Each fall for the past eight years, with the release of the Mindset List, media around the world focus on Beloit College. The List, which examines the benchmarks and milestones of students entering college, is used throughout the academic community, by clergy and business people, and by the armed services to help ministers, managers, officers, and teachers understand the frame of reference of new college students. This year, most of them were born in 1987.

The List is not intended to be an indication of what students do and do not know. Rather it is a “back to school” reminder to students that while their event horizons may be limited at the age of 18, they will be greatly expanded over the coming years. It is also a reminder to faculty—who may be only a Ph.D. older than the inquiring minds before them—that their frame of reference may need review also. Their understanding of issues has been tempered by a different set of facts and events.

Photo by: Bob Rashid

John E. Burris

Just as the Mindset List is attracting attention from NBC, CNN, Fox, and other media heavyweights, Beloit is already focusing intensely on those first-year students. We recognize that each year of college has special dynamics in the educational process, but we are particularly proud of our First-Year Initiatives (FYI) program, now in its 15th year.

This year, Beloit offered 21 FYI seminars, which are being taught by our finest faculty. They serve as a precursor of what is to come: what we expect of students and what students should expect of us. The seminars of 15 students represent the size of an average Beloit class and require the kind of engagement that faculty will anticipate from students throughout the next four years.

We enjoy a certain amount of intellectual adventure in the FYI program. Faculty from all over the College lead seminars: scientists, social scientists, humanists, artists. For instance, one of our English professors is teaching a course on the philosophy of biology and on Darwinism, while an education professor is teaching an FYI seminar on international cooking.

How do these very different and intellectually adventuresome courses contribute to our students’ education?

First, every FYI seminar emphasizes writing and revision. There is, in fact, a special FYI Writing Guide that deals in some detail with questions of style, organization, punctuation, and argument. Chuck Lewis, who directs our writing program, is very involved in FYI, not only by teaching in it but also by conducting seminars for other FYI faculty on how to engage students in the writing process.

Secondly, the FYI program emphasizes the acquisition of skills that are necessary for students to succeed in college. So whether the topic is food, population, or Darwin, students focus on how to make presentations in class, engage in debate, respect the opinions of others, and counter respectfully the points of view with which they disagree.

The third element has to do with collaborative learning. This is very different from the average high school experience and explains the necessity for seminars that are small in number. Students learn how to work together, and they learn how to make the most of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. In many ways, this is practice for the kind of work they will be doing after they graduate. In small groups, they have to learn to get along with one another, to profit from each other’s differences and disagreements, and to work individually while figuring out a way to coordinate efforts that produce cohesive reports and papers.

Finally, students develop a sense of confidence by mastering subject matter in this setting. Students who participate in an FYI on Darwinism, for example, are not going to be experts, but they are going to feel much better informed about the subject when they are finished, and they will have attained the confidence that comes from that.

So fall and FYI mark a beginning for our students, and it is an important one.

The theme of this year’s First-Year Initiatives program is: “Where have you been and where are we going?” The emphasis is on “we” because the emphasis is on the class of 2009, on collaborative learning, and on the recognition that we are all in this together.

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RELATED LINKS:

The Mindset List home page

FYI Program home page


EMAIL:

John E. Burris - President, Beloit College

Susan Kasten - Editor, Beloit College Magazine