Nevin's Data "Points"

There’s an oft-repeated line from that 1967 classic movie “Cool Hand Luke” about a “failure to communicate.” Now, most of us aren’t trying to convey the consequences of violating prison rules, but there are messages where mere words sometimes fall short of their purpose. There are literal barriers in terms of language, of course—but all too often also barriers built of different life experiences, of cultural references, and certainly of age. Indeed, we frequently use words, or employ metaphors to enhance, or at least provide some flavor to our explanations/instructions—only to have it fall on ears that may hear the words, but lack—or in some cases, confuse—the necessary context (I’m routinely forced to reference the Urban Dictionary to make sure certain words haven’t taken on an unintended meaning).    Mind ‘Set’ In that spirit, several years back I stumbled across something called t...

Those “kids” who were just dropped off at college for the first time? By their sophomore year, their generation will constitute one-quarter of the U.S. population. How will their retirement be different? That’s according to the authors of the so-called Mindset List – now housed at Marist College, having relocated from Beloitt College – has been published each August since 1998 . Originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, the list provides a “look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college.” Not to mention those who will go on to be workers and – eventually – retirees. This fall’s college class of 2023 is the first class born in the 21st Century (2001) – and thus lack a personal memory of the September 11 attacks. According to the authors of the Mindset List: This group has never used a floppy disk (heck, they’ve probably never even seen one, except at that “save” icon). Their phone has a...

Several years back, I was talking with a colleague about the current state of the U.S. economy – and as a comparison point, I pointed to the mid-1980s. “I wasn’t even born then,” she said. At which point I realized that what I considered to be a relevant point of comparison was, to my coworker, ancient history. That memory comes back to me every year with the release of Beloit College’s annual “ Mindset List .” As that coworker discussion reminds me, a lot can change in (just) 18 years, but these same 18 years also make up the mindset – or “event horizon” ­– of today’s entering college students. The kids many of you just dropped off at college – the Class of 2022 – were (for the most part), born in 2000, the first year of the new millennium. The folks that compile this list know that those differences in experience and points of reference have an impact on the (perceived) relevance of the points we might try to make in college teaching – and even in terms of fina...