Sorsby, Taryn: Beloit List

What is the difference between an instructor and a student? Is it age, experience, tenure, or environment? It’s my firm belief that while both share common concepts, all are individuals. The two links assigned give different views: one illustrates how students feel about teachers, the other of what the teachers should expect of incoming students. The truth is these articles are in some ways inadequate, for they list things that aren’t always factual. Though the gap between learners and teachers is vast, there are still ways in which the two can connect.

As a child born in 1993, I’ve always had access to computers and other technology. Now that the Internet is faster and more efficient that ever before, most teachers say that this year’s freshmen have had it better off than those before. “They are the first college freshmen to grow up taking the word ‘online’ for granted,” - Ron Nief and Tom McBride. But what these authors fail to understand is that my generation is, in no way, taking the Internet for granted. Our whole country is centered on innovation. Innovation leads to 18-year-olds having 24 hour access to the entire world via almost any kind of technological device. To say today's students are abusing that privilege is to say that the first students who had access to desktop computers, libraries, typewriters, and historically influential speeches also did the same. Today students just have more access to those resources than students before. In this way, both are the same. The difference is the extent of the technology now available compared to what it was before.

The Beloit College List states, “Andre the Giant… [has] always been dead.” for this year’s freshmen. I wasn’t aware he’d died until a few years ago. I grew up watching The Princess Bride, and it never occurred to me to look into whether Andre was still alive. I may be at fault for having thought something false, but so are the designers of the Beloit College Mind-Set List for assuming such things of my generation. Here is another example, “Refer to LBJ, and they might assume you're talking about LeBron James.” It seems that I’m supposed to know who LeBron James is because of my age. I know he’s an athlete, but I couldn’t tell you what sport. I do, however, know who Lyndon B. Johnson is. If I asked who Justin Beiber or Mark Zuckerberg was, would any of my professors know? Older generations know things the younger ones don’t and younger generations to know things the older ones don’t. All generations are the same in that they can be naive about each others facts. The difference is that older generations are not required to learn about the present while the younger ones are forced to take classes to learn about the past.

I understand that this list isn’t made to offend freshmen, but rather give insight to the teachers about the incoming class. Still, I believe we deserve a little more benefit of a doubt.  How my generation sees the world is completely different than how older generations see it. What I see as normal, such as celebrity trials, others see as momentous. Though a wide information gap exists between the generations, they still share the same advantages such as access to information. Professors just need to be more mindful of student knowledge, and students need to be able to connect more with their instructors.