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Encourage contact between students and facultyDevelop reciprocity and cooperation among studentsEncourage active learningGive prompt feedbackEmphasize time on taskCommunicate high expectationsRespect diverse talents and ways of learningWhat are the Seven Principles?How can undergraduate education be improved? In 1987, Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson answered this question when they wrote "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education." They defined what good education means at the undergraduate level. The seven principles are based upon research on good teaching and learning in the college setting.These principles have been intended as a guideline for faculty members, students, and administrators to follow to improve teaching and learning. Research for over 50 years on practical experience of students and teachers supports these principles. When all principles are practiced, there are six other forces in education that surface: activity, expectations, cooperation, interaction, diversity, and responsibility. Good practices work for professional programs as well as the liberal arts. They also work for a variety of students: Hispanic, Asian, young, old, rich, poor.Teachers and students have the most responsibility for improving undergraduate education. However, improvements will need to be made by college and university leaders, and state and federal officials. It is a joint venture among all that is possible. When this does occur, faculty and administrators think of themselves as educators that have a a shared goal. Resources become available for students, faculty, and administrators to work together.The goal of the seven principles is to prepare the student to deal with the real world.Principle 1: Encourage contact between students and faculty.Building rapport with students is very important. The contact between students and teachers are vital to the students' success. One of the main reasons students leave school is the feeling of isolation that they experience. The concern shown will help students get through difficult times and keep working. Faculty have many avenues to follow to open up the lines of communication.For the regular classroom:Invite students to visit outside of class.Know your students by name.Help students with problems in their extracurricular activities.Personalize feedback on student assignments.Attend student events.Advise students regarding academic courses and career opportunities.Seek out students you feel are having a problem with the course or are frequently absent.Encourage students to present their views and participate in class discussions.Have regular office hours.Help students to work with other faculty. Let them know of options, research, etc. of other faculty.Share personal experiences and values.Use the one-minute paper at the end of class to get feedback on what the student is learning and how well they are learning it.Talk to students on a personal level and learn about their educational and career goals.For distance and online courses:Try computer conferencing.Use list serves.Clearly communicate your email response policy.Encourage e-mail correspondence and discussion forum use, especially beneficial for those that are shy or are from different cultures because it allows them a different avenue of communication that might be more comfortable."Chat time" online with faculty (at various times, scheduled weekly).Use pictures of faculty/students.Visit the distance sites, if possible.Have an on-site support person.Maintain eye contact with camera and local students.Arrange for group work at a distance site.Principle in action:A York College (PA) professor has incorporated an invitation in the syllabus to encourage contact during office hours: "You are encouraged to stop in during office hours to talk about any problems or suggestions you may have concerning the course; about careers (especially graduate school or the benefits of majoring or minoring in (Insert your course here); or just about things in general. If you want to talk to me and find the schedule hours to be inconvenient, feel free to schedule an appointment."Faculty at St. Norbert College, Wisconsin, use electronic mail discussion groups. Many instructors find that the students are more willing to participate in a written discussion than to speak up in class. The instructor monitors the discussions and participates along with the students, adding personal perspectives and ideas to those of the students.The Residential College of Winona State University has implemented a "living-and-learn" environment to encourage student and faculty interaction. It is located 12 blocks from the main campus and houses 400 students in large, mostly single rooms. Academic activities at the Residential College include freshman seminars, sophomore common reading seminars, and an in-resident program with notable scholars or artists participating with students in a variety of experiences. Residential College faculty are located there and hold office hours. The interaction between students and faculty are enhanced because of the increased interaction.Technology, like e-mail, computer conferencing, and the World Wide Web/Internet, now gives more opportunities for students and faculty to converse. It is efficient, convenient, and protected. It allows more privacy so that students are able to discuss more openly without fear that other students are going to hear. E-mail also gives student more time to think about what they want to say. With these new alternatives to face-to-face communication, interaction from more students should increase within the classroom.Resources:Building awareness and diversity into student life: Pomona College. (1991). Liberal Education, 77 (1), 38-40.First year experience creates a community of learners: Augsburg College. (1989). Liberal Education, 75 (5), 28-29.Furlong, D. (1994). Using electronic mail to improve instruction. The Teaching Professor, 8 (6), 7.O'Neill, K.L. and Todd-Mancillas, W.R. (1992). An investigation into the types of turning points affecting