Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Worldview of our Students

With the first day of school quickly approaching (Noooooooo!) It is a great opportunity to remind ourselves of our goals are as 21st century educators: "For us to grow, we have to educate people to do jobs that don't yet exist, which means we have to invent them and train people to do them at the same time. That is hard and it is why we need everyone to aspire to be a creative creator or a creative server."

I love telling people about my job, "Oh, I'm only preparing my students for jobs that don't exist yet."

In order for us to foster the creative-creator or creative-server within our students, we better have an understanding of what  their worldview is, because it is a lot different than ours.  I wanted to share the annual Beloit College Mindset List--a gentle reminder for college professors that first year students see the world differently.  

"This year’s entering college class of 2016 was born into cyberspace and they have therefore measured their output in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and bauds. They have come to political consciousness during a time of increasing doubts about America’s future, and are entering college bombarded by questions about jobs and the value of a college degree. They have never needed an actual airline “ticket,” a set of bound encyclopedias, or Romper Room. Members of this year’s freshman class, most of them born in 1994, are probably the most tribal generation in history and they despise being separated from contact with friends. They prefer to watch television everywhere except on a television, have seen a woman lead the U.S. State Department for most of their lives, and can carry school books--those that are not on their e-Readers--in backpacks that roll."

I find it incredibly insightful that these students--who I had in my classroom two years ago, are facing their future with doubts. Wasn't college suppose to be a time of blissful optimism? It makes me wonder if I should be sending the message to my students that college degrees are paramount.  Should I instead be telling them that creating the job you love is paramount, the degree (and debt) can wait.

Here are some of my favorites on the list....

#63 The Twilight Zone involves vampires, not Rod Serling.
#60 History has always had its own channel.
#27 Outdated icons with images of floppy discs for “save,” a telephone for “phone,” and a snail mail envelope for “mail” have oddly decorated their tablets and smart phone screens. 
#28 Star Wars has always been just a film, not a defense strategy.
#11 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'.

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