Every year Beloit College comes out with a new Mindset List. This list is a humorous and enlightening way to look at the life experiences of college freshman and the world they have grown up in. Most of these students were born in 1995, so they completely missed the 80s and will miss any references you may have to them. Some items from the 2017 Mindset List include:
- As kids they may well have seen Chicken Run but probably never got chicken pox.
- Eminem and LL Cool J could show up at parents’ weekend.
- With GPS, they have never needed directions to get someplace, just an address.
Take a look at this list to give you a little more perspective on the new and naive students who scuffle into your class with a Starbucks and an iPhone. They have grown up in the same but a vastly different world as you and me. Your standard jokes, movie references, or explanations may not make sense to them, instead you may need to catch up on popular YouTube videos, Hunger Games, or an episode of Breaking Bad before class.
Good luck to both the students and faculty braving this new semester, and remember – no references to Jerry Maguire, Happy Gilmore, or The Titanic, when those movies came out your students were probably still in diapers!