When it comes to generational divides, unflattering stereotypes abound. Baby-boomers are Beatles-obsessed real-estate hogs; Gen Xers are vinyl-fetishing finger-waggers and millennials are entitled, smashed avocado-munching whiners. 

Highlighting generational differences is a great way for journalists to get clicks, but how accurately do these categories really describe us? And, for the so-called ‘millennials’, what are the real and perceived differences in choices, attitudes and behaviour from older generations? 

Emily Sexton hosts Clementine Ford, Kayla Rae Whitaker, Will Kostakis and Tom Taylor for a conversation that looks past the stereotypes to examine the changing nature of adulthood in Australia today.

Presented in partnership with Bendigo Writers Festival.

Tom Taylor, Will Kostakis, Kayla Rae Whitaker, Clementine Ford and Emily Sexton — Photo: Peter Weaving Photography

Remember that old Ford ad: ‘The average young Australian family has 2.3 children’? Today it seems quaint and dated; it probably seemed dated to a lot of people when it first aired back in the 1990s.

The traditional nuclear family – with two heterosexual parents and two or more children – is on the decline. Reduced birth rates, the rise of blended families, increasing numbers of same-sex parents and a growing Child-free by Choice movement mean our ideas around family are shifting.

Madeleine Morris, Chloe Shorten, Caroline Baum and Alyena Mohummadally

In this Question Time discussion, hosted by Madeleine Morris, our audience pose questions to three fascinating panellists, each with a different take on the notion of family in 2017. Chloe Shorten is a public affairs specialist, mother in a blended family with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and the author of Take Heart: A Story of Modern Stepfamilies. Caroline Baum is a journalist and the author of Only, a literary memoir about being an only child. Alyena Mohummadally is a lawyer, primary teacher and queer activist raising two boys.

Are notions of ‘average’ and ‘ordinary’ oppressive and limiting when it comes to ideas around family? What, if anything, are we losing with the decline of the nuclear family? And, if it truly takes a village to raise a child, do we need to expand our ideas of family even further?

What are millennials up against, and what do they bring to their challenges?

In Griffith Review’s Millennial Edition, guest editor Jerath Head has invited young writers to lend their sophisticated critiques to the culture they’ve grown into. They include Briohny Doyle, whose story addresses wistful dreams of real estate ownership despite her scant prospects; Yassmin Abdel-Magied, who writes of the contrast between her activism and that of her parents; and Timmah Ball, whose piece deals with racism, ‘corporate feminism’ and the inspiration of Indigenous women who’ve come before her.

In their essays, each writer deals with the question of how millennials can find their place in a time of massive change, and a fraught, difficult world. In this episode, they join us for a chat about writing and coming of age in the 21st Century.

Jerath Head, Briohny Doyle, Yassmin Abdel-Magied and Timmah Ball

You might like 13 Jun 2017 Past event

Invasion of the Pod People

Can U Not? Featuring Megan Tan  /  Radio

With Megan Tan, Brodie Lancaster, and Kamna Muddagouni

‘An investment in knowledge pays the best interest’, Benjamin Franklin said, and it seems most people agree that education is important. Unfortunately, we disagree on the details: what constitutes a good education? And who should pay for it?

Education reform has featured in the ambitions of all prime ministers in this last decade of revolving-door leadership. Most recently, Malcolm Turnbull has proposed a radical plan of turning over funding of public education from the federal government to the states.

Last year, University of Queensland published a widely publicised study, showing that private school education does not give students an academic edge over their public school counterparts. So, why do governments keep pouring money into them? And why do parents continue to make sacrifices to educate their kids privately? Is an education about more than academic results and, if so, what do private schools offer that public schools don’t? How much of this is about marketing and perception?

We unpack these questions, and more, in a full hour of audience Q&A. Hosted by Madeleine Morris with Monash University education researcher, David Zyngier; former Camberwell High principal, Elida Brereton; and Lucy Clark, author of Beautiful Failures.

Madeleine Morris and Lucy Clark