relational change in student-faculty interactions. Innovative Higher Education, 16, (4), 227-290.Wilson, R.C., Gaff, J.G., Dienst, L.W., and Bavry, J.L. (1975). College Professors and Their Impact on Students. New York, NY: John Wiley.Principle 2: Develop reciprocity and cooperation among students.When students are encouraged to work as a team, more learning takes place. Characteristics of good learning are collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working together improves thinking and understanding.For the regular classroom:Use cooperative learning groupsHave students participate in activities that encourage them to get to know one another.Encourage students to join at least one organization on campus.Assign group projects and presentationsUtilize peer tutoring.Encourage students to participate in groups when preparing for exams and working on assignments.Distribute performance criteria to students is that each person's grade is independent of those achieved by others.Encourage students from different races and cultures to share their viewpoints on topics shared in class.For distance and online courses:Use chat sites and discussion forums for student-to-student communication.Set up teams to interact through e-mail or phone bridges with enough people at each site.Encourage students to respond to each other's work by posting it on the internet.Have a question and answer time online.Use teleconferencing for idea sharing.Encourage online discussion groups that require interaction.Work on group projects through phone and e-mail.Team-teach courses.Include an "ice-breaker" activity to allow students to share their interest and to learn about others.Principle in action:Students in communication courses at Miami University develop a group "code of conduct" to help facilitate cooperative learning. A sample code is given out as a model. The sample code includes: respect each other, criticize ideas instead of people, listen actively, seek to understand before being understood, contribute to group discussion, keep an open mind, share responsibility, and attend all meetings. Students are encouraged to customize the code to address other shared concerns the group may have. Students refer to the code after each class or group session to assess their performance and identify areas for improvement.At Naugatuck Valley Community-Technical College, students are tested both individually and collaboratively. Students are given a test date but are not told in which fashion they will be tested. Group tests are highly structured and a unanimous decision must be reached for the answer. The collaborative testing method helps students experience a sensitivity for diversity and others' point of view; develop and refine skills in persuasion, listening, and reading; and share responsibility and accountability. This method also reduces test anxiety among students.In a first-year composition class at University of Minnesota students videotape themselves discussing apprehensions before taking the course, their feelings when they received their papers back, and what they learned from the class. Next quarter, the video is shown to new students in the course to show that the feelings they are experiencing are shared by others and helps motivate them to succeed.Cooperative learning has several benefits. Students care more about their learning because of the interdependent nature of the process. Retention is higher because there is a social and intellectual aspect on the content material. Students also find the method more enjoyable because there is no competition placed upon them. Cooperation, not competition, is more effective in promoting student learning.Resources:Cassini, C. (1994). Collaborative testing, grading. The Teaching Professor, 8 (4), 5.Grading student projects: A project in itself. (1994). Adapted from For Your Consideration, 3 (3), by The Teaching Professor, 8 (2), 3-4.Johnson, D.W. and Johnson, R.T. (1985). Cooperative Learning: Warm Ups, Grouping Strategies and Group Activities. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co.McKinney, K. and Graham-Buxton, M. (1993). The use of collaborative learning groups in the large class: Is it possible? Teaching Sociology, 21, 403-408.Prescott, S. (1992). Cooperation and motivation. Cooperative Learning and College Teaching, 3 (1).*Special note: The National Center on Post secondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment has developed a source book on collaborative learning. Contact: NCTLA, Penn State University, 403 S. Allen St. Suite 104, University Park, PA 16801.Principle 3: Encourage active learning.Learning is an active process. Students are not able to learn much by only sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and churning out answers. They must be able to talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. Students need to make learning a part of themselves.For the regular classroom:Ask students to relate what they are learning to something in real life.Use journaling.Give students concrete, real-life situations to analyze.Encourage students to suggest new reading, projects, or course activities.Ask students to present their work to the class.Use of simulation software to run "what-if" scenarios allows students to manipulate variables and circumstances.Practice role modeling and use web-based case studies to practice new thinking skills.Encourage students to challenge your ideas, the ideas of other students, or those ideas presented in readings or other course materials in a respectful matter.Set up problem solving activities in small groups and have each group discuss their solutions with the class.For distance and online courses:Allow flexibility in choosing material so that it is more meaningful to the learner (e.g. students choose their own topic, project format, etc.).Have an interactive web page.Debate on-line.Present students work for other students to review.Talk about what students are learning by creating a learning group through e-mail, telephone, chat room, or conferencing.Use e-mail for group problem solving.Principle in action:At Iowa State