Erin Brockovich


Reading the Beloit Mindset List made me think of the faux commencement speech published in the Chicago Tribune in 1997 called Wear Sunscreen. I graduated Jr. High in 1998, but had not read the article. I must not have been a big news paper reader at age fourteen.  But, the year I graduated high school, in 2002, that speech was remade into a recording by Baz Luhrmann. It was called "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen." I was 18 graduating high school just like this Beloit Mindset list was delivered to 18-year-olds today, so this was what we listened to the entire summer before going into college: Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen

I have actually had students in my classes listen to this audio version, as an assignment, and write their own version of advice to pass down to seniors at their old high schools to provide any guidance or wisdom. The Mindset List would be a fun assignment to give students.
 
When reading Mindset List, I was surprised to know someone had skied down Mt. Everest - I must have missed that! I was proud of wins like Wikipedia, gender categories, Erin Brockovich, and advances in barbaric dentist practices among other progress we've made as a culture. At my age, 35, I feel proud to have contributed to or watched the world develop into what 18 year olds today know and experience. I am just about twice their age. I was there age when they were born, so the 18 years they  have experienced I suppose my generation has had an effect upon.
 
I was also surprised to see Survivor on there, which is insane, 20 years. I have seen every season, probably twice, since I saw the first season when it actually hit TV for the first time; I was probably fourteen watching it with my parents and grandma on TV, with commercials. I want to assure you, in  case you were worried, two more seasons are confirmed and in production, so Survivor is good for another few years at least. Whew! So that's something I can relate to my students about (joke! I'm sure I'd be laughed out of a classroom if I asked who else was a Survivor fan, but maybe). There's always crushing on Robert Downy Jr. - win, for his Iron Man comeback!

Of course there are aspects of the world that are more relevant to the upbringing of our students than pop culture: war, politics, convenience (zip car - I actually used Flex Car before Zip Car took over), banking being an issue in my opinion, as we are so disconnected from our own finances and consumerism as well as adult responsibility in general. These are important points of reference to consider about upcoming generations and help them through their educations and social/emotional development.

Comments

  1. Kara McElwrathSeptember 10, 2018 at 11:05 PM

    Great job on your first posting, Cassidy! I always get a kick out the Mindset List - it's become a tradition of my 'getting ready for school' process. It's really intended for professors teaching college, but I think what's important is that all teachers carefully and thoughtfully consider their incoming class of students regardless of their age/grade. If we have any hope of reaching our students, then we need to have some sort of understanding of what 'life' means to them so that we can make our lessons meaningful and engage them in discussions.

    And I think that attitude of considering our students and their perspectives is what leads many teachers to turn to technology. Not that technology is the answer to all our problems in education, but it can certainly has potential to be part of the solution.

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