.”
For Moody, the practicality of his outfits is more important than their glamour, choosing to prioritize function over form.
Freshman Jake Pinnell
“When I first started teaching, I wore a collared shirt and a tie every day,” Moody said. “But I found myself taking off my tie during labs, and I gradually stopped wearing it because I was just more comfortable. Now, I wear hiking boots, a hiking shirt and hiking pants every day because they’re waterproof and comfortable, so if I need to walk around campus to blow off some steam, it’s a comfortable experience.”
Different outfits and haircuts are appealing to different people. A popular style now may be extinct in a month, or it may last a decade; there’s no telling. Every now and then, a blast from the past may offer a refreshing break from the conformity of modern-day fashion.
Jacob Jurlina ‘05 poses after winning the best dressed award (Left). Junior Alex Hochman models fashionable McDonald’s Week 2024 merchandise (Middle). Three seniors from the class of 1984 show off their arms by flexing and wearing muscle shirts in the gym (Right).
Photo Courtesy Marksman ‘05 (Left), Sebastian Gonzalez (Middle) and Marksman ‘84 (Right)
wears a traditional mullet cut, a hairstyle trend that is resurging into popularity after first rising to fame in the 80s.
Photo Courtesy Jake Pinnell
vinyl to viral
The music industry has changed — old tracks and vinyl replaced with Spotify and other music streaming services.
BY KAYDEN ZHONG AND KIRAN PARIKH
The Beatles’ Apple Scruffs, the Grateful Dead’s Deadheads and the KISS Army. Gary Numan’s Numanoids, Morrissey’s Apostles, Insane Clown Posse’s Juggalos, Lady Gaga’s Lit-
tle Monsters and One Direction’s Directioners. Today’s Swifties and BTS ARMY.
Music has always been a central part of life and culture all over the world. It’s served as the cultural backbone upon which many individuals, groups and societies have built their identities.
As the years go by, once fresh and trendy songs become classics, artists come into and fall out of the limelight and popular genres shift—even the mediums by which people listen to music become obsolete and are replaced with new, more
convenient methods.
But today, in the era where every song is just a tap away, the value of music may be lost on younger generations.
Bennett Vig ‘98, a longtime music listener and lover, sees both sides of the streaming revolution—and he’s not shy about what’s been lost.
“In the old days, if you bought an album, you sat and you played it—all 10 or 12 songs that were on the album. While you were listening to it, you might read the album notes, learn who wrote the
Old fashioned turn table and reel to reel track tape player (Top Left) . Student manning the old, on campus radio, KRSM (Top Right). Steve Miller ‘61 concert, featuring Tim Mank and Rhett Miller ‘89, during cennential activities, April 2007 (Bottom Left). Vinyl records stacked on a shelf (Middle Right). Steve Miller’s album, Fly Like An Eagle playing on the turn table (Bottom Right)
Photo by Josh Goforth (Top Left, Middle Right and Bottom Right), ‘08 Marksman (Bottom Left) and ‘84 Marksman (Top Right)
songs and who played them,” Vig said. “That knowledge base—really understanding the artist and what went into the music—has gotten a lot smaller.”
For Vig, physically buying and playing a record made choosing music more intentional. There was effort and a certain deliberateness involved—both in choosing music and in savoring it.
That being said, Vig acknowledges the advantages of the modern streaming system.
“If I heard a Rolling Stones song on
the radio as a kid and wanted to listen to it more, I might buy one album. But I wasn’t going to buy every Rolling Stones album—that’s a lot of money,” Vig said. “You don’t always get to know the artist as well, but you have access to more music than ever—quickly and cheaply.”
The road to success in the music industry has also changed with new media being introduced. In the past and even today, success often depended on corporate radio and big labels. However, today, an unknown artist can upload a track, go
viral on social media, and become a big name overnight.
Vig recalled the story of country legend Loretta Lynn.
“She put it out on a single and she and her husband drove across the country, stopping off at little radio stations all across America, stopping at small radio stations to get her song played,” Vig said. “That’s how she got her stardom—before she ever had a big record label deal.”
While that kind of grassroots hustle still exists in different forms, platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Spotify now offer faster, wider exposure.
But the music business, he says, has become more corporate overall. That, combined with the pressures of the algorithm, may be hurting creativity. Artists are releasing fewer full albums and taking fewer risks.
As for the role music once played in daily life, he wonders if it still holds the same weight.
“Music used to have a bigger role. You went to a party and you remembered a certain song, how it made you feel. It marked time in your life,” he said. “I don’t know if kids today still feel the same way.”
On a different note, many feel music today has lost true storytelling with a deeper message, diminishing to lyrics written to get views rather than arguing a social point. This is a sentiment that Vig echoes. “I think it’s diminished,” he said. “It’s incredibly difficult to write a hit song, let alone one that’s both good and has a strong social message. It’s not like the ‘60s and ‘70s, when you had music against the Vietnam War. I’m sure those songs exist today, but they don’t seem to make the same kind of impact.”
For Vig and his son, junior Hank Vig, music has been more than background noise. It’s been a shared language. Yacht rock on summer vacations, ‘70s soft rock on long road trips, and classic country singers from decades past have all become staples in the Vig family soundtrack.
That connection didn’t happen overnight, but exploring older music became a way of bonding with his dad—and of understanding a different kind of artistry that doesn’t always come through in modern hits.
“When I first started listening to music, I actually didn’t like the stuff my parents played in the car. I was like ‘Well, my friends aren’t listening to this, so why should I?’” Hank Vig said. “But at the end of the day, good music is good music.”
While the world around us continues to evolve at a dizzying pace, what remains timeless is the human desire to slow down and find joy in simple moments of fun.
As people age, their perception of the past often feels warm and sentimental, and they yearn to go back to those parts of their lives. For this reason, many lean on past times and perennial traditions that continue to satisfy this feeling of nostalgia.
For admissions officer and alum Korey Mack ‘00, he still reflects upon the traditions that made up his childhood at the school.
“Technology is much more ubiquitous in the St. Mark’s experience than it was being a student here in the 80s and early 90s. Back then, there were only one or two computers in each class,” Mack said. “If you finished (your work), you could go and play Math Blaster! or Oregon Trail. Those were the two games you could play.”
