@Vikki, Laura, and Carrie Glad you ladies hashed out the Polly Pockets thing … never heard of it myself.

@b.j. The toys you mentioned do speak to me … my kids must be from about the same era that you are. And that is indeed sad about the student’s comment about the 9/11 history being “shoved down our throats every year.” I hope this kid wasn’t echoing the elements of our society that would love us to forget that atrocity and was just being ignorant instead.

And about the 9/11 comments, a co-worker of mine (a senior in high school this year) told me, in regards to all the discussions and classwork given to her on that day, “I understand a lot of people died, and I feel bad for their families and all, but it happened so long ago! Why do they have to keep shoving it down our throats every year?” Sad.

Oh, and when I returned to grad school after teaching for 5 years I audited your French class–with a bunch of freshmen. I was saying to my brother how young they were. He thought a minute and reminded me that when I had come as a freshman those kids were in 2nd grade! Yikes! I guess that didn’t have anything to do with pop culture, it just made me feel old. . .

.-= Carrie’s most recent blog post … Day Three of Four: Soldotna to Anchorage =-.

Sorry, I have no recollection of Polly Pocket.

@Sharon I’m glad your kids enjoyed the Wizard of Oz. I’ve heard from several people who found parts of it scary and unsettling when they were children, and to this day they don’t really like the movie. You’re right, though, that there are just somethings kids need to know.

Yesterday I had the Venn diagram on the desktop of my computer I use in my classroom, and hence it was visible on the screen at the front of the room. All day long, the only kids who didn’t chuckle over it were those from foreign countries. I guess that verifies some what Professor X’s findings.

@all readers – In the original post, I had put a picture of a t-shirt, but I felt it was distracting from what it was beside. So I’ll post it below. It might explain why young people know what they do.

Or how about this twist to feeling old? A while back, a good friend of mine and I were perusing the toy aisle at Wal-Mart just for the fun of it. After a few minutes, we suddenly realized that the shelves were full of things we hadn’t seen since we were about 5 or 6! Anyone remember Polly Pocket?

When I was a student at BJU, “Prep” was all the rage in fashion. Izod was king of polo shirts and Members Only jackets topped off the outfit of any guy who was anybody. Now,”prep” refers to someone on the level of what we would have called a “nerd,” and being nerdy is akin to being smart and technologically savvy and cool!

I am like, so old . . . bummer, man.

@Donna I remember when you were in high school! Yikes! Now who’s getting old? It’s a shocker for our family to think that our daughter Megan’s first class of 1st graders are now in 10th grade! Tempus fugit, as I always say….

@Michael It’s fun to hear a younger teacher like you share your experiences in having your pop culture not be part of your students’ set of experiences. This will continue, just so you know up front. I’ve heard the Munchkin story and don’t let things even begin to drift in that direction. That’s one reason I prefer Tim Horton’s “timbits” to Dunkin Donuts’ Munchkins … just too morbid to eat Munchkins.

@Vikki That is so groovy! I had a student tell me one time that the only reason we have yearbooks is to give our children something to laugh at.

Wow – I find it amazing how fast the years slip by and reading that list from Beloit College proves it. HOWEVER, what really drives home the point is realizing that my kids – three of which are now over 30 – can say the same!!

I remember once, when our kids were teens, something happened and my response was, “Far out!”. It was followed by silence, then laughter, then the big question, “Did you really used to talk like that?!?”.

Talking about age and passing time. When I was in high school in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I remember looking at my mother’s yearbook and being amazed at how ridiculous their styles were and how silly they looked and being happy that my kids will never look at MY yearbooks and say that because we look so normal. Sighhhhhhhh…… My kids have never seen my yearbooks . . .

Another example involves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Whenever I get to the Renaissance I like to invoke the names of the turtles since they correspond to four of the great Renaissance masters: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. Again, earlier this decade that made a lot of sense to my students but now very few get what I am saying.

As for the Wizard of Oz, I’d be afraid to bring up references to that movie because inevitably a student would bring up the controversy about how in the scene where Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man are setting out through the woods there appears to be the silhouette of one of the munchkins hanging himself in the background. Not an urban legend I want to deal with in the middle of history class.

Anyway, one of my students looked at me in kind of an awestruck way and said, “You were teaching back then? I was in the 6th grade!” I know in no time at all we will be getting students who don’t remember or were not even born on that day. That was the first time I had experienced that generational disconnect thing so vividly.

Sigh.