Generation X Goes to College

by Peter Sacks

Generation X Goes To College, by Peter Sacks, is a book I highly recommend. It was one of several recommended books in Morris Berman's The Twilight of American Culture. And I suppose I was drawn to it partly because I've raised three Generation-X children, and partly because part of my professional career involves teaching, and providing consulting advice to, Generation-X men and women in the field of computer software development. In any case, I found it not only a humorous and well-written book, but also profoundly thought-provoking; indeed, it has forced me to reevaluate several assumptions and principles that I've taken for granted in my personal and professional life.

The first part of the book is a predictable, familiar, but humorously written description of the decline in academic standards in American colleges, and the "entitlement" attitude that appears to be common, if not universally pervasive, among this generation of college students — i.e., the expectation that "average" grades are at least a "B," which the student will receive for simply showing up and (perhaps) managing to stay awake in class. I don't teach college freshmen for a living, thank goodness, but I do encounter recent college graduates in some of my seminars and lectures; perhaps you do, too. If so, Sacks' stories are important for you to read

I found the second part of Generation X Goes To College to be a fascinating discussion of the concept of postmodernism, and the role it plays in American institutions of higher education — and, to a lesser extent, in society in general. Though Sacks emphasizes that postmodernism is a poorly defined term, with many interpretations, he explains it in terms of contrasts: "modernism" trusts in reason, objective reality, and the scientific method, for example, while postmodernism has a tendency for relativism and subjectivity. Modernism trusts democratic institutions and the hegemony of producers and elites; postmodernism delegitimizes institutions, and promotes the sanctity of pop-culturalism and popular entitlements. The slogan of the modernist age, Sacks suggests, is the New York Times masthead, "All the News That's Fit to Print," while the slogans of the postmodernist age are "Here we are now/Entertain us" (from the musical group Nirvana), and "Trust No One" (from The X-Files). A lot of the discussion reminded me of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which I've recently come to realize is the source of great debate among those who study the "philosophy of science" — i.e., the possibility that Kuhn himself was articulating and endorsing a postmodernist view of what science is all about.

Sacks makes the obvious, but nevertheless profound, point that we are all post-modernists, to some extent; but I also can't help thinking that even the most ardent post-modernist also harbors some fundamental trust in the modernist view of the world. It's fine to say "trust no one," and to argue that even the most "absolute" laws of physics aren't very absolute any more (e.g., a recent news report says that scientists now believe that even the speed of light isn't absolute); on the other hand, we trust the current more-or-less-absolute laws of physics sufficiently to willingly climb into narrow tubes of aluminum called airplane, and hurtle ourselves across the sky at 600 mph, with the expectation that we'll actually arrive safely at the other end of the flight.

One of my first thoughts, after reading through this discussion was, "Hmmm ... I wonder if the concept of postmodernism applies to software engineering, and computer science." Lo and behold: while searching Amazon's treasure trove of books on the general topic of postmodernism, I stumbled upon a weighty tome entitled Designing Information Technology in the Postmodern Age: from method to metaphor, by Richard Coyne. With a single mouse click, I instructed Amazon to send the book to me, and it's now sitting on my desk, awaiting the next plane ride. It looks like pretty heavy stuff, with erudite discussions of logical positivism, analytic philosophy, pragmatism, phenomenology, hermeneutics (don't ask; I have no idea what it means), and deconstruction. I'll report back once I've digested it — but don't hold your breath; it may take a while!

Meanwhile, hustle down to Barnes & Noble, or point your Web browser to whatever on-line book-seller suits your fancy, and pick up a copy of Generation X Goes To College — you'll be glad you did.