University, history students interview prominent historical individuals during a press conference. After the press conferences, students work in groups identifying the main ideas and creating headlines and news articles that highlight those ideas.Structured journal writing is a major part of several classes at Lesley College. Each journal entry has two parts: the first paragraph emphasizes points for recall and retention; the second part emphasizes application of the content to the student's life experience and observation.An education professor at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse has created a hypothetical school system, complete with administration, teachers, pupils, and families. The goal is to help the students learn the legal aspects of special education. During the semester, the students take on all roles as they participate in legal cases involving students with disabilities. Students gain an understanding of the law as it applies to special education and students with disabilities, and they develop a human understanding of the human side of the cases.Promoting active learning in higher education is a struggle because of the learning background that many students come to classes with. This is due to the fact that the norm in our nation's secondary schools has been to promote passive learning. A large amount of information needs to be covered with not enough time, so teachers resort to lecture in order to economize their time to cover as much material as possible. Students progress from topic to topic with no real understanding of the content and how it relates to their life. Effective learning is active learning. The concept of active learning has been applied to curriculum design, internship programs, community service, laboratory science instruction, musical and speech performance, seminar classes, undergraduate research, peer teaching, and computer-assisted learning. The common thread between all these events is to stimulate students to think about how they as well as what they are learning and to take more responsibility for their own education.Resources:Gabennesch, H. (1992). Creating quality class discussion. The Teaching Professor, 6 (9), 5.Hands on experience in course's focus: Temple University. (1989). Liberal Education, 75 (4), 33-34.Harrison-Pepper, S. (1991). Dramas of persuasion: Utilizing performance in the classroom. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 2.Interdisciplinary approach to technology. (1998). Liberal Education, 74, (2), 23-24.Nalcolmson, P. and Myers, R. (1993). Debates: Techniques for improving student thinking. The Teaching Professor, 7 (3) 6.Principle 4: Give prompt feedback.By knowing what you know and do not know gives a focus to learning. In order for students to benefit from courses, they need appropriate feedback on their performance. When starting out, students need help in evaluating their current knowledge and capabilities. Within the classroom, students need frequent opportunities to perform and receive suggestions for improvement. Throughout their time in college and especially at the end of their college career, students need chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.For the regular classroom:Follow-up presentations with a five minute period for students to write down what they have learned in class.Provide informative comments that show the students' errors and give suggestions on how they can improve.Discuss the results of class assignments and exams with the class and individual students.Vary assessment techniques (tests, papers, journaling, quizzes).Offer on-line testing, software simulations, and web-based programs that provide instantaneous feedback.Have question and answer sessions.Use audio and/or video recordings to assess performances.Return grades for assignments, projects, and tests within one week.For distance and online courses:E-mail gives instant feedback instead of waiting for the next lesson.Use on-line testing, software simulations, and web-based programs that provide instantaneous feedback.Monitor bulletin boards regularly and give specific information feedback to students.Use pre-class and post-class assessments.Schedule a chat group where you, the instructor are present. Use it as a question and answer session when appropriate.Send acknowledgment e-mails when you receive a students work.Post answer keys after receiving assignment from all students.Use of hyperlinks within text to provide feedback to questions raised within the text.Principle in action:At the University of Scranton, a management professor, used computer scored multiple choice tests and quizzes which allowed the professor to have the tests graded during the break that followed the test or quiz. The students immediately received their results and were able to discuss the exam in detail. Students were able to understand the material better through the class discussion that occurred after the test.Hollins College students taking the Critical Thinking course submit two copies of their papers. The second paper is critiqued by another student.Faculty at Winona State University in the Communication Studies Department have to evaluate as many as 30 speeches a day. They developed a system of codes for the most common comments on speeches. These codes were programmed into a computer program and instructors were able to listen to the speech and type in the codes for the appropriate comments. This gave extra time to make specific comments on the individual speech and also gave students complete and prompt feedback on the entire speech.The importance of feedback is so obvious that it is often taken for granted during the teaching and learning process. It is a simple yet powerful tool to aid in the learning process. Feedback is any means to inform a learner of their accomplishments and areas needing improvement. There are several different forms that feedback can take. They are oral, written, computer displayed, and from any of the interactions that occur in group learning. What is important is that the learner is informed and can associate the feedback with a specific