I contacted Annie Stevens at UVM who directed me to Pat Brown in Student Life. I wanted to meet with someone to talk about the trends listed in Howe and Strauss’ book, Millennials Rising. Charlie and I had questions about how the trends in the book play out here at UVM. Are students that choose to come to UVM really falling along the trends listed in the book about learning socially and with technology, being socially aware, as well as looking for cultural diversity?
Charlie and I met with Pat on Sept. 30. He indicated that in fact some of the trends were indead surfacing at UVM. He mentioned that several RAs told him that this semester is different. They are not able to put their finger on why but they know that the students are just different. Part of the differences may stem from the relationships that Millennial students seem to have with their Baby Boomer parents. Parents of Millennial students as a whole are more involved in their children’s lives then the parents of Gen Xer’s. It seems that the Baby Boomer parents of the Millennial generation children want to be very involved in the lifes of their children by scheduling activites for them, talking with them about school, and in general just protecting and nurturing their children. The ubiquitous cell phone has made this nuturing and protecting process available way beyond the walls of the home environment or even the local schools. Children who move off to college can easily contact their parents anytime, especially with the new “family share” plans from various cell phone providers.
The term “helicoper parents” was brought up in our meeting with Pat. (Click on the word helicopter parents to see an article by CareerJournal.com, Wall Street Journal, titled:”College Ward off Overinvolved Parents”.
Charlie and I learned from Pat Brown that ABC news show: 20/20 was on-campus in August when students were moving in to research a story about the increased involvement of parents in their children’s college education. The title of the story, Colleges Try to Deal With Hovering Parents talks about how parents are hovering and having a difficult time letting go, but so are the students. They like the attention and guidence from their parents. However college student life staff are concerned that the parents are impeading their children’s development as independent thinkers and decision makers.
According to the article entitled, Case of the hovering parents in the Boston Globe on August 20, 2005,”At the University of Vermont, students serve as ”parent bouncers” during orientation to keep parents from wandering into sessions specified for students. Parents leave campus with magnets bearing messages that they ought to ask their child before calling a dean, such as ”What do you think you need to do to work this out?” and ”Who have you talked to on campus about this?”