Generations of Learners

I have always been just a little bit bothered by the notion that we must greet each new generation of learners by thrusting all these generalizations upon so that we, their educators, can feel confident about knowing what they need to learn and how they are capable of learning it. When these sorts of preconceived notions are primarily what shapes our needs analyses for learners, we are setting up our learners for a serious failure later -- that is, the fact that they can safely assume that people will try to categorize them and then pander to them so as to ensure their highest achieving potential. I feel the same way about learning styles. It is not possible to label all learners as visual, kinesthetic, etc. any more than we can label our learners as smart or troublemakers or hardworking. Each learner must find his/her own meaning and experience in the flexible and malleable learning environments that we build. And it is our responsibility to encourage them to become self-motivated and independent thinkers they are meant to be in such a way that they celebrate their differences as hallmarks of their individuality and signals of their great potential.