Edmundson, Nevin: Beloit List

After reading the differences on the mindsets between incoming freshman and the professors, I now truly see how different, yet alike, we are. Many things professors would consider “controversial” or “absurd” are things we, as students, see as normal. Some of the past generation would look at our generation and frown upon us, but what about their generation? Did the generation before them not frown upon them just as they do us?  

The simple fact is we are on in the same. Everything that our generation uses and says in everyday life is a fad. The generation our professors grew up in had fads of their own as well. Technology is just another fad. Soon another new thing will interest us and we will move on; it’s just how the world works. We use phrases such as: “Been there. Done that. Bought that T-shirt.” but did their generation not say: “You sound like a broken record?” The phrases have the same general meaning, but it’s the trend, the underlying urge to find new things that changed the wording behind it. I have never understood it when someone not of my generation told me things such as: “It’s your generation that’s driving this nation into the ground.” How are we destroying this nation, or going to destroy it? Is it because we rely on technology? Is it because we don’t pay as much attention to the news as we should? Or is it because they think life is just handed to us? Our generation has proven that even in a fast changing world, we will adapt. The simple fact that we have calculators that do the work for us or that we have phones that can offer us more information than our local library should not diminish the fact that we are more than capable of taking care of ourselves and not becoming lost in the innovations life has to offer us tomorrow. 

           

On that same note, it is clearly apparent that there are things we have not had to grow up with that their generation has. We have not truly seen how harsh the world can be. Women and race have always been “accepted” in the work force, and as a matter of fact, discrimination is now a major law issue, whereas to their generation, this a fairly new concept. Our generation does tend to focus too much of our free time on useless information. There isn’t much use in knowing which “Jersey Shore” character most looks like a girl at your school. On the topic of television, I actually was stunned when I found out that at one point “Rocky Horror Picture Show” was not a common show aired around Halloween time when it first came out. When I first found out that it was not just banned from TV, but banned from being sold in this country, I was utterly blown away. It just goes to show how much television has changed in what it airs and what is now acceptable for our youth to freely see.

             

It must be difficult for professors to “click” with any student, considering how different our worlds are from the outside eye, but as previously stated, students and professors are not too different deep down. In fact, we are one in the same, and once we get past that, the bridge between students and professors will quickly be established and learning, on a deeper level, can truly begin.