What happens when two aging guys attempt to define the zeitgeist

How do this year’s college freshmen view the world? Let’s ask some guys who have been college professors since before they were born. Wait, what?

I’m talking about the Mindset List, an annual examination of young people’s frame of reference. The idea is that college students, while intelligent, may not get jokes about old TV shows or references to Iran-Contra because they never experienced those things. In order to reach these students, professors need to better understand the world they’re coming from. So the Mindset List attempts to define things that have “always” or “never” been true for incoming freshmen each year.

Interesting idea, and who doesn’t love a feel-good, back-to-school article about the zeitgeist? But the problem is, they get it wrong in the most patronizing ways. Possibly because the list is written by two old dudes. (That’s how a current college freshman would define them, anyway.)

Let’s take a look at the problems with this year’s list:

“Few in the class know how to write in cursive.” Um, what? My siblings, who are members of the college classes of 2016, 2018 and 2019, all know how to write in cursive. The elementary students I’ve supervised as a substitute teacher are practicing their cursive still. Teaching cursive is not obsolete – not yet, anyway.

“Buffy has always been meeting her obligations to hunt down Lothos and the other blood-suckers at Hemery High.” I’ve seen all seven seasons of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and I had to Google this. Turns out this is the plot of the obscure movie prequel to the series. If you’re a Buffy fan, you get why this is so hilarious and clueless – and by the way, most of today’s 18-year-olds are probably not Buffy fans, since the series ended before they even started middle school.

“Parents and teachers feared that Beavis and Butt-head might be the voice of a lost generation.” This item is more appropriate for my Mindset List, six years ago. “Beavis and Butt-head” ended when these kids were in kindergarten.

“Nirvana is on the classic oldies station.” Listen, I’ve just started complaining about hearing Phil Collins on KEYN. 90s music isn’t quite there yet.

“Reggie Jackson has always been enshrined in Cooperstown.” More like, “Who’s Reggie Jackson?” (No, seriously. I don’t know who that is.)

In the video, they go on to state that “tolerance and acceptance of all people” is a part of young people’s culture. It was a reference to the Americans with Disabilities Act, but as a general statement… I mean, it’s not like gay kids are getting kicked out of the prom anymore or anything. Oh, wait.

They also mention the fact that they’re both grandparents, which may well be the problem here.