response.Resources:Brinko, K.T. (1993). The practice of giving feedback to improve teaching. Journal of Higher Education, 64 (5), 574-593.Dohrer, G. (1991). Do teachers comments on students' papers help? College Teaching, 39 (2), 48-54.Enhancing instructor-class communication. (1994). The Teaching Professor, 8 (3), 3-4.More on student self-assessment. (1992). The Teaching Professor, 6 (10), 7.Svinicki, M.D. Four R's of effective evaluation. (1993). Reprinted from The Center for Teaching Effectiveness Newsletter at the University of Texas as Austin, in The Teaching Professor, 7 (9), 3-4.Principle 5: Emphasize time on task.Learning needs time and energy. Efficient time-management skills are critical for students. By allowing realistic amounts of time, effective learning for students and effective teaching for faculty are able to occur. The way the institution defines time expectations for students, faculty, administrators, and other staff, can create the basis for high performance from everyone.For the regular classroom:Expect students to complete their assignments promptly.Clearly communicate to your students the minimum amount of time they should spend preparing for class and working on assignments.Help students set challenging goals for their own learning.Have realistic expectations (don't expect 10 papers in 10 weeks).Encourage students to prepare in advance for oral presentations.Explain to your students the consequences of non-attendance.Meet with students who fall behind to discuss their study habits, schedules, and other commitments.Be careful that time on task is real learning, not busy work.Do not use technology for technology's sake. It must be relevant and useful to the topic.Have progressive deadlines for projects and assignments.Teach time management.Discussion topics from class posted in a discussion group on the web .For distance and online courses:Understand that there will be problems with the distance and technology along the way.Identify key concepts and how those will be taught. Given the amount of time, decide what realistically can be covered.Each distance class should involve some kind of achievement expectation that is laid out at the beginning of the course. Assign some content for out of class time.Give up the illusion of doing it all as you might in a regular classroom.Vary the types of interaction. In creating an interactive environment, it can be overwhelming to the students and teacher if the types of interaction required are too time consuming.Consider both in and out of class time.Make sure you know what your goals are and that the learners understand them as well.Have regular discussions that require participation.Principle in action:At Fort Lewis College in Colorado they have an "Innovative Month". Students are offered a series of five week summer domestic and foreign travel experiences that help them relate what they learned in the classroom to real life. The groups are limited to eight to fifteen students pre faculty member. Examples of Innovative programs include, "Management in Action", "Native American Schools", and "Music and Theater in England".At Lower Columbia College, the Integrative Studies Program is a block of 15 to 18 credit hours, organized around a theme. Students enroll in "traditional" courses, ut must enroll in the full block. This lets the faculty reorganize the day from the traditional fifty minute classes to include whatever schedule of lectures, seminars, conferences, and discussion groups needed to achieve learning objectives for that week.Wake Forest University teaches time management and study skills in their Learning Assistance Program and in the Learning to Learn class. Through a counseling/teaching model in the Learning Assistance Program, students are individually encouraged to learn and develop strategies to improve their academic performance. In the Learning to Learn Course, first and second year students study learning theory with emphasis on demonstrating how good time management and appropriate study skills positively affect outcome.An easy assumption to make would be that students would be more successful if they spent more time studying. It makes sense but it over simplifies the principle of time on task. Student achievement is not simply a matter of the amount of time spent working on a task. Even though learning and development require time, it is an error to disregard how much time is available and how well the time is spent. Time on task is more complicated than one might assume.Resources:Britton, B.K., and Tesser, A. (1991). Effects of time management practices on college grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83 (3), 405-410.Earth-sea-sky course combines art, science: Mississippi State University. (1988). Liberal Education, 74 (2), 29-30.Geiger, K. (1994). Rethinking school time: New, Better, and different...as well as more. The Washington Post, June 12, 1994. p. C3.Ludewig, L.M. (1992). The ten commandments for effective study skills. The Teaching Professor, 5 (10), 3.Terenzini, P.T., and Pascarella, E.T. (1994). Living with myths: Undergraduate education in America. Change, pp. 28-32.Principle 6: Communicate high expectations.Expect more and you will get it. The poorly prepared, those unwilling to exert themselves, and the bright and motivated all need high expectations. Expecting students to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high standards and make extra efforts.For the regular classroom:Give a detailed syllabus with assignments, due dates, and a grading rubric.Encourage students to excel at the work they do.Give students positive reinforcement for doing outstanding work.Encourage students to work hard in class.Tell students that everyone works at different levels and they should strive to put forth their best effort, regardless of what level it is.Help students set challenging goals for their own learning.Publicly acknowledge excellent student performance.Revise courses when needed so students remain challenged.Work individually with students who are struggling to encourage them to stay motivated.Encourage students to do their best instead of focusing