I enjoy working with young adults, but sometimes I have absolutely no idea what they’re on about. It’s not that they’re not talking loud enough (never much of a problem, I’ve found), it’s just that their cultural points of reference have steadily shifted further away from me over the years until they’re now somewhere in the middle distance if I squint a bit.

My relative cluelessness in regards to viral videos, memes, music (both Mumble rap and Trap), YouTubers, and other various signposts so ever-present in the lives of those around me are a constant source of amusement in the classroom, as the latest thing goes sailing over my head and the learners and I stare at each other, perplexed (me by the reference - them at how someone with their finger so far off the pulse could still be breathing, let alone teaching).

Then (and this is the hideous bit) they go on to try to explain to me why they’ve been dancing in unison holding one of their heels, or why I’m supposed to care what that young man with the colourful hair on Jason’s phone is saying as he sits and plays a video game and talks about playing a video game.

Cultural capital

It’s enough to make you think that you aren’t cool anymore.

The lack of cultural capital in my account might be a worry to some. How, they may ask, will I ever find ways to reach my students if we can’t connect over Lil Uzi Vert and Fortnite? But honestly, I think that does the students a disservice.

Although heavily invested in aspects of their world, there’s still a desire for things that are not ubiquitous. FE students’ capability for taking on new ideas and concepts, their itch to get their head around something that’s unfamiliar in whatever form it takes is often heavily underestimated. More often than not in my career in FE it’s not mirrors of the things that they see all the time that intrigue them, it’s the windows that are opened up onto something they’ve not yet experienced.

In need of help

But that doesn’t mean I get to belittle them for their passions either. Some things I just don’t get, but so what? So I can’t understand a thing that rapper’s saying, and I don’t know what’s so amusing about watching someone else play a videogame and scream a bit - I don’t have to. If I really want to I’ll just ask them.

The other thing that’s underestimated of FE students is their willingness to help an old codger out when he doesn’t know his some dance craze from his other some dance craze. In fact, it turns out some of it is pretty fun if you give it a chance. Which is what it’s meant to be - not trapped inside a lesson plan.         

Tom Starkey teaches English at a college in the North of England