For some time, I have been writing in these pages about generations: Generation X, Millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha and even the emerging Generation Beta. Each time I return to the subject, I become more reluctant to judge one generation by the standards of another. Generations do not grow in isolation. They are shaped by their homes, classrooms, institutions and, above all, the opportunities society places before them.

Having spent nearly three decades as a university teacher, I have had the privilege of watching generational change unfold inside the classroom. I taught students who entered university before smartphones transformed everyday life, and I now teach young people for whom the digital world is inseparable from reality. This experience makes me cautious about describing Pakistan's Gen Z simply as passive, indifferent or asleep.

My students are often remarkably aware of what surrounds them. They discuss unemployment, inequality, corruption, climate change, politics and institutional failures. They have access to information at a speed unimaginable when my........

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