on grades.For distance and online courses:Give a detailed syllabus with assignments, due dates, and a grading rubric.Call attention to excellent work in bulletin board postings or class list serves.Show examples of your expectations with previous students' work.Publish student work.Provide corrective feedback. State what you did and did not like.Be a role model to students. Model the behavior and expectations that you expect from students.Expect students to participate.Try to make assignments interesting and relevant to create interest.Ask students to comment on what they are doing.Suggest extra resources that support key points.Principle in action:At Bellevue University (Nebraska), students in the Introductory Psychology course are given a guide for answering essay questions on their syllabus. The suggestions are designed to provide direction to answering a broadly stated essay question. Three exams are given throughout the course. The list of suggestions as well as the essay question are included on the first two exams. On the final exam, only the essay question is given. Students are allowed to practice their writing skills until the assistance is no longer needed.In order to understand how students at SUNY-Plattsburgh learn and develop and how the school can help them to do so, students are required to take the College Outcomes Measures Project examination of the American College Testing Program (ACT COMP) as freshmen and again at the end of their sophomore year.Clayton State College requires students to exhibit seven different writing styles. Several levels of proficiency are present for each of the seven criteria. All students must pass writing assessments on four different occasions.Although it is often only discussed at the instructional level, high expectations also includes the students' performance and behavior inside and outside the classroom. College and universities expect students to meet their high expectations for performance in the classroom, but also expect a personal and professional commitment to values and ethics. They include the discipline to set goals and stick with them, an awareness and appreciation of the diversity of society, and a philosophy of service to others.Resources:An American Imperative: Higher Expectations for Higher Education. An open letter to those concerned about the American future. Report on the Wingspread group in Higher education. (1993).Defining what students need to know: Clayton State. (1988). Liberal Education, 74 (3), 29-30.Gabelnick, F., MacGregor, J., Matthews, R.S., and Smith, B.L. (1990). Learning communities: Creative connections among students, faculty, and disciplines. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, (4), San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Nuhfer, E.B. (1993). Bottom line disclosure and assessment. The Teaching Professor, 7 (7), 8.Williams, J.H. (1993). Clarifying grade expectations. The Teaching Professor, 7 (7), 1.Principle 7: Respect diverse talents and ways of learning.There are many different ways to learn and no two people learn the same way. Students bring different talents and learning styles to the classroom. Students that excel in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art studio and vice versa. Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them. Then, they can be guided into new ways of learning that are not as easy for them.For the regular classroom:Use Web technologies to allow students to pick and choose learning experiences that fits the way they learn.Encourage students to speak up when they do not understand.Use diverse teaching activities and techniques to address a broad range of students.Select readings and design activities related to the background of students.Provide extra material or activities for students who lack essential background knowledge or skills.Integrate new knowledge about women, minorities, and other under-represented populations into your courses.Use learning contracts and other activities to provide students with learning alternatives for your courses.Encourage students from different races and cultures to share their viewpoints on topic discussed in class.Use collaborative teaching and learning techniques and pair students so they compliment each other's abilities.Give students a problem to solve that has multiple solutions. Guide them with clues and examples.Consider field trips.Be familiar with Howard Gardner's research on multiple intelligences.For distance and online courses:Encourage students to express diverse points of view in discussions.Create learning activities filled with real-life examples and diverse perspectives.Provide Saturday lab experiences by contracting with local high schools or community colleges.Some CD-Roms are available that offer a simulated lab.Balance classroom activities for all styles (some books, some hands on, some visual).Explain theory from a practical approach first then add the structural approach.Principle in Action:Realizing that students can interpret exam questions in different ways, students at Georgia State University in the nursing program are given the chance to modify multiple choice exam questions that they find confusing. This student input lessens test anxiety and gives the student an opportunity to demonstrate what they know.Western Washington University's Fairhaven College has a cluster college with an interdisciplinary curriculum and an emphasis is place on student-centerd approaches to teaching and learning.At Kalamazoo College, the K Plan gives students an on and off campus study that allows them to spend a significant amount of their time in college on career-development internships, foreign study, and individualized projects.The meaning of diversity is very clear from effective institutions. They embrace diversity and systematically foster it. This respect for diversity should play a central part in university decisions, be apparent in the services and resources available to students and resources available to students, be a feature of every academic program, and practiced in every classroom.Resources:Hill, P.J. (1991). Multiculturalism: The crucial philosophical and organizational issues. Change, 38-47.Jacobs, L.C., and Chase, C.I. (1992). Developing and Using Tests Effectively: A Guide for Faculty. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Kolb, D. (1981). Learning styles and disciplinary differences. In The Modern American College, edited by A.W. Chickering and Associates. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Lynch, J.M., and Bishop-Clark, C. (1993). Traditional and nontraditional student attitudes toward the mixed age classroom. Innovative Higher Education. Winter, 109-121.National Institute of Education. (1984). Involvement in Learning: Realizing the Potential of American Higher Education. Final report of the study group on the conditions of excellence in American higher education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education News.