Although St. Mark’s has changed, Mack believes that many core parts of older traditions are still at the heart of modern ones.
“There are ways that a tradition manifests itself now that are slightly different than it would have been 30 years ago, that’s just part of doing it,” Mack said.
For history instructor Dr. Bruce Westrate, a retreat to his origins always serves as an annual tradition for him.
“I go between Texas and Michigan every year,” said Westrate. “And do it for Christmas time, which is important to me, because my family and friends are around. Then I go back in the summer as well.”
Westrate’s trips to Michigan not only allow for reunions with family and friends, but also allow him to reflect upon his past, specifically his childhood. Growing up in a small town, his experience was unique. Everyone knew each other, and daily life was dramatically different from his modern lifestyle.
“I have a beautiful old farmhouse out in the middle of cornfields,” said Westrate. “It’s a beautiful place, and it brings me closer to when I was a kid. I was a farm kid, and I worked on a Christmas tree farm. That’s how I grew up, working on
farms, and so that’s one of the reasons I like to go back.”
Delving deeper into his childhood, the act of tree farming shines a light on key figures in his life, in particular, his father. While Westrate has lived a great part of his life without his father, the very act of returning to Michigan year after year reinforces the memories he built with him as a kid. Tree farming was at the core of their relationship.
“As far as traditions are concerned, the tree farm was my life,” said Westrate. “My whole year was shaped by the work I had to do. I worked all the time with my father, and he and I got very close.”
Westrate’s connection to his roots is so strong that he is considering returning to his home state of Michigan once he retires.
“It provides continuity and renewal and a little bit of regret when you think of the day when you won’t be able to do it anymore,” said Westrate. “I’m doing reasonably well at 72, but I know that the day is coming when I’m gonna have to make a choice between here and there. But that’s the uncertainty of it, and I enjoy it as long as I can, you know.”
The main reason for Westrate’s visits to Michigan every year is his strong belief in tradition. The world is constantly growing and changing. Technology, the youth, the exponential change in the world. His visit gives him time away from the chaos of the world, but it also reaffirms traditions in other aspects of his life.
“I think that I’m a very traditional guy,” said Westrate. “And tradition relies a great deal on sentiment. And I’m a very sentimental man. I’m probably the most sentimental man you’ll ever meet. And so I guess this is why I’m of such a conservative disposition. It’s very important to me. National traditions are important to me. Religious traditions are important to me. The very act of traditions, like my travel to Michigan, is important to me.”
BY TEJAS ALLADA AND MARSHALL SUDBURY
leisure
One of the many traditions that have held true through the changing student experience is the annual Freshman Pecos trip. Students and faculty talking around a table with sodas at the Senior Retreat. Two students playing old video games.
Of all the advancements over the decades, technology stands out the most, challenging students and teachers to adapt in new ways.
BY ARJUN POI AND JOSEPH SUN
Middle schoolers use Meta Quest 2 VR headsets to take virtual trips to the Western Wall in Jerusalem and look at ancient cave paintings in France. Parents text their children, asking them what time they need to be picked up. Seniors play Wii and Xbox video games in the senior lounge.
According to NPR, 53 percent of children in the United States owned a phone by the time they were 11. A 2023 study revealed that 97 percent of teenagers aged 15-17 had access to a smartphone at home.
Technology that didn’t exist a few decades ago is now ingrained into our daily lives.
Senior Matthew Freeman and his father, Michael Freeman ‘91, had vastly different experiences growing up in Dallas, largely due to the impact of technology on each of their lives.
“I’ve used technology, I guess my whole life,” Matthew Freeman said. “Probably the biggest difference is how I spend my free time from how he used to. The addition of video games, that’s a lot different.”
During the 80s and 90s, as new tech-
nology such as computers and arcades started to emerge, Michael Freeman still found his free hours filled with sports.
“Most of the time I was playing basketball, golf, baseball or going to the pool,” Michael Freeman said. “By the time I was in high school and computers started getting more powerful. People started using computers for games, which wasn’t my thing. In terms of doing things for fun, none of it included technology, except for maybe listening to music.
Michael Freeman recalls having an early Atari gaming system with two games that he would have to connect to
the TV. Now, these gaming systems have advanced to 4K television screens and gaming consoles, partially replacing friends and family time with virtual entertainment.
“Interacting with friends, unless we’re in person, was just on the regular old-fashioned telephone,” Michael Freeman said. “I did write letters, but certainly not in lieu of sending an email or text or anything like that. It was either in person or over the phone.”
A shift from physical to digital occurred not just in leisure activities but also at school.
“Everything’s digitally submitted now,” Matthew Freeman said. “I think that’s a big difference. I mean, pretty much all of my homework is on the computer. One impact is research, because
“I’ve used technology, I guess my whole life. Probably the biggest difference is how I spend my free time from how he used to. The addition of video games, that’s a lot different.”
Senior Matthew Freeman
Student typing away at a desktop computer merged with the modern equivilent in the library (Left). Fourth graders working on computer program assigments. (Top Right). Former Director of Computer Services John Stutsman stands by the schools server (Bottom Right). Photos Courtesy and ‘84 Marksman (Left) and ‘01 Marksman (Top, Bottom Right)
we can just Google stuff instead of grinding away in the library.”
Michael Freeman’s time at St. Mark’s coincided with the dawn of educational technology, where students witnessed the first wave of digital tools entering the environment.
“I got my first computer probably in eighth grade,” Michael Freeman said. “It was actually a requirement at St Mark’s and everybody had to have an Apple IIe. It was an early Apple computer that we had to have to do papers on.”
Yet despite the dramatic changes from 30 years ago, there are still fundamental aspects that remain constant.
“I think the workloads have not changed, it’s just the way we submit assignments,” Matthew Freeman said.
While school routines may be
similar, the role of technology outside of school has drastically changed.
“My parents know where I am 24/7,” Matthew Freeman said. “His parents never knew where he was because there was no tracking. My parents can see how fast I’m going. They can see where I am, where I’m supposed to be, and where I’m not supposed to be.
