"Okay, Boomer" - are we really sure about that?
In one of the many holiday gatherings that happen around the university near the end of the year, I ran into a colleague from the Economics Department, whom I hadn’t seen for quite a while. As we exchanged stories from this semester and inquired about each other’s plans for the next, she casually mentioned that she would be retiring in five years. I shouldn’t have been surprised – I always knew she was a Baby Boomer – but it was a shock to realize yet another colleague was getting ready to retire.
"Okay, Boomer."
In Part 1 of this essay series, I wrote about the aging population in my hometown and my sudden awareness of the visible signs of its decline. In fact, a major change has been taking place all around me here in the United States, too, with the aging of Baby Boomers, a generational cohort of 76 million Americans who were born during the postwar baby boom (1946-64). They benefitted from readily available educational and economic opportunities in the postwar period of affluence in the United States. They grew up during the time of great social change, became involved in the civil rights movement, and protested Vietnam War. Many threw themselves into the counterculture movement of the ‘60s; many women “burned their bras” in support of the feminist movement in the ‘70s.
When Boomers grew older, they seemed to turn more conformist, content to settle into more conventional roles in the family and at work. Yet they retained the values and beliefs of their youth: optimism for a better future, belief in social action, and emphasis on personal fulfillment. In public arenas, they led innovation in many areas of economy and pushed progressive political agenda; in a more personal realm, they became the most active and physically fit generation. In 2011 the oldest of Boomers reached age 65 – a common retirement age in the U.S. – and until 2030, they will continue to join the bulging retiree population at the staggering rate of 10,000 a day.
The sudden rush of retirement at my university is just a small part of this much bigger demographic phenomenon. Many Boomers are entering their retirement more active and physically fit than any other prior generations; they look forward to their retirement, not as the time to slow down, but to engage more fully in personally enriching activities, travelling, even starting a new business. They are redefining the meaning of “retirement,” just as they have redefined social institutions and cultural norms through earlier life stages.
"Okay, Boomer" has become a popular phrase to mock those of this generation, who keep working, stay active and never seem to go away. But I wonder, when all the Boomers step out of the limelight, how does it impact our society? Are the rest of us going to be "okay"?
Reality Bites
Recent studies show that many Boomers won’t have financial resources to make their dream retirement come true: roughly a half of Boomers have little or no savings toward retirement and will be dependent solely on social security benefits – at an average of less than $1500 a month - to support themselves in retirement. Some attributes this dismal financial outlook to the lifestyle and spending choices of the Boomer generation, who took affluence for granted, spent more than they could afford and failed to prepare for their long retirement. But the truth is that economic disparity always existed within this great generation, just as it would in any other. Their mass retirement only reveals this reality, so often eclipsed by the exploits of more fortunate few – I’m thinking generational icons like Steve Jobs - who became the public face of this generation.
Economic disparity always existed within this great generation and their mass retirement only reveals this reality, so often eclipsed by the exploits of more fortunate few.
If boomer retirement has many society-wide repercussions, it is felt even more closely in my workplace. Mass retirement of a generation of faculty, especially in a small university like ours, means a sudden loss of not only scholarly expertise, but also the pedagogical and institutional knowledge that comes with years of experience, which cannot be replaced by new hires.
At the same time, it presents a significant opportunity, from the administration’s perspective, to reallocate resources that have been tied up in tenured senior faculty positions for the last three decades. Student interests have shifted over the years, and institutions of higher education face challenges that did not exist when these senior faculty members were hired. Reinvesting the funds freed up from faculty retirement in new areas of need – like technology-oriented academic programs or mental health support services – would make good business sense.
The retirement of Boomer colleagues, however, have profound impact on our university that goes beyond dollars and cents. True to the characteristics of their generation, they were trailblazers and innovators in all aspects of our lives on campus. They were strong voices in the university governance, who resisted the incursion of administrative authority over the faculty – a national trend in higher education - for many years, and kept the administration’s toe over the fire, figuratively speaking.
Their academic contribution is equally significant: their intellectual curiosity and passion for innovation shaped our curricula and led to unique pedagogical practices centered on the values of experiential learning, egalitarian ethos, and commitment to make the world a better place.
Boomer colleagues have also been the best mentors that I could have hoped for. When I first arrived in the university, I found in them kind and open-minded senior colleagues, who helped me learn the ropes of faculty life, valued my opinions, however ill-formed and misguided they might have been, and encouraged me to find my own path as a teacher and a scholar.
When they depart from the university over the next decade, no spreadsheet can truly measure the size of the shoe they will leave for us to fill.
[This article was originally published on Japan News (Dec 19, 2019)]
Comments