To ask in what ways you’ve found that covid has left it’s mark on gen z?

[Grampalikedgrain]

Anecdotally I’m a teacher at a school age 11-18. Compared to before I would undoubtedly say that kids have less resilience, maturity and ability to work to deadlines. There’s so many older years not meeting basic expectations as they were in lockdown when they should have been taught some of these things. Eg a lot of our a levels cohort don’t know how to revise for exams. I see a LOT more immature and petty squabbles between our year 7s compared with pre covid cohorts. From friends working in other fields, I hear graduates are a lot harder to work with due to missing out on a normal uni experience. Aibu to ask in what ways you’ve found covid has left it’s mark on gen Z?

We’ve been lucky with dc here but I still think it was a mistake

Exactly fhat @DizzyRascal

We don't really know what the effects on any particular generation will be.

Because each infection (even if mild in the acute phase) carries the risk of long covid - which includes some pretty unpleasant symptoms such as "brain fog" (a fluffy term for neurological damage and cognitive decline, duration unknown), vascular ageing, immune dysregulation and a heap of others.

And of course, just as chicken pox has shingles, measles has SSPE, polio has post-polio syndrome etc (all of which may not show up for a decade or longer) we have no idea how it will leave its mark

Slightly more lighthearted than most but DS (14) and his friends are much more into washing their hands than you might expect from teenage boys.
As soon as he/they walk in they wash their hands and really properly as well. If I go in the kitchen even if it’s to just get a drink out of the fridge DS tells me to wash my hands - soap must be used too

This is an interesting read. To me the new trend of wfh will also have a huge negative impact on people coming into the workforce, and ironically introverts will be the worst off and the least resilient

@DizzyRascal that is awful. I have to say we were up and running within days. We learned damn quick how to use the technology and in fairness, I'll be forever grateful to our HT (who I can't say I'm massively fond of generally) for making us knuckle down and get on with it. It helped us as well.
My own daughter (same school) also looks back and says that those lessons every day saved her sanity. Weird though it all was, it gave them some sense of normality.

Yes @dizzyrascal. Two of my dcs were exam year during 2021, so the 15 months prior (peak lock down) was the most crucial time for them.

DH and I were key workers, him in logistics and me in a hospital. I personally worked 50 h weeks routinely as it wad required to keep my services going. We had one good laptop and one dodgy laptop between 3 kids. The WiFi wasn't great and we couldn't get an engineer to switch our supplier to fibre. The school had nothing on teams for the first lock down, just worksheets on the vle that were never marked and no feedback. With the exception of my middle dd's french teacher who called a couple of times, we had no contact from school to see how the kids were getting on. My honest answer, I don't know, I'm not there.

Youngest dc did great, they really enjoyed the lifting of the academic pressure, but struggled with the return to school. Middle dc has ongoing MH problems, is prepping for A Levels now and really struggling as has huge gaps in their knowledge. They are now beginning to really enjoy meeting friends in person, going into town, 18th birthday parties etc. They have just got a job, which is a fantastic step forward given the anxiety they have battled.

The eldest went to uni in 2021. We looked around barren cities and empty buildings instead of attending open days. He did well at A level, got onto a uni degree and promptly dropped out after the first year. There was no real uni experience and as an introverted kid already, his social skills took a nose dive. He now works in retail and stays in his room gaming when not at work. He is earning decent money but has no plans to live out, live independently, meet a partner.

I agree with a PP that we will have more risk taking behaviour and debt in some of these young people who have had enough of FOMO. Others will continue to be incredibly cautious and home dwelling.

@MrsMullerBecameABaby the experience in another country is interesting to read. Perhaps says a lot about living in a country with a competent government, not the one we have in the UK.

The comment about exams not being sat in the UK and the impact rings very true to me.

This is totally anecdotal but with the students we've seen coming into work they seem a lot less resilient (I'm feeling exhausted; I need to go home) type of thing. But part of me thinks this might be a good thing in that we'll have a bit of a shift away from prioritising work above everything.

They also seem to live a lot more of their life online, but I think that's most of us now.

The economy has tanked, the shops have shut, everything costs three times as much, their parents can't afford to send them to university, there's no metal health support at all, and half the world has stayed " online" which is incredibly alienating actually. I really feel for them.