Michael Freeman believes parental tracking apps like Life360 should not be used as a way to micromanage teenagers’ lives. Life360 is a tool that allows family members to share their real-time location, driving speed, and location history.
“We use Life360 not so much to look over our kids’ shoulders, but to know where they are if it’s getting to be a certain time,” Micheal Freeman said. “People use it differently. We basically just use it to make sure at certain times of the day, we know where people are. Texting is another easy way to check in throughout the day, on the weekends, or on Friday nights to know where everybody is. We’re certainly more in touch with our kids than my parents were with me just because the technology didn’t exist for these quick touch-ins.”
Michael Freeman believes that the advent of smartphones and other forms of technology has allowed for increased simple communication and ensures safety, especially in the city of Dallas.
“Dallas is easily three times the size city that it was when I was growing up, so you just didn’t think about or worry about some of the same things you do now,” Michael Freeman said.
Overall, however, Michael Freeman believes that technology hampers close connections between people.
“The positive things are convenience and enhanced communication,” Michael Freeman said. It’s good for the easy type of communication. It enables people to not have the same kind of more meaningful communications you used to have to have.”
The new and past generations, despite their contrasting experiences, have at least this in common—our school. Here, time stands still, and an overlap between generations is created.
Section Two
the measure
of a marksman
From smartboards to smartphones, shifting schedules to shifting values, technology has reshaped education — but here, the mission remains the same: building character and leadership.
BY AKASH MANICKAM AND HOLDEN PURVIS
The average classroom at this school looks very different than it did 20 years ago.
Some fixtures remain: textbooks lining the shelves, desks facing the
front, decorations on the walls. But a closer look reveals important changes. Students check their homework assignments on Blackbaud. Teachers write on Microsoft
Surface tablets, projecting their notes for the class to see. Test-takers type away on their laptops, working through anti-AI software like Digiexam.
In short, technology has completely transformed the way teachers educate and students learn.
And beyond the classroom, education as a whole, with all its nuances, challenges and opportunities, is a completely different field.
Eugene McDermott Headmaster David Dini recognizes the immediate and long-term challenges of exponentially advancing technology, and he believes that smartphone technology will only add to the various complications of school-age children’s lives. He believes the generational gap will only grow as more aspects of life go online.
“The advances in technology have certainly added complexity to our daily lives,” Dini said, “and in some ways widened generational divides, particularly related to methods of communication and social media. The speed of communication and the increase of depersonalized communication through electronic means have brought about many unanticipated outcomes. As digital natives with extensive exposure to social media and growing artificial intelligence, there is an increasing gap in the understanding between young people and those who grew up before the advent of such technology.”
Regardless of the challenges, Victor F. White English Master Teaching Chair Dr. GayMarie Vaughan believes the school community is ready both to accept and explore new developments in technology.
“I think teachers here tend to be very growth-minded. Most of us welcome technology that’s going to make our kids more ready for the world they’re going to face,” Vaughan said. “We have to embrace the technologies, because we end up using them all the time.”
Another development emblematic of modern times is the rise in school violence. With recent increases in school shootings, the school is responsible both for protecting its students and providing education and
training about the grave reality of potential threats.
“Major school shootings made us much more aware of the need for safety and protocols for safety that I think have become just part of the school day,” Vaughan said. “I think as educators, we are collectively disheartened that we have to teach kids how to prepare for disasters like that. I just think it’s something that we have to do because of the time we live in.”
According to Everytown Research & Policy, 28 accounts of gunfire on school campuses have occurred so far in 2025. Despite the sobering circumstances, Dini maintains confidence in the school’s ability to detect and neutralize potential incidents.
“St. Mark’s places value on maintaining a safe and secure campus,” Dini said. “The school’s security team includes many retired Dallas Police Officers who also served on Dallas SWAT. The professionalism of St. Mark’s security team alongside the integration of consistent training and extensive safety technology across the campus remains a foremost priority.”
With increasing levels of awareness for mental health, the school has brought in numerous resources for student welfare, such as the St. Mark’s Wellness Center, which coordinates with the school’s clinic and athletic trainers to support Marksmen’s physical and mental health.
In addition to more largescale changes, one product of the focus on mental well-being is that the school day today is unrecognizable from a decade ago. The 2020-2021 school year saw a major shift in the organization of the school’s schedule. With the switch to an eight-day rotation with classes moving throughout the school day, the structure of days and weeks changed dramatically.
“(The new schedule) had four major goals,” Dini said. “Sustain strength and quality of current programs, enhance student health and well-being, improve alignment and collaboration opportunities across campus, and
increase flexibility to better accommodate current and future programs.”
“The mission and focus of the school is to prepare boys and young men for a life of thriving well beyond college, so that they are prepared to be good leaders, husbands, fathers, citizens.”
Headmaster David Dini
Part of the initiative to increase students’ sense of belonging is the school’s commitment to diversity. The Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Council (IDLC) coordinates student-led efforts to foster a welcoming community at the school.
“IDLC and student leadership provide resources, programs, and activities to constructively engage members of the whole community, to underpin shared institutional values and to create an environment where everyone can learn from others, including values of respect, compassion, generosity, and kindness,” Dini said.
In the classroom, teachers are working to balance person-
al touches with higher education’s requirements. Over time, the College Board has become increasingly rigid in their expectations for the material teachers should teach in preparation for AP exams. In contrast, the school gives teachers more freedom and flexibility to educate in their own unique styles.
“We feel like our curriculum is robust enough that we can teach the skills that you need to do well on that test and not teach to a test,” Vaughan said. “We don’t really do that, which I think is liberating as a teacher, because I would just feel like a trained robot if I had to do what the College Board said.”
As college admissions become increasingly competitive, Vaughan believes many students have shifted their ap-
proach to upper school – seeing it more as a means to get into a top university.
“I think it’s gotten harder to get into college, and so as a result, I think that some kids look at their educational experience as being very transactional,” Vaughan said. “It just becomes like a matrix that they’re trying to live out.”
Vaughan, however, pushes back against that mindset, emphasizing the importance of fostering a deeper connection between teachers and students rather than checking off boxes for college admissions.
“We don’t like to think of education as being transactional with our students. I think of it as being more relational with my students,” Vaughan said.
