Most days I feel pretty young. I like to think of myself as a teenager in my 30s. But just spending his hour or two with my nephews and noticing how they see the world can really make me realize I’m getting older.
So, with school starting and school holidays just around the corner, I was curious if teachers had moments like this. So we asked teachers in the BuzzFeed community to share with their students the moments when they suddenly felt older. Their reaction was so hilarious and so true. Here’s what they said:
1.
“I had a student say 1992 the ‘late 1900s’ the other day. I hate that they’re not actually wrong.”
2.
“My student called a friend a boomer and I asked what that did to me. He looked me up and down without hesitation and said ‘prehistoric man.'”
—Adam, 22
3.
“I was talking to a student and she said she liked her belt. She thanked me and said this was a Y2K problem. Another teacher I was with asked what So I said I think it was a brand.The students looked at us and said,” “It was a fashion style like the 2000s. This other teacher and I thought that the 2000s I said it was the era that was her age, not the fashion style.”
— Nikki Grant
Four.
“I told students in my class that I used to play soccer when I was their age. One student seriously said, ‘Wait, soccer was invented when you were a kid?’ ?’ I asked.”
Five.
“The student asked if it was good to have grown up ‘back then’ in the 1990s. I stared at him blankly for a moment and then said I was born in 1998. I have no recollection of that at all. .”
—sgbloveshores
6.
“In addition to teaching elementary school, I also work with children entering preschool and kindergarten during the summer. I tell one kid that if he really likes a song we are singing, he will send me a link to the CD. She looked at me and said, ‘What’s a CD?'”
— Skipney
7.
“Each April 30th, I post a Justin Timberlake meme called ‘It’s Gonna Be May.’ I teach senior high school students and I’m only 34.”
8.
“I work at a university. One of the students asked me how old I was, and I was 26 at the time. She said, ‘Well, don’t worry, I’m actually 26.’ You don’t look old.’ LOL.”
—Laura, 30
9.
“At a college seminar (age 18), we were discussing press regulation and how much we thought celebrities should have right to privacy in tabloids. I was informed that “nobody” would get celebrity news from.Anyway, “they” always go straight to the source itself (the celebrity’s social media accounts), so anyway, they didn’t seem to understand that someone would read the tabloids for celebrity gossip, as I read. I was shocked too, even if they said that none of the media students had heard Survivor, land before time, or David Lynch. ”
— Moviemania562
Ten.
“Students asked me, ‘I love reading old books. What was Harry Potter like in your generation?’ I was eight years old and they didn’t believe me when I said Harry Potter was my generation’s Harry Potter.”
11.
“I was wearing old Doc Martens boots that I had from school and one of my students said it was amazing how their generation influenced my fashion choices 🙃 ”
— Libby 77
12.
“We had corded earphones in the computer room and the cord kept getting tangled (imagine who has to untangle it). I asked him if he knew how to put away his earbuds and I said no because I’m used to them.Wireless earbuds.I’m only 7 years older than the learner, but at that moment I felt very old. I felt it.”
— Indie Seed
13.
“Last June, in a language class of 17 and 18-year-olds, the students were assigned a celebrity and played a game of guessing who that person was based on clues from their peers. was assigned ‘Madonna’.” “And they didn’t understand the answer. It turned out that at least 60% of the class had never heard of Madonna. But it’s the oldest I’ve ever felt.”
14.
“I’m the student council adviser at my school. At the first student council meeting, the students thought ‘Generation’ would be a good homecoming dress-up idea, so senior students would become senior citizens. Then a sophomore said, ‘Yeah.’ “And juniors could be millennials! Middle-aged, you know.” I was about to ”
—Shaina, 32
15.
“When I saw this, I felt old and at the same time ‘wow’. When I was talking to my high school class, we were talking about age and joking about their slang, maybe the word ‘intravenous’.” I said, but when I hear that I managed to get an intravenous drip, I want to recommend penicillin. My loved ones say, “Well, you’re not that old. You’re younger than my mother, and she’s 50!” Actually I am 51 years old. ”
—Thea, 51
16.
“I teach theater at the university level. I read contemporary plays with my students that had scenes from the 90s and early 2000s and jumped through time. started talking about One student then told the group that he wished he had lived in the 90s because it was “a simpler time.” He was so angry that he nearly fainted. ”
17.
“A colleague and I were quoting Fall Out Boy’s ‘Sugar We’re Going Down,’ and one of the tenth graders was staring at us like crazy. She said that I hadn’t even heard the song, because it was three years before she released it: “I was born, and this year’s freshman, 9th grade, was born the year I graduated from high school.” So… it’s definitely… something.”
— Yogi Witch
18.
“When you ask elementary school students, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up? , Minecraft programmers, YouTube stars, and “influencers.” I grew up I felt very old (and I feel a little sorry for these kids). ”
—James, 48
19.
“My high schoolers don’t know who Oprah is. I have no idea 😭😭”
20.
“I work in a kindergarten and there is a picture book for each letter of the alphabet. V-books have pictures of videotapes. It didn’t.”
—Melissa Powers
twenty one.
“I teach ESL (English as a Second Language) so there is a generation gap and a language barrier. A student raised his hand and asked.”
— Magsaloo
twenty two.
“Last year, 2022, I had a 6th grade student explain who Eminem was. It didn’t.”
twenty three.
“I was in middle school when 9/11 happened and I told my class that I was watching the footage live on TV. They asked if it was in color.”
—meloneinthedark
twenty four.
“Last year, fifth graders asked me what a fax machine was.
—cltqueenb
twenty five.
“Two years ago I had a fifth grader bring an iPod Nano to class (I’m a music teacher) and I said, ‘Look, it’s vintage!’ It felt ancient right away.”
26.
And finally, “I was explaining the meaning of ‘antique’ to a junior high school English learner. I said, ‘Antique is something old but valuable.'” One of my students said, “Oh. Are you like Mr. X?” I took it as a compliment. ”
— Lorna, 60
Can you empathize? Share your story in the comments!
