Millennials versus / and Baby Boomers Helping Montessori and Future Generations by Dane Peters
“Ten thousand Baby Boomers will retire every day through the year 2030 . . . 1 How prepared are schools for leadership transitions from one generation to the next?”
For me, generational differences came barreling through
exhausted . . . and thankful that the day was over. The
this past December when my wife and I celebrated the holidays
ongoing leap from Greatest Generation parents, to our Baby
together without our children and grandchildren; they were off
Boomer identity, to our Generation X children and their
doing their own things. This caused us to reflect on what we
Millennial, iGeneration, and Generation Alpha kids is life today.
did as children when it came to December 25th: home with
parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Then as we had our
the year that we celebrate the 150th year of Dr. Montessori’s
own children, we would wake up on Christmas morning; open
birthday, it might help to look at the whole generation
presents; get in the car and drive to my wife’s family to open
spectrum. So that we can all be on the same page regarding
presents and have a big meal; then on to my parent’s home and
generation language and statistics, here is a chart from the
celebrate the holiday with them; and finally, make our way home
Pew Research Center defining US generations. 2
Before moving on to further generational reflections in
1 “Independent Ideas Blog” (Sept. 21, 2016). NAIS Bulletin 2 Fry, Richard (2018). Millennials projected to overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation. (https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/)
VOLUME 22 ISSUE 4 • 2020 | WWW.MONTESSORI.ORG/IMC | ©MONTESSORI LEADERSHIP
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