That philosophy aligns with the school’s broader mission, one that prioritizes lasting character development over academic milestones.
“While it is important to support every boy’s aspirations related to college admission, gaining admission to highly selective colleges is not the school’s principal goal,” Dini said. “Rather, the mission and focus of the school is to prepare boys and young men for a life of thriving well beyond college, so that they are prepared to be good leaders, husbands, fathers, citizens.”
community that our most important priority is not what our students achieve, but the kind of young men they become – men of strong character, substance, and purpose.”
Vaughan believes that while grades and test scores can be easily quantified, character is immeasurable. While certain qualities cannot be measured with numbers, they are the most defining metrics of a person.
“There’s not a category for college applications of ‘Am I a decent human being?’,” Vaughan said. “I think, fundamentally, what we try to do around here is teach you guys first to be good human beings and then be equipped intellectually to excel at the next level, and I think we do a good job of that.”
Vaughan emphasizes that it’s not the college that defines one’s education, but rather the individual student who defines themselves through their usage of the opportunities they are offered.
“I think that it really doesn’t matter where you go to school, it matters what you do when you get there,” Vaughan said. “What do you do with the education you’ve been given?”
Students learning in an
The school’s purpose has remained constant, but developments and changes have taken place in recent years regarding character and leadership education through all denominations of the school. This focus on character has taken many forms, especially through direct opportunities such as English 10 with its emphasis on the themes of virtues and manhood and the Lower School’s annual Leadership Wall tradition.
“From the classroom and playing fields to advisory, assemblies, Chapel, and much more,” Dini said, “there has been a concerted effort to increase the emphasis and importance of character and leadership on every corner of the campus, continually reminding everyone in the
Even though different generations encounter different problems, Dini believes the strength of the school’s community extends beyond superficial barriers, especially in terms of the bonds between upperclassmen and younger students.
“One of the things that makes teachers most proud is seeing older Marksmen take responsibility, care for, and model the habits of strong character with younger boys,” Dini said. “The Path to Manhood statue exemplifies and is a tangible expression of the School’s fundamental goal and value, which is Marksmen caring for other Marksmen and learning what leadership, responsibility, character, courage, and honor really mean and how those qualities can be developed and cultivated, day in and day out.”
old classroom, with a blackboard and chalk (Top). Teachers using tube TVs to teach (Middle Left, Middle Right). Students working the library (Bottom Left).
Photos Courtesy ‘86 Marksman (Top, Middle Right and Bottom Left) and ‘98 Marksman (Middle Left)
no laughing matter
As times change and technology evolves, bullying within and outside of St. Mark’s has shifted from traditional physical acts to online attacks, leaving educators to confront new challenges.
BY EMILIANO MAYO AND DIEGO ARMENDARIZ
A victim of cyberbullying, stylized as a character in a screen being picked up and dragged by a cursor.
Illustration by Josh Goforth
Gone are the days of stereotypical 80s bullying. Students today are rarely pushed into lockers, punched for their lunch money or given wedgies and swirlies.
But that doesn’t mean children have stopped getting bullied. According to a study by the Department of Education, 19 percent of students aged 12-18 reported being bullied during school in 2022.
As both a Chemistry teacher and alumnus, Kenneth Owens ‘89 appreciates the progress the school has made in its bullying prevention and awareness programs.
“Back when I was a student, there wasn’t really a policy for bullying, unless it got bad enough that the administration had to respond,” Owens said, “There was no real consciousness of it. There was no bullying program. There was no anti-bullying education. It was not something the school addressed directly, and that was not unusual for the time.”
The lack of bullying education present during his time at school proved to be an occasional issue.
“We had one student in my class who was bullied enough that in the eighth grade, the head of Upper School, Mr. Kohler, asked him to leave a class meeting and told the class to lay off,” Owens said.
The fact that it was so rare for administrators to directly push back against bullying caused it to be more commonplace back then than it is today. While Owens himself never felt that he was bullied when he attended the school, he recalls provocative language occasionally being
hurled his way. However, he distinguishes between behaving rudely and bullying.
“Bullying is not just one guy being strong and pushing everybody around,” Owens said. “Bullying is specifically finding a target and going at him.”
Owens believes bullying became less of an issue within his grade as he entered Upper School. As class maturity increased, there became less of a reason for bullying to occur in the first place.
“People grew up and realized they didn’t need to do it,” Owens said. “Some bullying still happened. As you grow up, the need to assert yourself at other people’s expense for a lot of people diminishes.”
Computer Science Teacher and Coordinator for Instructional Technology Kendall Murphy has worked at St. Mark’s for the last 10 years. In the last decade, Murphy has witnessed the rise of social media, along with its heavy impact on bullying.
“When it comes to cyber bullying, it’s more of an emotional bullying, and that’s sort of what we’re seeing happening now,” Murphy said. “The introduction of Facebook and Instagram really increased the amount of bullying because people felt safer behind a screen.”
Murphy believes that when students cyberbully others, most of their insults come off with greater strength and rudeness because they believe they won’t face repercussions.
“Let’s say you go and you’re bullying someone and you punch them in the face: You have the risk of being punched back in the face,” Murphy said. “But if you’re
cyber-bullying someone, you’re behind an invisible shield, and so that gets people a lot to pick on others.”
Social media plays a huge factor in both cyber-bullying and kids comparing themselves to impossible standards. Murphy believes that this comparison is a form of self-bullying that doesn’t involve an attacker.
“I think a big part of that is also because the things that we post on Facebook and Instagram are Facebook and Instagram-ready-made,” Murphy said. “We’re not posting, ‘Hey, I had a really hard day at school today.’”
Since most people are constantly posting their lives and activities on social media such as Instagram or Snapchat, those who are trying to bully have the option to attack with more personal insults.
“We know so much about each other from social media that we can attack even stronger,” Murphy said. “We post everything on social media, which causes people to know what’s going on in that person’s life at all times.”
Murphy stressed that the biggest issue with cyberbullying is that it becomes increasingly difficult for adults to understand this new challenge. Since most of the bullying happens online, almost no one can notice if a kid is being harassed through their screen.
