Generational differences, with humor

In prepping for class today, I was looking at a survey done in 2005. One of the things I want my students to be able to do is ask good questions about the classifications a survey uses and the questions it asks.

One of the classifications in the survey is Gen X, which the survey defines as those aged 18-40 at the time of the survey. I don’t think I buy that classification; most definitions I’ve seen use 1980 or 1981 as the cut-off birth year for the younger end of Gen X. Someone who was 18 in 2005 wouldn’t fit that definition.

Besides, the survey’s classification would put a few of my upper-level students in Gen X, but I don’t think they could identify with very many of these cultural markers of the generation.*

*Remembering Battlestar Galactica, in this case, means remembering Lorne Greene in the role of Commander Adama.