Tuesday, August 21, 2012

For undergraduate gen chem TAs and assistant profs...

...Here are some choice tidbits from "The Mindset List" by Beloit College, representing the world as understood by entering college freshmen:
The Mindset List for the Class of 2016 
For this generation of entering college students, born in 1994, Kurt Cobain, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Richard Nixon and John Wayne Gacy have always been dead.
  • They should keep their eyes open for Justin Bieber or Dakota Fanning at freshman orientation.
  • They have always lived in cyberspace, addicted to a new generation of “electronic narcotics.”
  • The Biblical sources of terms such as “Forbidden Fruit,” “The writing on the wall,” “Good Samaritan,” and “The Promised Land” are unknown to most of them.
  • Michael Jackson’s family, not the Kennedys, constitutes “American Royalty.”
  • If they miss The Daily Show, they can always get their news on YouTube. 
  • Having grown up with MP3s and iPods, they never listen to music on the car radio and really have no use for radio at all.
  • Since they've been born, the United States has measured progress by a 2 percent jump in unemployment and a 16 cent rise in the price of a first class postage stamp.
  • They have always been able to see Starz on Direct TV.
  • Ice skating competitions have always been jumping matches.
  • Despite being preferred urban gathering places, two-thirds of the independent bookstores in the United States have closed for good during their lifetimes.
  • Astronauts have always spent well over a year in a single space flight.
  • Lou Gehrig's record for most consecutive baseball games played has never stood in their lifetimes.
There are a lot more at the link; enjoy. 

[I think these are rather gross generalizations, but it is easy for me to believe that I live in a cloistered world.] 

3 comments:

  1. If I look at the one that applies to my year, it assumes I don't remember much of anything before I was 12.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh and get offa my lawn!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. As an OF (old fellow, G-rated definition), conversations with my (much) younger colleagues have taught me that my pop culture references are their 20th-century history and the songs of my youth are the songs of their parents or grandparents. Get off of my cloud!

    ReplyDelete

looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20