“If you’re being cyberbullied, I think the most important thing and the quickest reaction needs to absolutely be to tell an adult,” Murphy said. “It is truly scary to me to think about a kid on social media getting bullied and never telling anyone and just falling apart inside.”
a softer generation?
As new traditions emerge and new buildings arise, students continue to navigate an adapting yet grounded school culture.
BY ARJUN POI AND KEVIN HO
Buildings are torn down and replaced with newer facilities. Students cycle in and out of campus every 12 years. Teachers and headmasters lead students for years before eventually retiring.
While some traditions fade, others live on.
Each year, seniors carry their Lower School buddies on their shoulders to decorate the Christmas tree during the All-School Christmas Party.
Ninth graders have braved the Pecos Wilderness Trip for more than 50 years. Students wear the same white Oxford shirts and gray shorts as students before them did years ago. As rules, traditions and rivalries evolve, so too does the school’s social culture.
As an alumnus who now teaches the same subjects he once studied as an Upper School student, Chemistry Instructor Ken Owens ‘89 believes that the most profound evolution of social culture at the school lies in the ways in which students now forge connections across different class years.
“I would say the biggest shift would be the friendships between people in different classes,” Owens said. “When I was here, I knew the people in my class, but I knew very few people above and below outside my class. And maybe that was just me, but it was my perception that you were friends with the people you went to school with, but you didn’t necessarily know people above or below.”
In his eyes, this isolated social landscape, which he felt once kept different class years siloed and
disconnected from each other, has given way to more intentional community-building efforts that have successfully fostered stronger bonds between Marksmen on campus.
And now, with mentorship programs like the Senior Buddy program, Telos Leadership groups, and organized initiatives including Inclusion and Diversity Leadership Council(IDLC) round table discussions aiming to foster the camaraderie that defines the school’s culture, Owens believes that these bridging mechanisms — now fully embedded in campus life — have broken down the traditional barriers between different graduating classes that he had once grown accustomed to during his time as a student.
“You have all different sorts of new mentorships that weren’t there before,” Owens said. “We’ve had at different times, where the seniors would buddy up, even with the freshmen, but overall there seems to be a lot more interaction between the classes, which maybe has led to a little bit more student unity at school.”
The evolution of student interaction at school reflects a continued effort to encourage the value of holistic student development beyond traditional academic boundaries. For Owens, the gradual changes represent more than just mere procedural adjustments — they reveal a deeper transformation of how students connect and support one another.
Language Department Chair Zachary Erwin ‘96 agrees, having noticed a shift toward more open
emotional expression.
“In those days when I started, it really was a baptism by fire. For faculty, they tested your metal. They wanted to know if you could handle it.”
Math Instructor Cory Martin
“While I do remember lots of hugging at the end of our commencement ceremony in 1996, that felt to me like a real anomaly at the time,” Erwin said. “It seems that students today are much more willing to show that sort of brotherly affection toward one another than when I was young.”
While Erwin believes that the academic programs at the school have maintained its rigor, he has noticed that parts of the school’s culture, particularly the school uniform, have become more informal.
“When I was a kid, we couldn’t wear tennis shoes with our uniform. Instead, we had to wear
topsiders or dress shoes,” Erwin said. “On game days and for other special events, participating boys tended to wear a coat and tie rather than a polo shirt and khaki shorts. While I do remember having a senior t-shirt that I wore a lot outside of school, we didn’t have a special shirt that seniors could wear instead of our uniform shirt on Fridays.”
Erwin noted that faculty dress has become more casual as well since he was a student.
“For example, when I was a student, just about every male faculty member wore a tie to school every day,“ Erwin said.
Math instructor Cory Martin feels that the expectations placed
on faculty members were especially high when he first came to the school in 1990.
“In those days when I started, it really was a baptism by fire,” Martin said. “For faculty, they tested your metal. They wanted to know if you could handle it.”
Martin saw many young teachers, who he believed could have been great role models for students, quickly leave the school due to the rigor required of them.
The culture of high expectations wasn’t limited to faculty. Students maintained a deep commitment to extracurricular activities.
“Club culture was a big thing back then, and the yearbook and
the school newspaper were not yet official classes for students to take during the school day,” Owens said. “Just in general, extracurricular activities were emphasized quite a lot, so all of that was done on your own time.”
Despite the many changes the school has gone through, Erwin believes that the values that were instilled in him during his time on campus hold true today.
“I think the core mission has remained the same—to help students develop into well-rounded scholars, athletes, and artists who exemplify courage and honor and who care about the communities to which they belong,” Erwin said.
Outside the Headmaster’s office in Centennial, a row of past Headmasters portraits hangs.
Photo by Josh Goforth
Since the 90s, technological and medical advancements have transformed daily life. But, for younger generations, this progress has come with new challenges to face.
BY CHRISTOPHER HUANG, NICHOLAS HUANG AND NEIL YEPURI
It’s remarkable how much can change in 30 years.
The 1990s, despite just having ended 26 years ago, were a wildly different period for people around the globe. Global tensions were down, and the world economy was relatively stable. In the U.S., a political stability was reached.
Now, in the middle of the 2020s, the world watches violent conflicts around the globe and a massive global warming crisis looms. American politics have turned into a minefield of personal attacks.
Despite those issues, there exists a general consensus that quality of life has improved, at least for a majority of people. But, that improvement isn’t always so clear.
Globally, life expectancy has increased and educational attainment has skyrocketed. However, in the U. S., the wealth gap between rich and poor has widened dramatically, and homes have become significantly less affordable, posing a challenge to younger generations.
According to the World Happiness Report of 2024, people under 30 years old in the U. S. ranked only 62nd happiest among the 143 countries surveyed.
“People have a greater selection of and access to things that might make them say ‘Oh, having that object or doing that thing would make me happy. I didn’t know about that’,” Cecil and Ida Green Master Teaching Chair in Science Mark Adame
said. “Now, you can you see it on Tiktok or wherever. You might say, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool. If I did that, I’d be really, really happy’, whereas back then, you wouldn’t have known about it and had to find some other form of happiness.”
One of the most obvious differences between the 1990s and now has been the rapid spread of new technologies. The iPhone was released in 2007 as a novel product but is now used by hundreds of millions of Americans on a daily basis.
