For Class of ’09 Computer Viruses Are Nothing New or Unusual
Instead of “hardening of the arteries,” public affairs director
Ron Nief, of Beloit College, likes to talk about “hardening of the references.”
That’s a polite way to say that some of us get so fixed in how we view
the structure of our world that we’re sometimes unable to get into the
mindset of our students.
Most entering freshmen this year were born in 1986. So, Beloit College once
again shares its annual Mindset List; to shake us up a bit, and to remind us
that the “references” we structure our worlds by are not the same
as those of our incoming freshmen. For example: To our freshmen class, “’Heeeere’s
Johnny!’ is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson, not a warm welcome from
Ed McMahon.”
Can you picture a darkened classroom where a teaching assistant stands up and
commandingly waves to the far corner, from which is striding the professor for
a 100-level class on its first day this coming semester: As he announces, “Heeeere’s
Johnny!” several students from the back rows get up and flee the room
in terror?
Well, maybe not. But to this same group, “[c]omputers have always suffered
from viruses.” They have no memory of a digital experience without some
risk of viral infection. That certainly is a distinctly different reference
point to the world than most of us have. You can read the complete Mindset
List here.
I was reminded of the differences in references by my oldest daughter’s
wedding last Friday. Most of the guests, other than relatives of the bride and
groom, were friends of the bride and groom. Solely because we’ve
managed to addict my new son-in-law, Nic Spitler, to disc golf at
least I know quite a few of their friends as friends, as well. It got rather
tiring being constantly referred to as “Mr. Calhoun” by those I
don’t know well, but every interaction was enlightening as to just how
different their world is.
Since my daughter, Ruth, graduated from Marymount Manhattan College earlier
this year, and Nic is a few years older, they’re not really on the same
level as incoming freshmen, but they’re close. One major difference, of
course, is that they’re now experiencing the burden of student loan debts
at a level most of us cannot imagine (unless we have kids that age) and which
the incoming freshman probably lack reference points to even worry about.
I guess we’re all lucky that “Oliver North has always been a talk
show host and news commentator,” rather than a scary, out-of-control military
officer trying to do nefarious deeds, ostensibly on behalf of the United States.
I wonder what they all think about that terrifically religious person, Pat Robertson,
calling this week for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela.
My guess is that the religious right in the US is currently engaged in destroying
its own future with things like this, because it underestimates how much of
what it is doing is understood by these freshmen with an entirely different
set of references; and will ultimately be rejected.
A far better predictor of which sets of values will triumph in the next 20
years is this fact about our young freshmen: “They have always been comfortable
with gay characters on television.”
But how about this? “Cher hasn’t aged a day.” That’s
so sad. I can remember being in love with Cher, when it was still ‘Sonny
and Cher,’ and how much my first wife actually identified with Cher and
did her best to look like her. (It was a pretty good effort.) To those of us
who lived through those years, it’s just not possible to think that “Cher
hasn’t aged a day.”
“They have suffered through airport security systems since they were
in strollers.” Well, that’s certainly a contrast. I can recall flying
to New York City with my mother when I was probably around 9 years old. Not
only was there no security at the Pittsburgh airport, everyone was dressed up
in suits and ties and dresses and people actually smoked on the plane.
Here’s one Beloit College missed, actually: “The entrances to buildings
have always stunk like cigarette smoke created by the marmot-like nicotine addicts
who pop up and cluster near entrances.” But Beloit did get: “They
were never tempted by smokeless cigarettes.”
This year, though, there’s a new Down
Under’ Mindset list from Massey University in New Zealand. It offers
a slightly different perspective, not to mention the names of several people
I’ve never heard of: “The United States has always been fighting
terrorists. The Challenger Seven” have always been dead astronauts. Chernobyl
has always been a nuclear disaster.”
But, back to the USA: “There have never been any Playboy Clubs.”
That’s right, those died out before these kids were born. Of course, we
now have Hooters and, even worse, another one that Beloit College missed: “Since
we were old enough to care, pretty much any kind of pornography has been available
to them, 24x7, via the Internet.”
And. On quite a sad note: “They never saw Roseanne Roseannadanna live
on Saturday Night Live.” Sigh.
It’s a fun exercise. I’m grateful to Beloit for putting this together
every year. Maybe if we read it a few times and give the Mindset List some thought,
we’ll be better able to both understand where these young freshmen are
coming from, and also pick up some of their youthfulness to get us through the
next month.