Teacher Becomes Irritated And Removed a Student From Class Over A Rude Comment About “Boomers”
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The boomer generation, better known as the baby boomer generation, has recently come under fire for being unable to keep up with the times and constantly talking about longing for the era of “in my day..”. The younger generation feels their way, the old way no longer has room in society, and they should stop talking about how everything is worse now and get with the program.
A reader who teaches a job skills class recently ran into a younger student taking his class who had nothing to offer other than a quip about being a “boomer.”
Job Skills Class
The original poster (OP) teaches a job skills class at his local church. The class is meant for people who need help finding and getting a job. The class goes over job skills such as creating and writing resumes, applying both in person and online, interviewing for jobs, and other skills people may need when actively looking for work.
The class targets people who have had extended layoffs and those looking to rejoin the workforce after having children or retiring. The class tends to see an older demographic, but they welcome anyone, young or old, looking to improve or learn skills to join the workforce.
He goes on to say that his most recent class had a mix of old and young people, and he likes to have his groups, especially the older students, talk about their work history and what they want to gain from the class.
He enjoys doing this because it gives a different perspective to those in the class, especially the younger students, and also allows him to gauge the most helpful topics to cover for that specific group. He began his discussion by having a few of the older folks who had previously had jobs and were looking to get more skilled in certain areas or rejoin the workforce go first.
“Boomer” Comments Towards Others
As the older students in the class began talking about their work history and experience, it led to many of them talking about how things are so different now versus when they first joined the workforce and how it’s difficult as an older adult to keep up with technology, online interviews, and apps being used to apply for jobs.
Due to this, one of the younger students kept muttering things under her breath, such as “peak boomer” and “boomer energy.” This led the teacher to ask her to keep her comments to herself and be respectful of others.
As the discussion moved on, the younger student continued to make comments until, finally, the teacher told her if she made another comment about others in the class, she would be asked to leave. The young woman then yelled out, “OK, boomer,” to which the teacher then kicked her out of the class.
He says his wife does not support him kicking her out of class because she needed help, but he feels she was being disrespectful and would not stop talking and making rude comments.
The Internet Weighs In
Redditors gave their opinions on whether the man had a right to kick the student out of his class due to the “boomer” comments.
One Redditor said, “NTA, she needs to learn some social skills. You did your job and taught her about the consequences of being an AH IRL.”
A second Redditor said, “You also found out why she doesn’t have a job. Her lack of respect is why she can’t get a job. Unfortunately, you can’t fix her parent’s mistake. NTA”
A third Redditor said, “NTA. You warned her that she needed to stop being disrespectful. She was creating a negative atmosphere in your class. She decided to keep it up after being warned. Well, you just taught her a lesson that might be useful to her in the workplace.”
Another Redditor said, “She may need help, but someone who acts so poorly doesn’t come off as wanting help. If she’s comfortable acting like such a child in a charity job help class, lord helps her when she gets to the real world in an employer’s office.”
A user also said, “NTA- The irony here is that my understanding of Ok Boomer was to point out the ignorance of persons from a certain generation. Patronizing people who are trying to better themselves is actually showing their own ignorance.”
Finally, A Redditor had this to say, “NTA. She was being disrespectful. You gave her fair warning, she continued. Needing help doesn’t give you a free pass to be an AH. In fact, you taught her a valuable lesson about job skills. You can’t just act however you like without consequence.”
Source: Reddit