However, the rise of new technology since the 1990s has had its benefits and disadvantages. Technology as a tool has been a major contributing factor to the increased quality of life across the world, but the emergence of social media and communication platforms with it has been linked to issues that heavily affect the younger generation.
“One of the things we’re trying to do with our seniors, in Literature and Philosophy, is we’re trying to get them to articulate what their life would look like at its best,” Martin Stegemoeller, Malcolm K. and Minda Brachman Master Teaching Chair, said. “And it’s interesting, because when we look at it, nobody says, ‘I’ll look at my phone for six hours.’ But that might be what they actually do.”
While social media has broken down geographical barriers and allowed people to connect with each other from anywhere, this increased connectedness
Photos of now ghost town, Varosha, Cyprus, showing regression from its former self (Left and Bottom Right). Postcard before Turkish occupation (Top Right).
Photo Courtesy Unsplash (Top and Bottom Right) and The Guardian (Bottom Left).
may have had a negative impact on the relationships of young people. Young people have reported feeling lonelier, and tend to experience the worst effects of social media’s disadvantages, including possible depression and self-doubt, at a higher rate.
Social media is not the only reason that young people may be less happy, but the statistics show that it is certainly a contributing factor to the issue. For the older generations, this phenomenon was never a problem, as they never had phones.
“There’s this “epidemic of loneliness,” an epidemic of people addicted to their phones and spending a lot more time alone,” Stegemoeller said. “Attending religious services and being involved in a religious community usually creates pretty high rates for life satisfaction. Those rates have been dropping steadily since the 90s, so that’s a ding toward people’s reported life satisfaction.”
While the U.S. is the richest country
in the world, with the highest GDP per capita globally, it was ranked 23rd happiest in the 2024 World Happiness Report, the first time it has dropped below the top 20. A big factor contributing to this pattern of decline is an unhappy younger generation.
“There’s one well respected theory, relating to happiness or thriving, in social science called self determination theory,” Stegemoeller said. “It’s really based on competence, relatedness and autonomy. And if relatedness plunges and people are living more in their parents basement and not out on their own, then thriving will have gone down.”
However, the 21st century (and, more specifically, the 2020s) have also brought significant advancements that can be used across a variety of situations and scenarios to help solve problems. Artificial Intelligence (AI), despite its flaws, provides a key benefit in terms of education: it significantly lowers the barrier for entry.
“You can use AI to help you learn far more,” Stegemoeller said. “You can use it as a collaborator, as opposed to something that does your work. And someday, at your job, there’s going to be a premium on having the competence to leverage AI to get your job done. To me, it’s a question of, like, do you have the discipline.”
It all comes down to how people use the tools that are given to them. With new technology, such as Artificial Intelligence or social media, people now have a bigger toolbox, but these tools (and their scope) are still somewhat unknown and unexplored. And as a population, it’s likely that some people aren’t able to leverage those new tools correctly.
“Are most people disciplined enough to deal with (this societal change)? Again, probably not,” Stegemoeller said. “Which is why some schools are just forbidding cell phones the whole day. Like, you come to school, you put it in a container, and you get it when you’re done with your school day; that’s how severe it is.”
A photo-illustration depicting the Dallas skyline in 1912. Photo Courtesy Creative Commons
Today’s generation faces new and unique challenges and responsibilities. Generational experiences shape our values and our identity.
the future
Section Three
passing the
Short-form content, such as Instagram Reels and TikTok, have taken hold the younger generations, replacing quality free time with family, friends and others.
BY ROHAN KAKKAR AND JOSHUA GOFORTH
Did you see that reel I just sent you?
He takes a break from his work, stopping to check the 10-plus reels his friend sent him. Anything besides completing his homework. Scrolling through them, he knows that they are all the same. Mindless. Junky. Violent. Stupid. Pure brain-rot. But he can’t stop scrolling. After what feels like just five minutes, the bell rings and he heads off to class without finishing his homework.
As mobile devices have become staples of everyday life, kids have turned to them for entertainment at every possible opportunity to fulfill boredom or simply out of habit. Then, Instagram Reels and TikTok came along, furthering this problem by allowing individuals to watch a quick video for a huge dopamine boost, causing them to lose track of time and scroll for hours on end.
Algorithms developed by these companies can trap individuals, especially children and teenagers, into their apps by curating a feed of videos that fit the consumer’s interests. According to SlickText, children aged 11-14 spend an average of nine hours on screens daily.
Upper School Counselor Dr. Mary Bonsu believes the apps are highly addictive and their downsides can greatly diminish a student’s overall well-being.
“(Social media) is competing with the interest of developing a hobby, going outside, getting that sunshine and all those things that promote sleep,” Bonsu said. “The doom scrolling, and the reels are making it very difficult to choose alternative ways of enjoyment. I think you can have a psychological dependence on entertainment, more so than with addictions.”
Senior George Hoverman has faced these effects firsthand, spending several
hours per day watching these mindless reels. Before deleting Instagram, he felt that short-form content was affecting his well-being and overall health.
“I was spending upwards of eight or nine hours a day,” Hoverman said. “I was consuming a lot of media every single day. It’s very similar to a drug in that sense.”
After realizing the incredible amount of time he was spending on reels, Hoverman decided to make a change for the better and delete the app, realizing that he needed to make a drastic shift in the way he was living his life.
“I realized who I am and who I want to become is not the man I am now, and to help me on that path I really needed to get rid of Instagram reels because it was sucking up my life and sucking up my emotions and sucking up my feelings,” Hoverman said. “It was the number one contributor to my downfall.”
Deleting reels allowed Hoverman to become more present and focused on his daily assignments and appreciate his time more, finding joy in everyday activities and hobbies rather than turning to reels for quick entertainment.
“Instead of watching Instagram Reels, I was reading a book outside, just enjoying the sunset,” Hoverman said. “I drove my sister and we sang together in the car with the windows down, and that’s something I wouldn’t have done a year ago. I feel a lot more content and a lot happier in my day-to-day life. I’m definitely able to enjoy more of the little things.”
