Young masters, old teachers

Gary Zukav, in his record-selling book, Dancing Wu Li Masters, says that a ‘master’ is simply someone who started off before you did. But in the Internet age, a master can be younger, less experienced, albeit simply more aware and insightful than you. The awareness quotient of woke, young people today is far greater than my entire learning of 53 years of life. 

They are born into an age of information anxiety and struggle to keep pace with trends on a daily basis. They simply gorge on all things on social media, however shallow or irrelevant the information can be to them. But they are better clued in than most people of my age. 

I had the opportunity to learn from people 20-25 years younger than I when I was teaching full-time as a professor of journalism and mass communication at a college. I have gladly received and followed their sagacious advice on plenty of things on how to use WhatsApp to what not to post on Facebook. These are things that my young students learn from each other long before their parents gift them their own smartphone. In my day there were only four essential survival skills to learn—how to cook, drive, type, and swim. Today you need to be able to code in a dozen languages, master soft skills, learn how to use AI and how to use digital media to build your brand. People today don’t believe in destiny and luck. They make their own.

When I was young all my masters were much older than I was. They had what could be loosely termed ‘life experience’ and some knowledge of their chosen line of work. But being older was a pre-requisite in all of them. I would never take a person younger than me or of my age group seriously. 

Now I am trumped in any argument with teenagers. They are more knowledgeable than I and certainly more intuitive. They have loads of experience in real life because they travel and read more at a remarkably young age. 

They quickly adapt to rapid changes. I am learning from these twenty-somethings now. They are my new masters.

Being dismissive of young people is the biggest mistake that one can make as a teacher or mentor. It would be better to first ascertain how much they know on the subject. An incompetent person should never be allowed to judge or evaluate a competent one!