http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-08-21/class-2016-college-freshmen-mindset-list/57171478/1
The class of 2016 grew up in cyberspace, a factor that has
increasingly influenced how today's undergraduates approach the world, authors
of two recent works say.
These cultural touchstones are part of a 100-item
"Mindset List," released Tuesday by Beloit College, that describes
what "normal" looks like for students born in 1994. Produced annually
since 1998 as a cheat sheet to help faculty avoid making outdated references,
the Mindset Lists have evolved into a catalog of generational change.
In a companion guide published for the first time this year,
list creators Ron Nief and Tom McBride say members of the fall 2012 entering
class are addicted to all things electronic and "think nothing of texting
a friend whom they know is only a block away."
Nief and McBride stress that they're drawing a portrait of
the incoming class, not judging it. Still, many of their observations parallel
those in a book, to be published in September, that takes a starker view.
In Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today's College
Student, authors Arthur Levine and Diane Dean conclude that today's
undergraduates are electronically far more sophisticated than their parents or
teachers, yet woefully unprepared for the real world. The authors characterize
them as coddled, entitled and dependent.
"This is a generation with an average of 241 social
media friends, but they have trouble communicating in person," says
Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and
author of two previous books about college students.
The book and this year's Mindset List note the impact of the
worldwide recession. Today's freshmen have "entered college with questions
about jobs, whether the college degree has value," Nief says. "Their
attitude toward life in America and the future is different from those of just
a few years before."
The Mindset List has drawn the attention not only of
educators but of police departments, military services and employers. At NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center, this year's Mindset Lists will be featured in a
leadership conference open to employees who span four generations.
"We want everybody to increase their awareness and
understanding of what makes generations unique and different, so that we can
better work together," says Gail Williams, who is coordinating the
program.
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