Working at a university, I have the opportunity to interact with college students on a daily basis. Up until recently, I didn’t consider myself to be THAT far removed from the college student age bracket. True, I have had time to graduate college, take a year off, and complete grad school two years ago – but that really doesn’t seem like nearly as long as it sounds.
Being on a college campus, though, and interacting with students everyday has recently helped me realize that I am indeed NOT in the same age bracket anymore. For one, I really had forgotten how young 18-year-olds are. Our student staff in our office are all young – either freshmen or sophomores – and a couple of them are in their first semester of college. I don’t think I would have admitted it at 18, but kids that age are just that – kids.
I’d like to think I was a bit “older” at 18, but I’m sure I wasn’t … not at all. (I’m probably still not). For a couple of them, this is their first real job, and that’s something I have to remind myself pretty often. They need a lot of coaching, and it’s proving to be a bit of a challenge finding that balance between holding their hands and letting them loose with some trial by fire.
Back to the point, though … me. I realize more and more everyday how old I really am getting to be. We often play music in the office, often trying to find the most random selections possible. One such random selection by my boss was New Kids on the Block’s “Step By Step.” In case you forgot it, here ya go:
Anyway, earlier today, I made the statement that “Thanks to Jeremy, New Kids on the Block was stuck in my head.” One of our freshmen students responded with, “Who?” I thought he was kidding, so I kind of snorted and snickered a bit. But then he repeated it his question. I asked if he was serious, and he said that he really didn’t know who that was. I asked him what year he was born, and he informed me that he was born in 1990. Seriously. Current college students were born in 1990!! To have missed the 80s entirely is just a travesty, but that also means that most of these students:
- Were not born when the Challenger space shuttle exploded
- Were not born when terrorists took down Pan Am Flight 103
- Were born AFTER Jim Hensen had died
- Were born while the first Gulf War was taking place
- Were still infants during the L.A. riots
- Were not yet in kindergarten at the time of the (first) O.J. Simpson trial
