Class of 2014 Mindset List

Every year Beloit College releases a “mindset” list of interesting cultural tidbits that have influenced the students entering college this fall. Not only does this list make me feel older ever year, but it always makes me wonder how the heck they research this stuff?
Some of my favorites from this year’s include:

  • Few in the class know how to write in cursive.
  • Los Angelenos have always been trying to get along.
  • John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.
  • Parents and teachers feared that Beavis and Butt-head might be the voice of a lost generation.
  • Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.
  • Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.
  • Adhesive strips have always been available in varying skin tones.
  • Nirvana is on the classic oldies station.
  • One way or another, “It’s the economy, stupid” and always has been.

 
Katherine Price
Educational Consultant

The Benefits (and Risks) of a GAP Year In Tough Economic Times

The New York Times carried an article yesterday, entitled
Delaying College for a Year Could Have Benefits, which lays out a few creative reasons for putting off college for a year.
The financial arguments boil down to this:
1.  President Obama’s proposed changes to federal student aid may put a few hundred dollars more per year in a student’s coffers (of course, the plan will have to get through Congress first…but perhaps, “yes, it can”).
2.  The economy could get a bit better, meaning that money Mom and Dad have set aside might be worth a bit more tomorrow than it is today (of course, it could also be worth less…but who wants to think that way?).
As the article attests, it is tough to get many students pumped up about a Gap Year, because it just “isn’t the norm.”  However, I like the idea of a Gap Year for many students who really don’t have a solid direction, who maybe don’t love school so much and need a break, or for kids who want to take advantage of their youth while they still have it.
If I had it to do all over again, I’d certainly take a Gap Year.  In fact, I’d like to take a Gap Year now.
What is that quotation about how youth is wasted on the young?  Who said that?
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
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