Tan, Su-Ann: Beloit List

                                    Between university faculty born before 1980 and students of today, many differences and similarities exist. What could have been the most innovative idea of the 1980s could well be archaic to the younger generation of today. At the same time, some aspects of the past might even still be considered up-to-date and still in use today.

                                     

The main difference between the faculty of the past and students of today is the physical technology each had access to how it was operated. The faculty members who students encountered in classes back then were teaching larger classes and doing more “service” at the same pay or less than those of today. This meant that the student-to-professor ratio was larger; students rarely had the chance to meet their professors in person. Many faculty members were also untenured of working part time, with many employed at more than one institution. They were working under a governance system that did not require administrators, advisory boards, and regents in the making of academic decisions. They lived in a time when "C" was the average grade  students received in courses, as that was deemed satisfactory in their day. They also worked with sports coaches who were not receiving million-dollar salaries.

Those born before 1980 lived in a time when people lived entire days without access to bottled water, and stadiums were built without sky boxes. While students of today have 24/7 access to information via the Internet, faculty born before 1980 used libraries with actual books for their research papers. Purchases for students have always been available online either on Amazon or eBay, and it was the norm to be classmates with someone called Mohammed or Jesus. Music and movies, thanks to piracy, have always been available for free downloading from the Internet, and new video games released were always improved upon previous versions. Today, cars travel on the roads almost silently, while cars back then were one of the main contributors to noise pollution.

                                     

Despite having these differences, there are a number of similarities between generations. Though there are not as many similarities as differences, one of them is that both considered the technology of their day as the most innovative technology they could possibly have. For example, personal computers of the 1980s were considered as the most high-tech technology possible. Today, we think our current high-tech electronics, the iPhone or iPad, in the same way. A second reason they are both similar is in the way both think; each knows the main reason why the other is in the college. Faculty know students are in college to increase their learning capacity, and students know that the professors are there to pass down the knowledge they have to them.

                                     

Though there are many more differences than similarities between the faculty born between 1980 and the students of today, each one of these points are still valid in understanding the mindset of both characters. Ignorance is never bliss in this world – we must remain aware of our surroundings. Thinking out of the box to discover the difference between the past and the present would aid us immensely in planning for our future. We would be able to deal with the future because we already understand how much the world would change or stay the same starting from today.