It is amazing to think that today's newest generation to come of age can't imagine a world without color television, cell phones, personal computers, microwave ovens, or automatic dishwashers, washing machines, and dryers. Many of today's college students have never seen a vinyl record, much less owned one, have never used a pay phone, have never popped popcorn in a pan on the stove, can't imagine a world without satellites, GPS, or e-mail. They're bright, savvy, some wise beyond their years, but its amazing how different their lives are than were those who came of age just 50 to 60 years ago.
And while I enjoy them immensely and count many among my personal friends, I think sometimes this new college generation is missing out on some perspectives of history, have some very wrong ideas about lives their parents and grandparents led
I lifted this off an old friend's Facebook page, but can probably come up with a link if you absolutely insist:
I hope there are others who find this phenomenon interesting. But if not. . . .
And while I enjoy them immensely and count many among my personal friends, I think sometimes this new college generation is missing out on some perspectives of history, have some very wrong ideas about lives their parents and grandparents led
I lifted this off an old friend's Facebook page, but can probably come up with a link if you absolutely insist:
Beloit, Wis. Born when Ross Perot was warning about a giant sucking sound and Bill Clinton was apologizing for pain in his marriage, members of this falls entering college class of 2014 have emerged as a post-email generation for whom the digital world is routine and technology is just too slow.
Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. The creation of Beloits Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. The Mindset List website at Beloit College Mindset List, the Mediasite webcast and its Facebook page receive more than 400,000 hits annually.
The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since "digital" has always been in the cultural DNA, they've never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (whos that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat.
Nonetheless, they plan to enjoy college. The males among them are likely to be a minority. They will be armed with iPhones and BlackBerries, on which making a phone call will be only one of many, many functions they will perform. They will now be awash with a computerized technology that will not distinguish information and knowledge. So it will be up to their professors to help them. A generation accustomed to instant access will need to acquire the patience of scholarship. They will discover how to research information in books and journals and not just on-line. Their professors, who might be tempted to think that they are hip enough and therefore ready and relevant to teach the new generation, might remember that Kurt Cobain is now on the classic oldies station.
The college class of 2014 reminds us, once again, that a generation comes and goes in the blink of our eyes, which are, like the rest of us, getting older and older.
I hope there are others who find this phenomenon interesting. But if not. . . .