What goes on in a college freshman’s mind?
In the next two years, both of my children will be leaving home to attend college. Like most parents of teens, I have a hard time understanding this generation.
However, each August, Beloit College professors publish a “peek in the mind of a college freshman.” This is a list to help professors and administrators understand the younger generation. Parents could use help with this list, too!
Some of the things that caught my eye that affect this generation:
1) Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.
2) Personal privacy has always been threatened, and caller ID has always been available on phones.
3) Students have never heard a gasoline-station attendant ask, "Want me to check under the hood?" yet they have always seen gas stations selling fancy coffee.
4) Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.
5) Students today can't remember a time when a non-Southerner was the U.S. president
6) For them, cars have always had air bags
7) Richard Burton, Ricky Nelson and Truman Capote have always been dead.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the two men who compile the list—Tom McBride, a professor of English, and Ron Nief, director of public affairs—note that some things seem remarkably similar to the world as it was in 1990. For example, in 1990, "Rising fuel costs were causing airlines to cut staff and flight schedules; Big 3 car companies were facing declining sales and profits; and a president named Bush was increasing the number of troops in the Middle East in the hopes of securing peace.”
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A Peek Into
the Mind of the Average College Freshman
By DON TROOP of
the Chronicle of Higher Education
Yes, professor, you really are getting
old. Just take a look at the members of this year's freshman class.
Assuming the students in that class were born in 1990, they would have been
conceived about the same time as the World Wide Web, taken their first steps as
Clarence Thomas took the Supreme Court oath, and had their entire lives to angle
for a gig with Teach for America. And the Warsaw Pact— what's that?
Each August, Beloit College publishes its Mind-Set List to help professors and
administrators understand the average incoming freshman's frame of reference by
describing how things have "always been," or at least how they've been for the
past 18 years.
The two men who compile the list—Tom McBride, a professor of English, and Ron
Nief, director of public affairs—note that while many things have changed since
the Class of 2012 was born, some things seem remarkably similar to the world as
it was in 1990: "Rising fuel costs were causing airlines to cut staff and flight
schedules; Big 3 car companies were facing declining sales and profits; and a
president named Bush was increasing the number of troops in the Middle East in
the hopes of securing peace."
The
Beloit College Mind-Set List
For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan,
and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.
1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.
2. Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at
parties.
3. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
5. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.
6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.
7. Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
8. The students' parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George
Bush announce "tax-revenue increases."
9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.
11. All have had a relative—or known about a friend's relative—who died
comfortably at home with hospice.
12. As a precursor to "whatever," they have recognized that some people "just
don't get it."
13. Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando,
Fla.
14. Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.
15. Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.
16. Häagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.
17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.
18. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
19. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
20. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their
parents.
21. Students have always been "Rocking the Vote."
22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
23. Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.
24. We have always known that "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in
Kindergarten."
25. There have always been gay rabbis.
26. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.
27. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
28. IBM has never made typewriters.
29. Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the national anthem again.
30. McDonald's and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french
fries.
31. The students have never been able to color a tree using a raw-umber Crayola.
32. There has always been Pearl Jam.
33. The Tonight Show has always had Jay Leno as its host and started at 11:35
p.m. Eastern time.
34. Pee-wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
35. They never tasted Benefit cereal with psyllium.
36. They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.
37. Authorities have always been building a wall along the Mexican border.
38. Lenin's name has never been on a major city in Russia.
39. Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
40. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the United States.
41. Macaulay Culkin has always been Home Alone.
42. The students' parents may have watched American Gladiators on TV the day
they were born.
43. Personal privacy has always been threatened.
44. Caller ID has always been available on phones.
45. Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.
46. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.
47. The students have never heard a gasoline-station attendant ask, "Want me to
check under the hood?"
48. Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
49. Soft-drink refills have always been free.
50. The students have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show
about "nothing."
51. Windows operating systems have always made IBM PC's user-friendly.
52. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.
53. The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.
54. The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
55. 98.6 degrees F, or otherwise, has always been confirmed in the ear.
56. Michael Milken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate-cancer
research.
57. Off-shore oil drilling in U.S. waters has always been prohibited.
58. Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public
issues.
59. There have always been charter schools.
60. Students always had Goosebumps.
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A peek into the mindset of a college freshman
Students entering college this fall have always had weather reports available 24 hours a day on television. To them, George Foreman is famous only for selling barbecue grills.
Feeling old yet? Here's more.
Today's college freshmen were born in 1984 and know "Big Brother" only as a TV show. They think hair bands are always fashion accessories. And they can't remember a time when GM Saturns weren't on the roads.
"For these students, there's a different frame of reference," said Ron Nief, who for five years has helped compile 50 defining characteristics such as these for a list given to faculty and staff at Beloit College in Beloit, Wis.
Employees received this year's "Mindset List" yesterday.
The purpose of the list is not to make people feel old, but rather, to help professors and other employees better relate to their younger students.
If a professor knows who Eminem is, he might be able to use him while teaching Shakespeare and Milton, said Tom McBride, a professor of English at the college, who helped compile this year's list.
Students today can't remember a time when a non-Southerner was the U.S. president, have always drunk Cherry Coke in cans, and have always known the drug Ecstasy to be around, the list says.
For them, cars have always had air bags, Richard Burton, Ricky Nelson and Truman Capote have always been dead, and Vanessa Williams and Madonna are considered aging singers.
"I have to be aware of what they know. And to some extent they have to know what I know as well," McBride said.
In earlier years, students took offense, saying it made young people look stupid or ignorant. But it was never intended to be read that way, and its authors are now especially careful about wording, Nief said.
"We're not trying to say 'They don't know;' it's more, 'Where are they coming from? What's their frame of mind?' " Nief said.
The Mindset List has become somewhat of a national resource. Beloit officials have received calls from the Pentagon and MTV. The Pentagon wanted help training young recruits; MTV hoped to influence advertisers. Last year, after the list was released, Beloit College received 1,200 e-mail messages in 24 hours, Nief said.
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