Abstract:
This paper will begin with an informed perspective of the four living generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Generation Z; who they are, how they are placed in society, and most importantly, what they value and more specifically, how they value higher education. A generational perspective comparing Baby Boomers, X and Y will be undertaken to investigate the differences in perspectives and what factors influence their values and expectations of higher education. As educators, we need to consider our relationship with young people and appreciate the differences across the generations. This theoretical paper will be complemented with a series of six in-depth interviews of a male and female from the Baby Boomer, X and Y generations thus adding a rich qualitative layer to the theoretical perspectives of social generational understandings of education.