While these addictive apps affect people of all ages, they are especially harmful for middle schoolers and kids in areas of critical mental growth. Recently, the Middle School banned devices in lounges after school and has since seen a spike in kids playing outside more and staying in the sun, which is critical to good sleep and mental health.
Light floods through a doorway, revealing a student staring at his illuminated phone.
Illustration by Josh Goforth
a generational
debt
BY DOAN NGUYEN AND KIRAN PARIKH
An hourglass depicting time ticking slowly by, with it coming a new generation’s new responsibilities.
Illustration by Josh Goforth
Over the last century, the world has been transformed by advances in communication, transportation and connection across the globe. The work of past generations set the foundation for 50-floor skyscrapers and smartphones.
But for each groundbreaking innovation, there are concealed consequences. Rising oceans and temperatures. Mountains of debt. An economy where basic necessities cost so much more than 10 years ago—too much to envision success.
In addition to setting up future generations for success in some areas, past generations have also contributed to economic and environmental problems that the world will be dealing with for decades to come.
And now, the current generation faces futures molded by the problems that had arisen decades before they were even born.
It’s an intergenerational debt—measured in both dollars and degrees Fahrenheit.
Former science teacher Dan Northcut ‘81 was in Upper School when the world realized that fossil fuels were negatively affecting the environment.
It was the 1970s. They were dealing with pollution in lakes and were spurred to action when oil-slicked, hazardous rivers started catching on fire. But as the percentage of car owners exponentially increased, so did the consequences of using fossil fuels.
“Different generations have faced climate change over different centuries,” Northcut said. “But every time we come up with a new resource, we view it as infinite. Humans tend to view things as endless until they’re not.”
But unfortunately, oil companies have known about these environmental problems, long before the 1970s. Exxon, one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world, speculated that car emissions would ruin the climate nearly a century ago.
They knew what the issue was. But they made no move to solve it.
“This is where the money problem comes in,” Northcut said. “In the 20th century, there was no getting around greed: humanity’s Achilles’ heel. People ignored it because they just wanted the money.”
This pattern of prioritizing profit over sustainability isn’t new. Despite early warnings from their own research, oil companies chose to suppress the truth rather than act on it. Now, younger generations are left to deal with the consequences of those choices and are frustrated by the inaction of past leaders who put profit over the planet.
“Honestly, as an older person, the younger generation is right,” Northcut said. “Instead of doing the right thing, they hid it and decided they would just keep business as usual and make money.”
But the damage is done, and the next generations will bear the cost. The effects of climate change are going to be around for centuries to come.
“If we stopped putting CO2 into the atmosphere tomorrow, then it’s not like all the problems would end by next week,” Northcut said.
Still, action must start somewhere— and for Northcut, it begins with those who have the power to create impactful change: schools. In his perspective, the education system is responsible for preparing the next generation to take on society’s problems.
“The right thing to do with educational institutions is to lead the response to environmental problems,” Northcut said. “We should put some sort of visible renewable energy installation on campus, so that people could see that we realize climate change is happening.”
But awareness alone isn’t enough. If the younger generation wants real change, they must take action—because ignoring the problem now means inheriting the blame later.
“The younger generation begins to
own the problem and own the fault if they don’t try harder to deal with the problem,” Northcut said. “Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it.”
While environmental neglect is the most visible burden passed down to Gen Z, it’s not the only one. Economic policy decisions—or, more often, the failure to make them—have created deep-rooted problems that today’s youth are expected to solve.
“The problem isn’t time or a lack of ideas,” Economics teacher and History & Social Sciences Dept. Chair David Fisher said. “One problem (Generation Z) will have will be matching skills to job opportunities.”
Decades of underinvestment in public education and training programs have left America unprepared for the future of work. Jobs in clean energy, artificial intelligence, and biotech are growing— but fewer schools have the resources to prepare students for them. The result is a skills mismatch: positions go unfilled, while graduates are left underemployed.
While some might be able to read the job signals and upskill accordingly, most Gen Z students don’t have that luxury.
“Kids from less privileged backgrounds who have fewer means to pick and choose good educational opportunities and are underserved by public education generally will find it more difficult to adapt,” Fisher said. “They are, of course, most Americans.”
And with fewer people paying taxes to support a growing retired population, the system becomes even more strained. The younger generation is stuck—expected to fund the future while fighting to afford their own.
That leaves Gen Z at a crossroads: accept a system built to benefit others, or take charge of reforming it.
After all, the damage done by past generations may not be its fault, but what happens next is.
from boomers to
Generations are defined as people born within a period of time, influenced by the historical moments they experience.
BY JOSH GOFORTH AND MICHAEL CHANG
From Gen Z to Millenials to Baby Boomers, generations are typically separated by 15 year age groups.
However, history instructor Jerusha Westbury believes that generations are separated by differing cultures and circumstances rather than strictly by age. Westbury strongly cautions against using these generation labels freely.
“I would assume that (generations are defined by) some shared set of experiences,” Westbury said. “I’ve never really liked the generational divide, because technically, I’m in between a Gen X or millennial, and I would read descriptions and characteristics of them and think either of those could apply.”
Dates of historical events are also often used to pinpoint the beginning and end of
generations. Baby boomers, for example, are typically associated with the boom in birth rates after World War II.
Westbury thinks about generational labels in terms of dates that had a significant impact on people from a specific generation. While she doesn’t recall any dates that would be important for Gen X, she remembers key events like the September 11th attacks and the advent of the Internet.
English instructor Martin Stegemoeller echoes Westbury’s sentiment; he sees labels as a way to associate similar types of people.
“I think (what defines a generation) is some combination of the concepts that they have available to them that are being used in their vocabulary and the practices
that they inherit,” Stegemoeller said.
One of the most obvious differences between generations that Stegemoeller regularly notices came with the advent of modern technology and social media.
“Lots of people say they’re on social media every free moment of their lives, and that’s a huge change,” Stegemoeller said. “You could call that a generational difference. They’re more anxious than people before them. They’re constantly being judged. It’s very different from 100 years ago.”
However, Westbury believes that these labels don’t actually mean anything, but rather the circumstances and conditions that each individual grew up in that separate generations. She points out that people across generations have more in
to gen z
common than they think.
