Senior Faith Johnson rolls her eyes when she sees a lazy-looking person raise his hand in class. He is dressed like a typical slacker and usually spends his time sleeping. However, today he actually paid attention and what he said was somewhat insightful. Johnson is surprised – and ashamed.

“I assume that most people of my generation are simple-minded,” Johnson said. “Then I feel bad, because I shouldn’t assume that they’re stupid. I shouldn’t apply stereotypes to people.”

Johnson herself has been stereotyped because of her age. Once, when she was at a store, a woman asked her how old she was when she had her child.

“[People] assume that I’m a teenage mom when I walk around with my sister,” said Johnson.

Johnson believes that this generation could work to improve the way older generations perceive them. For instance they could put more effort into appearance and learn to work harder.

“Our generation can work on work ethic and self-expression,” Johnson said. “Stop pining for ‘bae’ over Twitter. Stop sagging. [Have some] self-determination.”

Government teacher Peggy McCarty also recognizes that her generation is stereotyped – and she concedes that some of it is true.

“I spend most of my day with students,” McCarty said. “They think I’m old and mean. I’m sure I’m out of touch; I’m not good with computers, I drive slow – I drive too slow.”

McCarty was a young adult during the Vietnam War. She has been stereotyped as an anti-war socialist, which she agrees is true to a certain extent. Younger generations have also assumed that because she was young in the 1960s, she was into psychedelia (that is, the typical hippie lifestyle and subculture). McCarty knows that stereotyping can be harmful, so she has tried to let go of some of her assumptions.

“I’ve spent a lot of time trying not to stereotype people,” McCarty said. “Good stereotypes are harder to forget.”

McCarty has learned that not every younger person – or older person, for that matter – fits into the mold they are often placed into. For example, a student of hers once showed her how to play music with Pandora. And she has known adults older than herself that are better with computers than her. She believes that age can have its advantages (senior discounts, for example) and that knowing someone is older than you can give you the confidence to ask them for help.

“You can never make people see you the way you want them to,” McCarty said. “You just have to be who you are.”