May 2010 - Parks & Recreation - 9
Edito r 's L e tt e r
A Profession for the Ages
W
henever one writes on the topic of generational differences, the
thin ice of many sins awaits. To begin with, it's a form of stereotyping,
generalizing, and otherwise pigeon-holing an entire generation of kids.
That's a head-on collision with proponents of diversity, the school of thought celebrating
differences emanating by age, gender, ethnicity, ability, and socio-economic situations.
Further, by writing about generational differences without challenging the concept, one may
be contributing to a situation of self-fulfilling
prophecy. If you tell an entire generation that they
are (either) selfish, altruistic, directionless, overly
goal oriented, worse off, better off, and so on, then
chances are they will live up to expectation. One
thing is for sure: we have never lacked for tags
for generations: the Lost Generation (World War
I), the Interbellum Generation (born at the turn of
the century), the Silent Generation (1926-38), the
Greatest Generation or the G.I. Generation (those
who came of age during the second World War),
the Baby Boom (post War), Generation X (born
after the Boomers), and lastly, the Millennials or
Echoes (children of the Boomers). Well, not really
last. There are still those born in the 1990s-Generation Z. It's the Millennials and Zs that our cover
story addresses.
Author Doug Vaira took on this assignment in
an effort to find some commonality among today's
college students and young professionals. As we
figured, it was no easy task in pinning down the
views and actions of those just now entering the
field of parks and recreation. In the end, the news
was good and better. Doug found this generation is
often characterized as lacking in loyalty and longterm aspirations but balanced with a sense of social
responsibility and a resistance to mindless embracing of authority and tradition. Having matured in
booms, busts, and war while nurtured in the parental philosophy of all-things possible may explain
this. But as you will read from the profiles of these
young parks and recreation professionals, this has
worked out well for our field. Each had a reason for
pursuing parks and recreation. But all saw it as a
chance to do the best they could for society.
And in that, don't some things never change?
Isn't that why you-of all ages-work in parks and
recreation?
Phil Hayward
Editor and Publisher
w w w . NR P A . ORG
M AY 2 0 1 0
Parks & Recreation
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May 2010 - Parks & Recreation
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