Aamir Hussain (Georgetown) on Millennials, Values, and America's Future

April 9, 2012

Millennials, Values, and America's Future

I completely agree with Abigail in the sense that the Millennial Generation is, at its heart, a global generation that cuts across traditional boundaries. Social networking and the 24-hour news media allows us to stay connected with people around the world, and as Brian remarked, we help individuals feel like a part of a larger community. Therefore, I believe that while our generation maintains many of the same values as our parents, we have placed a greater emphasis on global awareness.
One particularly long-term trend caused by global awareness is the enthusiasm of many Millennials for learning other languages. Events such as the global economic crisis, the rise of the BRICS, and the Arab Spring during our lifetime have shown us the importance of learning about other regions of the world. Learning upcoming languages such as Arabic, Chinese, and Portuguese have equipped many Millennials to pursue new opportunities in areas of the Middle East, Asia, and South America that were previously inaccessible to a global community.

In addition, many Millennials’ enthusiasm for languages helps them reconnect with their immigrant relatives. This phenomenon illustrates a very recent change of attitude. My high school biology teacher said that she never encouraged her children (who grew up in the 1970s) to learn her ancestral language of Italian because she feared that they would not assimilate into American society. In contrast, many of my friends in the Millennial Generation are especially keen on rediscovering their cultural heritage in other countries by actively trying to learn their ancestral languages.

Our generation realizes that we are the first truly global generation. Our mindset and lifestyle constantly affirm that our experiences are increasingly interconnected to those of others around the world. The main challenge for the Millennial generation is translating global awareness into global activism. Learning languages is an important first step in the process towards global communication, but it is far too easy for individuals to talk about world events and issues of social justice online while doing nothing to further these causes from a practical standpoint. I hope that our generation can go beyond simply “liking” status updates and viewing YouTube videos to actively facilitating global change.
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