@DizzyRascal But I think that’s a very negative way to view everything. Each generation has its own challenges. Currently Unemployment is low, and while some things are more expensive, other things are cheaper (eg technology), there is a much bigger awareness of mental health issues and I would argue there is actually a lot of information out there about mental health - much more than when I was growing up. The online world has both its negatives and positives.

I think if you only focus on all the problems then you will think everything is shit and what’s the point.

The secondary school system has been lumping more and more pressure and expectation on schools and teachers who pass this on to kids, for years, and schools have been getting bigger, less tolerant, more anonymous, more draconian and more ignorant of neurodiversity, and basically a lot more shit. Kids aren't less resilient, it's just that state education is failing them.

One of mine had a really tough time in uni and ended up having to take a year out. She's still not back to normal. Used to have great social skills, now is an introvert.
Also unis are now resorting to online classes because they can.

I think by keep telling younger people how terrible things are for them and that they have no future they will obviously start to believe it and a lot of people seem to like being the victim. I work in dentistry and one of the patients recently (22 years old) told the dentist "he can't hear anything bad about his teeth as he has anxiety because of how bad his generation suffered from the affects of covid lockdown." This was before he had even sat down. Dentist tried to give him some oral hygiene advice but he said he couldn't listen as it was making him too anxious.

There is some truth in this..My two work hard, but also believe that no in the history of humans has ever worked as hard as them.😉

Mine are young adults/late teens and I’m not sure it’s covid really. Partially of course, and indirectly too. Mine worry more about their future prospects, the high cost of housing for them, the poor state of public services, a late retirement age perhaps with reduced pension. They feel a bit as if unless they get a really, really high paying job, that many things will be out of reach. Add onto that, climate worries and it looks a bit bleak to them.

I think by keep telling younger people how terrible things are for them and that they have no future they will obviously start to believe it and a lot of people seem to like being the victim.

My DC were rejecting and turning off the media pushing that narrative at the time.

At same time this is the first normal school year at their secondary - clubs and groups allowed again school trips happening not having all the classroom windows open all winter being allowed to eat inside in bad weather not being required to wear masks all day. The sudden and frequent entire year group being home due to positive test was very disrupted for them prior to this.

DS orthodontist still does the performative masking - mask up and down as they peer into his mouth then talk about treatment- but my dentist is back to normal. I think some places/intuitions have taken much longer to ditch the covid restrictions.

To be fair I think i did the same. Only difference was if I tried any of that on my mum like "you don't know what it's like blah blah its much worse for me etc..." my mum would have just laughed and said yes dear of course now pull your socks up and get back to work! (In a nice way but not taking nonsense way before anyway says anything).

I really disagree that schools are less tolerant of neurodiversity! My DDs primary school recently had a day dedicated to neurodiversity.
Schools have SENCO, SEN departments, access arrangements for exams - and at my DSs school the teachers have to work out their classroom seating plans depending on the SEN needs of their pupils. I remember little of this happening when I was at school.

US university prof here and it's exactly the same this side of the Atlantic. We have to do so much hand-holding, so much allowing late work and absence (we are in an enrollment crunch that isn't helping things) and it is completely like teaching high school rather than university students. I will say, though, that it's better this year than last year so I'm hopeful that over time things will get a bit better.

Wait until they get to secondary school.

Yes, DS’s school is secondary ….

I teach Primary and the impact has definitely been on social skills and general immaturity. Both parents and children seem very apathetic in terms of academic work/progress.

My instinct says they need to play - lots and lots of outdoor free play along the Loose Parts model. How to balance that with pressure of the curriculum is the biggest post COVID challenge.

Weren't the government going to provide time and resources to help children catch up...?

My kids (11 and 14 now) were lucky to have gone through it at not too bad a time. Old enough to understand what was going on, but not at any super crucial education stage like the very start or the run up/year of national exams.

That said, I have several friends whose kids are still experiencing school refusal difficulties and/or serious eating disorders.

Mine have done ok (17 and 13) but the 13yo does seem to think she can be off school more easily than her siblings used to think. 'Can we go out for the day, why do I have to go to school?' type thoughts. And given how much time off they've had on and off I can understand why she feels like being at school doesn't matter so much. With her siblings it was frowned on to take a second off school even for illness now they've been shown it's fine to be off school for months.

Personally I work with 3/4yo who were babies during lockdown and they have most definitely been developmentally affected.