For the past two years I have done a post about the mindset survey from Beloit College. Each year they do a list of things/events/people that are unknown to college freshmen. Here’s some of the things/events/people from this year’s list – kids who were born in 1992 and will be graduating in 2014.
1. Many don’t know how to write in cursive. (EVERYONE I KNOW, KNOWS HOW TO WRITE IN CURSIVE, THEY JUST DON’T DO IT.)
2. Most don’t use snail mail. (IT’S TRUE. WHY WOULD WE?)
3. Many have never worn a watch (they use their phones to tell time). (I WORE A WATCH WHEN I WAS LITTLE BEFORE I HAD A PHONE.)
4. Venti-half-caf vanilla latte has always been a common term. (TRUE)
5. 25% of the class has at least one immigrant parent. (PROBABLY TRUE.)
6. They haven’t seen John McEnroe play professional tennis. (I’VE NEVER SEEN JOHN MCENROE PLAY TENNIS AND I DON’T CARE. I KNOW HE DOES FIBER COMMERCIALS.)
7. Most have never used a phone with a wire. (NOT TRUE. WE USED TO HAVE ONE, STILL HAVE ONE IN THE DEN.)
8. They’re unfamiliar with carousels of Kodachrome slides. (NOT TURE. GRANDPA HAS A SLIDE PROJECTOR AND I HELPED HIM CONVERT HIS SLIDES TO CDS.)
9. Reggie Jackson has always been in Cooperstown and computers have always had a CD-ROM disk drive. (WHO CARES AND WE USED TO HAVE COMPUTERS WITH FLOPPY DISKS.)
10. Czechoslovakia has never existed and Jr. R. Ewing is dead and gone. (WHO CARES?)
11. Beethoven has always been a dog. (I KNOW ABOUT CLASSICAL MUSIC.)
12. Having a hundred channels, but nothing to watch has always been normal. (TOTALLY TRUE.)
I have one of those college freshmen this year … and many of those things are true of him!
Can you think of any others, Lauri?
Today’s college freshmen have never seen the Cubs win a World Series.
Oh wait. . .
Many of the folks in nursing homes have never seen the Cubs win a World Series. That one hurts, Jeff.
Yes, so true, so true … about the Cubs, that is!