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SIUE Student and Instructor Mindset Lists for 2009
You may be familiar with the Beloit College Mindset List for incoming students, compiled each year by Drs. Ron Nief and Tom McBride. This list is described as "an effort to identify the worldview of 18 year-olds" entering their first year of college, intended as an aid to help instructors understand the mindset or worldview of students. This is great project and I've been following the list almost since its inception.
I thought about this list as a teaching aid in the Introduction to Anthropology course here at SIUE. One of the first anthropological concepts we discuss in class is cultural relativism – understanding other groups from their own point of view. The Beloit College Mindset List is clearly an attempt by one group (instructors) to understand another group (students). I thought it would be fun to try it the other way around. I assigned students to read the Beloit list, and to come up with two lists of their own: one composed of events or ideas that shaped their own mindset (with the same goal as the Beloit list, but from their own point of view), and one to explain the mindset of their instructors to their fellow students.
I'm including selections from each list below. The "instructor mindset list" has a much broader target than incoming freshmen, but not quite as broad as some of the students assumed. It included, for example, "Bill Clinton was not the first president to be impeached in their lifetime" (The only other president to be impeached was Andrew Johnson, in 1868), and "The radio was the greatest invention in their childhood" (1890s, if I'm remembering correctly). Pesky facts aside, both lists, I think, provide great insights for students and instructors alike.
SIUE Student List of the Current Student Mindset
1) btw, lol, wtf, lemme, thnx and plz aren't misspelled.
2) Changing your hair color is easy and fun.
3) Ewan McGregor, not Sir Alec Guinness, is Obi-Wan Kenobi.
4) "Party like it's 1999" has never quite made sense to us.
5) Spending money on jeans that already have holes in them is a fashion trend.
6) Going green doesn't mean your getting sick, but saving the environment.
7) We fear "Black Friday," not "Black Monday".
8) Male enhancement infomercials are considered repetitive, not outlandish.
9) All girls were always sad Leonardo had to go down with the Titanic.
10) Intermission in a movie theater doesn't exist.
11) College is hardly ever just 4 years.
12) We can carry up to 30,000 songs in our back pockets.
13) Lawn Darts have always been banned from sale in the US and Canada.
14) TV series have always been available on video or DVD.
15) Sonic the Hedgehog has always been the mascot of Sega Entertainment.
16) Dinosaurs are not nearly as scary to us because the purple one on TV taught us all about sharing and being nice.
17) Cloning, of animals at least, is not something we would ever think belongs only in science fiction.
18) The new millennium is now almost ten years old.
19) The war in Iraq and Afghanistan are the only two wars we remember.
20) We haven't used a land line in years... unless we got grounded from the cell phone.
21) We never thought the world would end in 2000.
22) Gas prices have always been over $2.00
23) YouTube can make people famous.
24) Shirley Temple has always been a drink.
25) American Idol is looked forward to as family "bonding".
26) If you are against tattoos you are the minority.
27) Your best friends are the ones you meet on x-box live.
27) Having no phone service is as bad as your house catching fire.
28) Not having a Facebook is a sin.
29) Brides have always worn white for 1, 2, and 3 weddings.
30) Oh, The Places You Will Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
31) The legal drinking age has always been 21.
32) The Berlin Wall has always been down.
33) Governor and Schwarzenegger are two of the funniest words in the English language.
34) We remember the “Great Furby Rush” of 1998.
35) Weird obsession with the 1980s.
36) Obesity in America has been at a record high all of our lives.
37) We barely remember the age of encyclopedias.
38) The economy has always been spiraling downward.
39) We only hear stories of how the U.S. beat Russia in the 1980 Olympics.
40) We have no idea how to do math without a calculator.
41) Brett Favre has always been an NFL quarterback.
SIUE Student List of the Current Instructor Mindset
1) "Microwave" was a scientific term in physics, not something that you heat food with.
2) All cars were manual shifters.
3) Mood rings, lava lamps, pet rocks, and Rubik’s cube were groovy when they were kids.
4) They grew up when soda was only sold in glass bottles.
5) Phones are only for talking.
6) Typewriters were the most updated form of technology to do something not hand written.
7) They are getting deja vu as the "hippie" style is making a come back.
8) No matter where they lived they always had to walk at least 5 miles up AND down hill in the snow to school.
9) The summer and winter Olympics were held in the same year.
10) Smoking recently became bad for you.
11) Rap and pop will never be understood.
12) There will never be anything like The Rolling Stones.
13) Blackberrys will never be user friendly.
14) What is emo?
15) A drive-in movie was the ultimate date.
16) The 1st portable phones were as big as walkie-talkies.
17) The King of Rock has always been and always will be Elvis.
18) They had to walk to the T.V. to change channels.
19) They remember iconic “fashions” such as bell bottom jeans, platform shoes, and leisure suits.
20) Charlie Brown and The Wizard of Oz only came on once a year.
21) Floppy disks and black records were considered high technology.
22) They remember exactly where they were when the first American landed on the moon.
23) Star Wars referred to either a trilogy of movies or Reagan's missile defense system.
24) They had to watch TV in black and white.
25) Smoking was permitted inside public buildings.
26) The drinking age changed multiple times.
27) They knew a life before Google.
Students in the sections that contributed to the assignment include:
(Section 006) Jordan Albers, Seth Allison, Rodney Batts, Joe Bauer, Nathan Bennett, Hannah Bernaix, Seth Castel, Brittany Chandler, Brittany Cushman, Jacob Damon, Kirstin Drenon, Alyssa Franklin, Jenna Goeckner, Zara Graham, Danielle Groom, Shannan Hendree, Traig Henson, Melissa Hild, Jamie Hogan, Lexi Holland, Jason Homeyer, Liz Hoover, Marty Jenkins, Christopher Keck, Kori Lankford, Stephanie LeMaster, William Lovell, Angie Mang, Ryan Marchewka, David Martinez, Sam Mead, Raffi Mikaelian, Kari Mysker, Vonchie Nicholson, Kristen Nowdomski, Natasha Patterson, Lyle Polus, Christopher Raver, Katelyn Robertson, Spencer Saal, Whitney Sauerhage, Carrie Schnieder, Jeremy Shipley, Stephen Speights, Greg Viessman, Christen Volin, Alyssa Watts, Caleb Zimmerman.
(Section 007) Kate Alexander, Rob Allen, Jon Anderson, Emmaline Archdale, Drew Beckley, Scott Berkel, Dan Blodgett, Ryan Cantrell, Peter Carpenter, Nick Costillo, Anderw Crites, Michael Derick, James Dietrich, Kelly Edwards, Aaron Eslinger, Mark Fildew, Arianna Gebauer, Joe Gehrig, Josh Grizzle, Jacob Hess, Paige Hood, La'Shawnda Jennings, Lexi Johnson, Vincia Jones, Elizabeth Kroner, Johanna Krumwiede, Katie Lawder, Stuart Love, Cody Lucas, Winston Mansker, Elena Martinez, Zach McIntyre, Kevin Milkert, Monea Monda, P.J. Naughton, Melissa Phillips, Christine Powell, Ryan Price, Benjamin Pursley, Brad Rimmert, Nicole Rodenberg, Tenikia Smith, Paula Sydow, Haylee Tarrillion, Morgan Tartar, Erin Taul, Tyler Wendt, Lindsey West, Jeramy White.
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