What are the characteristics of today’s students? In what way do they differ from traditional students? What new strategies should educators apply?

With the development of science and technology, life is changing very quickly. In fact, not only did the life change, but also human being itself. Because it is true that “each generation is defined by its life experiences, giving rise to different attitudes, beliefs, and sensitivities” (Boomers and Gen-Xers Millennials, by Diana Oblinger, 2003). We are living in a changing world and different things happen in different times, so different generations have different experiences. For example, the “Depression generation” experienced Word War Two and The Cold War. “Baby Boomers” grew up with the space race, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and Watergate. “Generation X” saw the fall of the Berlin Wall and the emergence of AIDS and the Web (Boomers and Gen-Xers Millennials, by Diana Oblinger, 2003). All the things happening around today’s students are totally different from the other generations. As it stated that “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.” (Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, by Marc Prensky, 2001). They have their own characters! That is, today’s new students are different from the traditional students.
Then what are the differences and what are their characters?
Today’s students have not only just changed their slang, clothes, body adornments, or styles, as has happened between generations previously (Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, by Marc Prensky, 2001). In fact, there is a singularity event which changes things very fundamentally that there is absolutely no going back. That is the arrival and rapid dissemination of the digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century (Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, by Marc Prensky, 2001). The current students from PK to college are the first generations that grow with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Computer games, email, the Internet, Cell Phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives (Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, by Marc Prensky, 2001). So if we look at the today’s educators and administrators in school, it is not surprising to find that they are far behind the students. These people who are teaching the students today are called Digital Immigrants. So there is the problem: Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language (Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, by Marc Prensky, 2001). In fact, I think there are also dozens of other problems which are similar with this or totally different with this problem that listed above.
So we can solve the problem - Reconsidering both methodology and content.
First, today’s teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students. But this does not mean changing the meaning of what is important, or of good thinking skills. It does mean going faster, less step-by-step, more in paraless, with more random access, among other things (Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, by Marc Prensky, 2001). Students are always in the center of any styles of education and find the best and different ways to fit different students are the educators’ duty.
Second, to the traditional content, such as reading and writing which are called legacy content, is still important, but it is from a different era. Some of it will still be important, but some of it will be less so, as did Latin and Greek. How about the content-future content? This future content includes digital and technological knowledge, it is increasing to today’s class. Educators need to think about how to teach both traditional and future content. (Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, by Marc Prensky, 2001).
What is the result?
If the educators really want to reach today’s students, they will have to change themselves first to succeed in the long run.