Generational Generalizations

I know I'm somewhat obsessed with generational issues, but I can't help myself.

Have you ever been to a Chinese restaurant that uses those placemats listing all the animals in the Chinese zodiac (dog, dragon, horse, rat, etc.) for each year, along with the personal characteristics of the people born that year? The notion that everybody born in a particular 365-day period shares the same personality traits has always struck me as hilarious.

Increasingly, though, the federal government seems to have adopted the Chinese animal zodiac approach to future workforce planning. As agencies become more and more obsessed with baby boomer retirements, they're becoming increasingly reliant on sweeping generalizations about the workers of the future based on when they happen to have been born. The latest example I've seen is in a new Air Force publication on future training and education efforts. It contains the following "description of generational differences:"

Baby Boomer (Group I)

• Born from 1946 to 1954
• Key characteristics: experimental, individualism, free spirited, social cause oriented

Baby Boomer (Group II)

• Born from 1955 to 1964
• Key characteristics: less optimistic, distrust of government, general cynicism
• Digital Immigrants

Generation X

• Born from 1965 to 1979
• Key characteristics: quest for emotional security, independent, informality,

  entrepreneurial

• Digital Immigrants

Millenial (Generation Y)

• Born from 1980 to 2001
• Key characteristics: quest for physical security and safety, patriotism,

  heightened fears, acceptance of change, technically-savvy, environmental

  issues

• Digital Natives

Wait a minute. Being born between 1955 and 1964 automatically saddles me with a bunch of negative baggage -- lack of optimism, distrust of government and general cynicism? And my little sister gets to be independent, informal and entrepreneurial on her quest for emotional security, just because she was born a few years later than me? These sort of prejudicial broad-brush statements don't strike me as being of much more use in describing people based on their age than they were in characterizing people based on their race, nationality or gender.