Calling all young people, and the adults in their lives. Let me introduce you to Generation E, your generation. In the first decade of this new century you are one of millions of adolescents growing into adulthood facing unprecedented challenges and unequalled opportunities. You live in a world where dating has moved into cyberspace, relationships between parents and children are increasingly complex and multi-faceted, spirituality has become a matter of personal reflection and choice, and new collaborative and distance learning technologies push the boundaries of effective teaching and learning in directions both decentralized, self motivating and international. This is not your parents’ world.

As a high school educator for nearly thirty years, parent, author and international Enneagram (E-model) expert and workshop leader, I have become convinced that your generation, Generation E, has unparalleled ability, willingness and a crucial need to look deeply at itself and apply your hard-earned self-awareness to lives that can be productive and rich. One highly accurate study of the human psyche that can help you achieve this fulfilling life, is the E-model; a model of human consciousness and personality, that has helped millions of people around the world to a better understanding of who they are and how their personality serves them.

Recently I had the opportunity to introduce the E-model to a group of almost two hundred, sixteen and seventeen year olds using an indicator that I have developed for adolescents.

• Susan was amazed when she watched the video after taking the indicator, “Everything the Moralizer girl on the tape said could have been me talking.”
• Robert told his parents about the indicator and video, and learned that his mother knew the E-model, and was surprised by how quickly he could identify himself as an Entertainer. “I’ve known this for a while,” she said “we are the same personality type.”
• Julie was disconcerted to discover she was a Protector, someone who loves confrontation, believes in justice, and often acts out her “My way or the highway” credo. Disconcerted because she, “Didn’t want anyone to know those things about me. I’m shocked at the accuracy of the descriptions of the types.”

This E-world is what I want to introduce to you, our current twenty first century generation of adolescents, Generation E, and with your help speak and write of your concerns, hopes and dreams using the prism of the E-model. In future blogs I will describe what the E-model is and post vignettes of the types. You can find the Triads Personality Indicator for Students on my web site www.janetlevine.com. Leave a comment on the blog site or contact me at jlevinegrp@aol.com with responses to this blog. Know yourself—so the colleges, and indeed all the people in your life, know you. This is only one of a myriad reasons to explore the E-model.