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SIUE Student and Instructor Mindset Lists for 2011 (spring semester)
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. This semester, for example, one entry included, "Some instructors helped make buffalo become an endangered species."
Pesky facts aside, both lists, I think, provide great insights for students and instructors alike.
SIUE Student List of the Current Student Mindset
1) With the help of in vitro fertilization and surrogacy, natural conception is not the only way we entered the world.
2) A phone without Internet access is useless, and unlimited texting is a must.
3) Thursday is the new Friday.
4) Jeff Bridges, not John Wayne, is Rooster in True Grit.
5) TV shows and movies aren't worth watching if they're not played in high definition or on a Blu-ray.
6) America On Line has always been old school.
7) Some students nowadays have two majors. The most important one is partying.
8) We cannot imagine going one day without technology.
9) Searching for information in a library is an ancient practice that we only do when we're forced.
10) We do not need to spend money on calculators because they are already built into our phones.
11) Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo are not artists but rather green crime fighting ninjas.
12) Underwear can be a fashion statement.
13) Facebook is a religion, not a website.
14) Jeans good enough to wear have never been less than sixty dollars.
15) We've never experienced a cold war, just a hot desert one.
16) Text messaging is our main source of communication.
17) Holes in your jeans make you look good.
18) As soon as someone says GTL, you know instantly what they will be doing with their day.
19) Checking Facebook every 10 minutes from your smartphone is normal.
20) For us, Michael Jackson was always white.
21) Jersey Shore is more than just a beach.
22) Texting is considered more personal than vocal communication.
23) P. Diddy has changed his name at least four times in our life.
24) We find going to the store to buy or rent a movie a pain when we can stream thousands of shows to our computers and televisions instantly.
25) We can get a workout by playing a video game.
26) We were in grade school on 9/11, and had no idea how it would affect our whole lives.
27) Will Smith is an actor, not a musician
28) We don't need directions to go anywhere; all we need is the address to put into our GPS.
29) You are not officially dating someone until all of Facebook knows it.
30) We have never "ducked and covered" under our desks in fear of a nuclear attack.
31) What is happening in Jersey Shore is more important than what is happening in D.C.
32) We accept the placement of dollar signs into pop singer's names.
33) Everyone knows Randy, Paula, and Simon (in that order).
34) Students entering college barely remember what it's like to have to memorize a home phone number.
35) There are no such things as black and white films. They are called flashbacks.
36) Lady Gaga is our Marilyn Monroe.
37) The only enemy we have known is in the Middle East.
38) Any TV but a flat screen is considered ancient.
39) "Grinding" is not something that you do in metal shop, but on a dance floor.
40) Any moderately important or exciting event must immediately be posted on Facebook.
41) MTV has never played music during the day for more than 15 second intervals.
42) "Ice" doesn't jsut go in your cup, it can go around your neck.
43) When crowned the biggest loser, we are not offended.
44) People no longer need the ability to read another person's mind, our every thought can be documented online.
45) Fresh doesn't mean you smell good it means cool.
46) Tours have always been allowed in the Buckingham Palace.
47) Barbells are not just a piece of exercise equipment, they are used for body piercing.
48) You don't go to a doctor about your symptoms – you can Google them and buy the medicine Yahoo answers suggested.
49) Cell Phones are more computers than they are actual talking devices.
50) Cheerleading has always been an option for both girls and boys.
51) Telling the world your every move over Twitter and Facebook is socially acceptable.
52) Many students believe The Who is a question, not a rock band.
53) Spell checking has always been just a mouse click away.
54) I really don't know who JR Ewing was, but my world fell apart when Dumbledore was killed.
SIUE Student List of the Current Instructor Mindset
1) The word "Fly" meant becoming airborne.
2) They couldn't fast-forward through commercials
3) They had to wind their watch each morning so they knew what time it was.
4) They knew it was bedtime when they heard The Star Spangled Banner on TV.
5) Pagers were a status symbol.
6) Forgetting a footnote meant retyping the whole page.
7) Cameras only produced pictures from film.
8) Getting up to change the channel was not a hassle.
9) The special effects in the original Star Wars were mind-blowing to them.
10) They didn't share their name, age, location, and pictures with strangers on social networking sites as kids.