On the other hand, animosity between generations certainly exists.
“I think there’s a lot of evidence from employers that the younger generations are difficult to work with because they show up and are like, ‘how long until I get promoted?’” Stegemoeller said.
But it’s not completely fair to say that older generations have always been critical of younger generations, or vice versa. In fact, we’ve all had the shared experience of struggling to imagine elders in our younger shoes. That’s not a characteristic of a generation; it’s just a characteristic of youth.
“I grew up saying a different slang, but what we have in common is that we’re both saying slang, right?” Westbury said. “As
we’re living in this technologically changing world, a characteristic of being young is (growing) up with technology that the generation before didn’t have. And in that sense, we’re all kind of similar.”
For individuals like Westbury who were born into years between generations, navigating certain stigmas and generalizations surrounding one particular generation can be challenging. These labels cause onlookers to interpret groups of people as having several binding characteristics.
“I don’t think it’s useful or accurate to talk about baby boomers as being technologically unable to handle things, for example, because my parents are baby boomers, and they’re fine with technology,” Westbury said.
A compilation of historical events and items from history: an old 20s car, a photo of the US Marine Corps War Memorial commemorating WWII, Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech, a spaceship launching, the World Trade Center before 9/11, and the Statue of Liberty with a mask to fight against COVID-19. Photos Courtesy Unsplash (1st to 3rd from left and last), Air Force (Top) and Creative Commons (second to last from left). Collage by Joseph Sun
Stegemoeller still believes that there is some validity to the “generation divide.” But inferring details about one’s personality based on generation can be both dangerous and factually incorrect. It’s often better to simply stay away from such extrapolations.
“As long as you’re aware of the generalizations when you’re talking about generations, there are definitely trends that shift,” Stegemoeller said. “If you were swimming in the ocean and there were changes in the tides, it might really make a difference in your experience swimming. But I think it’s probably better to look at actual scientific polling data than to trust a TikTok video about how much boomers stink.”
years past
Hugh King discusses in an interview with his grandson, Sophomore Sam Morse, the changing world.
BY SAM MORSE
Sam Morse: What was your favorite childhood memory?
Hugh King: Well, there’s lots of them. One of my favorite memories would be always going to elementary school and then ending up at my grandmother’s house, which later became our house, and all the friends I had. So I’d always walk home from elementary school and go to my grandmother’s farm which was three and a half blocks, not far. And then the motorcycle. One of my dearest recollections is that on about my 13th birthday, 14th. Early that morning, at four, my brother and I were in the room, and my father said, ‘well, why don’t you look out on the front porch and see if there’s anything else out there?’ I opened the door and there was a motorcycle. I was totally unsuspecting of getting that bike. It was an English motorcycle and it had some features on it that [my friends] didn’t have that was nice. So I’ll never forget that. I went berserk; never expected they’d do that.
SM: What about your childhood was different from how it is now?
HK: That is a very difficult question to answer without realizing that times have changed so much. But kids my age, then kids your age now, are much more blessed with all the things that are around them. I lived in a small town, and my earliest childhood days were spent on a farm with my brother, my mother and my father, and so I didn’t get to see all my friends except at school. And also, most of my friends were better off than my family was, and so I was always included in things that we did together as friends. My parents wanted to give me everything possible. My mother, in particular, wanted
to do that, but there were constraints on the family because it was not that far after World War II, and jobs in the city were not as abundant as they are today. A lot of fathers took menial jobs by comparison to what they’re doing today.
SM: Was there a moment in history that changed your perspective or that changed your life?
HK: World War II was over in 1945. I was 10 years old. When the war was over, I was in Arkansas with my great aunt, and there was a lot of rejoicing about the war being over. That was in the summertime, in June, and so what affected us most, I suppose, was maybe the dropping of the bomb. Realizing that the war was over, our soldiers were coming home — that meant a lot to me.
SM: Is there a culture or way of thinking that would die or that is dying out?
HK: What I say is greatly lacking today is respect of other people, sometimes your parents, sometimes your superiors. You learn a lot of that when you go into the service. They graded you in S, which is satisfactory, and N, which means not satisfactory and also means you need help or need adjustment. I did not get a good grade back then. And it was broad how the teacher saw you as a student, whether or not you were inquisitive, respectful or whatever. But I think the greatest thing that is lacking today, and it’s not evident only in schools, but also in our adult society, and that’s respect. And I think it’s because people don’t know any better. They weren’t raised any better.
One thing that I’m really impressed with in young people is good manners. If you don’t know what good manners are, you need to learn.
SM: Do you have one piece of advice for someone who is starting their adult life today?
HK: Be that to your own self. Be true to what’s in your heart. You have to know what’s inside of you, be true and loyal to your friends, and, above all else, do what you know is right. Don’t allow anybody to change your perspective on what is the right thing to do. If you’re the only person that does it, then do it and not be sorry about it, because people will respect you for that.
Portrait of Hugh King (Top). King calling while serving in the Navy (Bottom Left). King as a child (Bottom Right).
Photo by Winston Lin (Top)
Photo Courtesy Hugh King (Bottom Left and Bottom Right)
Marksmen from grades first through twelfth recreating the 1963
photograph hanging in Centennial Hall.
Photo by Sebastian Gonzalez
You’ve seen how generations have shaped and been shaped by the world around them. The world today is changing at an accelerating rate.
Exponential technological growth has caused the current generation’s experiences growing up to be fundamentally different from their parents or grandparents. Our parents grew up without phones and had limited access to the Internet. If you walk into a restaurant today, you’ll likely see a toddler glued to a screen, watching a YouTube video, oblivious to the world around them. In fact, more than 40 percent of toddlers today have their own tablet device by the time they are 2, according to NPR.
It’s easy for generations to blame each other for the world’s problems today. With both sides seeing the world in a fundamentally different way, it becomes difficult for people of different age groups to empathize with each other.
In this magazine, we’ve sought to bridge together the generational divide. The stories here show that even if we have different reference points, we’re all searching for meaning in similar ways and trying to understand the world we inherited. Despite the labels we’ve placed on ourselves—Boomer, Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z — our shared humanity will always be our common ground.
