Ag Lit BitWheel of Generation Gap
It was all over the news. How could ‘another feather in your cap’ become the talk of the internet? As the challenging puzzle stumped the contestants, it made me think back to my family’s Christmas Eve game, Millennials vs. Boomers. The object of the game was the Baby Boomers had to answer Millennial questions and vice versa.
My husband and I (the “hip” Boomers) had to answer questions such as, “What does ‘lit’ mean?,” “If someone has to ‘bounce’, what do they have to do?” and a few others that cannot be mentioned here. We didn’t do so well. Our kids had to answer questions such as, “Who was Mr. Ed?” and “What did the pocket calculator replace in the mid-70s?”. We might call it a generation gap or just an awareness gap.
Would my kids be able to recognize quotes from fairy tales that were quite prominent in the past like, hey diddle diddle, the cat, and the fiddle, ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___? I’m quite certain they’d ask for the deep meaning of that, and I’d tell them to google it. There are plenty of others to ponder such as Jack Sprat, Ring around the Rosie, and the list goes on.
The last few years have introduced all generations to a whole new set of terms and expressions that may someday appear on Jeopardy, but most likely not Wheel of Fortune. We find some gaps when using “farm” terminology with students and hope our programming gives them some exposure to and curiosity to learn more about agriculture. The letters we receive from kids show just how much they gleaned from us which will make them stronger contestants on future games featuring ag facts.
We will have our spinning wheel out and ready for all generations on April 30 at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Questions will pertain to the important role of pollination and agriculture and are geared to not totally stumping our visitors such as,
“People and Pollinators are part of the same food web. True or False?”
Stop by to learn some fun facts. Who knows, you may be on a game show someday!