11) "Gothic" used to describe medieval culture and art styles, not kids who wear white make-up.
12) 75 MPH was only achieved in emergencies, now it's the minimum for most people on the interstate.
13) Blackberries were for eating not talking to friends
14) Vinyl referred to a way of listening to music, not just something you sit on in a car.
15) Cable was something you used to jump a dead battery.
16) They could walk into an airport without being frisked or having their body scanned.
17) They were able to reach their destination without the use of MapQuest or a GPS system.
18) Apple Inc. was thought of as some kind of a fruit company
19) Computers were like airplanes, most people didn't own one.
20) Disco wasn't dead.
21) Instead of night lights, there were lava lamps.
22) Postal service was the only way to contact people about events.
23) The Laserdisc was the way of the future.
24) Michael Meyers was scary, because he never spoke.
25) Pac-Man and Pong were two of the most entertaining video games ever.
26) Fluorescent shirts, leg warmers, high top sneakers, and big hair were the norm for them.
27) What is a 'guido'?
28) All of the cool kids had an 8-track player.
29) Sending a text to a friend takes them at least half of a day.
30) Their jokes were funny.....when it was opposite day!
31) Johnny Cash is to instructors as Lil Wayne is to students.
32) Vampires haunted their dreams, they weren't the man of their dreams.
33) They had to get cash out of their checking account before the bank closed because there were no ATMs.
34) Price tags and stickers were taken off of hats when purchased and worn.
35) Entertainment was generally something considered to be a little more wholesome than 'Jersey Shore' or videos of cats.
36) They carried pocket change for pay phones.
37) Frodo and Sam's journey to Mordor was nothing compared their trip to school.
38) They could go to a Movie, buy 2 tickets, popcorn, 2 sodas and candy for less than $20.
39) They remember when social networking actually involved leaving the house.
40) When they talk about the King dying they mean Elvis, not Michael Jackson.
41) A cordless phone meant freedom.
Students in the sections that contributed to the assignment include:
Tim Anderson, Eric Black, Weston Blake, David Boudreau, Alexandria Briere, April Cason, Brianna Coffey, Ida Davis, Valerie Davis, Nathan Dillon, Shelby Eller, Adam Gatson, Walter Gaultney, Sam Greco, Heather Gustafson, Jessica Haar, Stephanie Hamilton, Jackie Hartman, Brian Hayes, Katherine Hereford, Jordan Horne, Haley Kamp, Daniel Kincaid, Kevin Kozel, Christopher Larsen, Marcus Mafla, Caleb Mansfield, Jeremy Martin, Cathryn Mcintosh, Ace Moore, Mickey Mourning, Eric Peterson, Chey Pribel, Abby Rideout, Ben Rohde, Jordan Scheller, Emily Sirko, Amber Smith, Devon Spaw, Jeffrey Thornton, Angela Toenyes, Sharaina Turnage, Jacob Vizcarra, Jamie Vogler, Joshua Vogt, Alex Williams, Recie Wilson, Bricie Winkler, Tyler Wise, Mariah Baltzell, Jamie Balzraine, Jessica Belangee, Nicholas Blaylock, Megan Borland, Rachel Bray, Robert Caito, Samuel Cearlock, Jon Cody, Tristin Cooper, Logan Eader, Kristee Elliott, Zachary Evans, Stefanie Gaitros, Anna Gibbs, Kate Helbig, Melissa Hild, Olivia Hopson, Hannah Jelm, Corey Johnson, Alexander Kilby, Stevi Kinscherff , Emily Lenth, Taylor Lewison, Melissa Licata, Kyle Luechtefeld, Matthew Malak, Macy Manning, Tyler Maxwell, Megan Mckean, Blake Mealey, Jessica Morehouse, Scott Neunaber, Mandy Newsome, Krystal Pingel, Courtney Reiter, Tori Renth, Ivy Rich, Emily Rigdon, Adam Robinson , Sheila Sadrerafi, Wesley Schroeder, Grace Shartzer, Stephanie Sizemore, Sean Smith, Jennifer Snyder, Mikaela Sullivan, Martia Terstegge, Jennifer White, Noelle Zimmerman
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