Generation at the Crossroads

by Loeb, Paul Rogat

• ISBN13: 9780813522562
• ISBN10: 0813522560
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-09-01
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

Challenging prevailing media stereotypes, Generation at the Crossroads explores the beliefs and choices of the students who came of age in the 1980s and 1990s. For seven years, at over a hundred campuses in thirty states, Paul Loeb asked students about the values they held. He examines their concepts of responsibility, the links they draw between present and future, and how they view themselves in relation to the larger human community in which they live. He brings us a range of voices, from "I'm not that kind of person", to "I had to take a stand". Loeb looks at how the rest of us can serve young people as better role models, and given them courage and vision to help build a better world. This insightful book explores the culture of withdrawal that dominated American campuses through most of the eighties. He locates its roots in historical ignorance, relentless individualism, mistrust of social movements, and a general isolation from urgent realities. He examines why a steadily increasing minority has begun to take on critical public issues, whether environmental activism, apartheid, hunger and homelessness, affordable education, or racial and sexual equity. Loeb looks at individuals who have overcome precisely the barriers he has described, and how their journeys can become models. The generational choices he explores will shape our common future.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Beyond the myths	p. 1
I'm not that kind of person
You make your own chances: Wealth as an educational goal	p. 11
You don't have a say: Individualism as survival	p. 20
I feel a little fearful: The reluctance to speak	p. 27
The right kind of friends: Climbing the economic ladder	p. 39
America on the slide: Coping with decline	p. 44
Divided loyalties: Making it from the bottom	p. 56
The broken connection: History and memory	p. 68
Spitting on soldiers?: Vietnam revisited	p. 77
An unsentimental education: Ethical detachment in the classroom	p. 89
I'll work from within: Involvement deferred	p. 101
Diminished dreams: Shaping a culture of retreat	p. 115
I had to take a stand
Introduction: A stake in the future	p. 127
Fighting for the land: Farm activism returns	p. 131
Greeks for peace: Social concern on fraternity row	p. 145
Crossing the line: The genesis of student activists	p. 157
A house still divided: The campus politics of race	p. 177
The world of the activists: Communities of concern	p. 207
Tangible fruits: The community service movement	p. 231
Shades of green: The tree huggers and the politicos	p. 248
World in motion
Introduction: Uncertain times	p. 261
Coming back to concern: The resurgence of student involvement	p. 263
I don't want to be a biscuit babe: The CUNY strikes	p. 286
Whose history, whose voice?: The politics of political correctness	p. 331
Sustaining the vision: Every generation changes the world	p. 367
Notes	p. 401
Acknowledgments	p. 439
Index	p. 443
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.