Of the research presented in class, the piece that stood out most to me was Beloit College's annual mindset list. Not only do I find demographics fascinating, I try to appreciate their cultural relevancy, particularly in student-teacher relations. My curiosity thus piqued, I decided to cross-reference the mindset of my own college class (2009) with that of the most recent (2016). Here are some of the most interesting things I found:
- For today's college freshmen, Kurt Cobain (one of my favorite songwriters) has always been dead. I don't remember Mr. Cobain's passing myself, but the Seattle Explosion would certainly be a more relevant point in music history for me than it would be for them.
- The Class of 2016 has "always lived in cyberspace." I've definitely noticed a slight gap here when speaking to members of this class, such as my younger sister. I grew up with the Internet, but I still remember its infancy and the associated growing pains. Whether for communication, research, or socializing, I'm sure there are different expectations from those who never experienced dial-up connections.
- "Bill Clinton is a senior statesman of whose presidency they have little knowledge." While the second Bush administration probably had the biggest impact on my life and political thinking (so far) of any, I do remember the Clinton years, particularly with regards to the impeachment trial. Having that as my introduction to politics (as opposed to, say, the War on Terror) is probably another significant difference.
- "The paradox 'too big to fail' has been, for their generation, what 'we had to destroy the village in order to save it' was for their grandparents'." That much we have in common. However, when I consider the general apathy on politics and economics that seems to characterize this mini-generation, I only hope that they learn some lessons from it instead of tuning it out.
- "Their folks have never gazed with pride on a new set of bound encyclopedias on the bookshelf." This is a departure that I welcome, despite my enduring love of the bound book. The online, editable encyclopedia is a fantastic innovation in terms of information transfer and access. One of the biggest challenges to educators, however, will be teaching the students of the Wikipedia era how to discern which digital information is reliable (for academic research, but also for critical thinking).
These are just a few of the illuminating points I found on Beloit's lists. I certainly think we should be cautious (or at least healthily skeptical) about research findings, but it's hard to see much of an agenda in this particular study. I do think information such as that presented in the mindset lists is valuable, if only because of the cultural relevancy gap that necessarily exists between older teachers and younger students. While I have quite a bit in common with this year's college freshmen, the gap will only widen as I continue to teach successively younger classes of students. While trying too hard to act or sound like one's students can fall flat as a connection technique (students, in my experience, can smell a phony), some knowledge of their world, their experiences, and their values is essential in choosing how to present even perennial concepts in the classroom.
