What's the difference between millenial and Gen Z politics?

[Padfoot]

I am what the media is now referring to as a "geriatric millenial" and I've been teaching middle school for the last 6 years so I feel like I've seen what they are like as young people but I can't say for sure what they will be like as adults.

One major difference I feel like I've noticed is that Gen Z seems to be more empathic and open to accepting people of varied backgrounds.  I think that being raised in the age of social media has taught them that people are icebergs and the part they show you above the surface doesn't always reflect the things they may be dealing with down below.  They realize that everyone has crazy stuff happening in their lives so when someone seems to be acting weird or different it is better to give them the benefit of the doubt instead of ostracizing them.

Another thing I've noticed is that there seems to be more gender equality in their social interactions and expectations of one another.  I feel like mixed gender friend groups are much more common than I remember from when I was the same age.  One thing that particularly struck me this year was that many of my sixth grade students were surprised to learn that Kamala Harris is the first woman ever to be VP.  They just sort of assumed at least some woman had been there before her.