“It’s a tradition, my students have been doing this since when I first started teaching.”
“Yeah, but that was like a thousand years ago.”
This was one of the funniest lines in “Abbott Elementary,” an American sitcom where elementary school students treat their teacher’s past as ancient history, turning generational gaps into comedy. The generation gap between students and professors is quite an interesting dynamic in academia. But how are things different when there is almost no age gap? The experience of being a young instructor—teaching students not so different in age from oneself—raises questions about how age, similarity in background, and academic authority intersect in the classroom.
For 26-year-old Kristina Abovyan, the academic day starts in the Najarian Building, away from the hustle and bustle of the main campus. Once an EC student herself, she could not have imagined returning to her alma mater so soon. After pursuing her masters degree in journalism in University of Missouri, she’s back to teach EC core courses such as Journalism and Media and Society. Abovyan says she always loved teaching and felt it was a path she was naturally moving toward. “In the past, I was somehow involved in education by volunteering during my high school years, then working at the American Council’s office. I was also a teaching assistant during my master’s studies in the U.S.,” she says.
Her journey as an instructor began in Fall 2025, and her first day was unusual for both her and her students. “On the first day, the program chair introduced me to the students, as I was not the instructor they initially chose,” she says. “They were a bit shocked at first. Some were curious about how I ended up here and even asked me what I’m working on, or what projects I was working on in the past. Overall, it was positive.”
Not everyone, however, shared such a calm introduction to teaching. For the next young instructor, the biggest concern on his first day was simply not being late to his very first class. Luckily, he arrived just on time to his Freshman Seminar class.
“The freshmen were as confused as I was, since nobody usually chooses a new instructor for Freshman Seminar 2 at 9:30 a.m. – that’s a very bad combination. They have to take the class because it’s a requirement and there’s no room in other sections. They were basically stuck with it, which is not an ideal situation for an instructor,” recalls Narek Sukiasyan about his first day.
Sukiasyan, now a PG instructor who began teaching in spring 2023 at the age of 26, says academia was always something he felt drawn toward. “The main inspiration came from my older brother, who is also an AUA instructor. He had a very special relationship with his academic mentors,” he says.
That inspiration gradually grew into admiration for scholarly work and for the wisdom of professors he encountered throughout his Master’s and PhD studies in Yerevan State University. The idea of staying connected to academia, he explains, was always somewhere in the background, thus becoming a career path.
Sukiasyan notes that young age did not play a particularly significant role in his teaching. “I try to emphasize the advantages of being young and how it can contribute to a better classroom dynamic.”
Rather than seeing inexperience as a challenge, Abovyan emphasizes the effort young instructors put in their teaching. She says constant preparation and hard work on improving her classes help her feel more confident in the classroom, focusing on creating an environment where students can learn and grow.
As an instructor of journalism and media, Abovyan acknowledges a recurring challenge: some students enter the classroom without a genuine interest in journalism. Having once shared that hesitation herself, she understands where their concerns originate and approaches the subject with that perspective in mind. “Some students say it’s not their thing and I think it’s fine,” Abovyan explains. She also added that her age helps a lot to understand where students get their news from. “Sometimes I get my news from the same source due to social media, so I can check if they only used social media or read news articles as well,” she explains.
On the other hand, Sukiasyan admits that he sometimes finds it difficult to relate to his students, who occasionally perceive him as much older than he feels. “During one office hour, a student told me, ‘Well, you lived during Soviet times, you know what that was like,’” he recalls. “That’s when I realized I might not have the ‘young’ perception I thought I did.”
Earlier this semester, he encountered a similar moment of surprise in class. “I wanted to reference the March 1 events, which are a very important part of my upbringing as a citizen, so I assumed students would know about it,” he explains. Before continuing, however, he paused to ask who the youngest student in the room was. When a student replied that they had been born in 2008, the generational gap became suddenly clear.
Drawing from his own experience as a student, he designs his courses to focus primarily on knowledge and skills rather than subjective performance. “Whenever assignments depend on presentation or delivery, I try to offer alternatives,” he explains. “Some students express themselves better through writing or creative work, so I try to make that aspect less central and focus on what each person can actually deliver.”
One thing that Sukiasyan has in his syllabus is to give students an opportunity to make reels and produce podcasts. “I’m amazed by their boldness, creativity and ability to use different media, edit videos. Now I sound like my uncle. I also can edit videos but not on my phone that well.”
Their age can sometimes create funny situations, as they are often mistaken for students themselves. “Since I was also a student at AUA, staff members and even security guards sometimes confuse me with students,” Abovyan says. “Security has asked me whether I’m aware that certain spaces are for instructors only.” Meanwhile, Sukiasyan says that a lot of students might take him as another student, pointing out that “there are guys with thicker beards than me.”
Although AUA takes up a significant part of their lives, both instructors maintain routines outside the university. Sukiasyan admits that finding free time can be challenging, but friendships remain an important priority. “Most of my friends have children now, so I try to spend time with them and their kids to ease the burden of parenthood so they can have a little free time as well,” he says.
In some ways, he still shares habits with his students, including occasionally scrolling through Instagram for hours. One thing, however, is non-negotiable: watching his favorite football team play. “Those 90 minutes when Barcelona plays each week are something I can never miss,” he says. “It’s a gateway out of my routine. It helps me detach from daily responsibilities and feel part of something bigger.”
He also enjoys spending time at his favorite musical club, though he laughs at how work-centered his life has become. “I’m probably the most boring person in my friend group,” Sukiasyan admitted, struggling to name hobbies beyond teaching and academic life.
Abovyan cannot relate to that statement as her life is full of hobbies. “During my free time, I enjoy watching films and learning about the film industry, reading contemporary fiction, doing yoga, being in the sun and outdoors and crocheting little gifts for my family and friends.” She enjoys different genres of music, mostly pop, sometimes jazz and rock depending on her mood. “Two of my favorite music artists are Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.”
Abovyan admits that she sometimes struggles to relate to her students’ behaviours and attitudes in class, such as talking or often being late. But she adds that many students stay up late to complete assignments and stay on track, something she once did herself. “To be fair, these are all things I used to do at their age,” she says. “I catch myself thinking like my parents, and that sometimes makes me feel old.”
Sukiasyan experiences a similar feeling when it comes to music. “My favorite artist is Alla Pugacheva, who was my top artist of the playlist for two years,” he mentions. “She belongs to my grandparents’ generation, but I got hooked on her music about five years ago.” He praises her orchestral, jazz-rock, and sentimental songs, describing both the lyrics and production as outstanding. “And I’m not ashamed to say that, even though it might sound cringe not only to Gen Z, who often has no idea who she is, but sometimes even to people my own age.”
Being a young instructor comes with its own set of challenges. Abovyan mentions one of the most difficult aspects is finding the balance between being friendly and maintaining authority. “I imagined I was going to be harsh and strict,” she admits. “But when a student comes asking for an extension, bringing up different reasons like family emergency, lack of sources, especially in journalism, which is so hands-on — and they say they couldn’t find a story or feel overwhelmed and might even cry over an assignment, it breaks my heart.”
For Sukiasyan, the greatest challenge lies in juggling multiple jobs at once, as most people do in their 20s. Grading is also one of the hardest and most hated parts, especially in the social sciences when you cannot really give a precise grade within a 100 scale grading system.
Being an instructor is never easy, especially when the generation gap is almost nonexistent. Yet both Sukiasyan and Abovyan emphasize the same advice: be yourself and let go of the idea of becoming a “perfect instructor.”