It felt like a time of so much promise and opportunity. Some of the adults of the era felt worried about nuclear war with the Soviets, but I didn’t worry about that too much, though I was well aware of that possibility. It just seemed remote. I saw new technologies coming out that are taken for granted today, and I was in awe of a lot of it. Some of the simpler life was still around.I was 10 years old. I started the decade living in a small cabin in CO with no indoor plumbing (we had a pump outside), or furnace, and an outhouse, in a small mountain town. Our cabin had two woodstoves. One, a potbelly in a small living room, and a larger one in the kitchen for cooking. If we had a really cold winter’s night, we’d get both going, and we were nice and toasty. Our neighbor, who we were renting from, restored old wood stoves, and as I remember, both were ones he’d restored. The only modern amenities we had were electricity, and phone service, and we were on a party line with two other people. What this meant was even though we lived hundreds of feet away from each other, all 3 of us had only one connection into the main line. So, if you wanted to call somebody, you had to check to make sure someone else wasn’t already on the line. According to “phone manners,” you couldn’t interrupt someone else’s call unless you had an emergency, in which case they would need to hang up so you could make your call. Amazingly, we rarely had a conflict.I went to a one-room schoolhouse, one of the last in the country, entering 4th grade. There was a small general store in town that was amazing to me. It seemed to be strategically stocked with at least one of everything that someone in that town would need.We stayed for about 6 months, and then moved out of the mountains to rent a condo in a more conventionally sized town. That felt luxurious, though we only had a short stay there as well (I think about a year). It was in a sort of “ritzy” part of town (not really, but the residents were wealthy). I switched to a different school, continuing my 4th grade year, and then into 5th grade, and pretty much hated it. It was so hard to get along with the other kids. They seemed to hate me the moment I got there. I was pretty confused. The only way my mom could explain it to me was that they were rich kids, and they ranked people by status symbols; by how you looked, how you dressed, how you presented yourself, and what possessions you had. I wasn’t a rich kid. I had a pitifully small group of friends, who I held to closely, because they were all I had, being new to town, and I got picked on a lot by everyone else. I was so glad when we moved again to a different part of town, and I switched schools once again. We moved into a small, one-bedroom apartment in the center of town (my bed was on one side of the living room), and I was much happier with my new school, at least for a year… I had a great teacher who really valued learning, and the kids were easier to get along with. They were more in my income bracket. Instead of getting picked on for my lack of status, I had the local bullies I had to watch out for. I didn’t have too much trouble with them, so long as I stayed out of their way. Usually, if they got into any trouble, it was because they were beating each other up.My 6th grade year wasn’t as great, because I had a teacher who wasn’t into his job. He’d been doing it for years, and was just going through the motions. The only subject he taught that really stuck with me was world history. It was fascinating and frustrating at the same time, learning about the progress of Western civilization. It was frustrating, because there was a lot of it I couldn’t relate to. The way it was presented was that there was one ancient civilization or another that was like the “main character” in a drama, and there were all these other civilizations that would interact with it (usually to go to war with it), and you never knew why. All you’d hear was, “The Greeks were attacked in this year by the such-and-such, and because of this, X happened.” I kept wondering, “Who were the such-and-such, and why did they fight the Greeks?” We never talked about that. We just had to remember it… I was terrible at memorization. I struggled with that for years, until probably high school, when I took a brief course that taught me some techniques which worked.A common assignment we had was to read a short story out of a textbook collection of fiction and non-fiction stories, or to read a novel, and then write reports on them, and take quizzes on what we read. There were also extracurricular reading clubs that sponsored reading competitions that would give out prizes for who had read the most books. I tried participating in these, but I couldn’t hold a candle in them. I’d get through a few books while others had gotten through 20–30 in the same time. Reading wasn’t something I did quickly. I still don’t. It was an impediment of mine all through school.Starting in 4th grade, we also got writing assignments, where we would write our own research papers, looking up material from library books, or write short stories, which we would write in cursive in paper notebooks. We went through a process of writing one or two whole drafts, which our teacher would grade, before writing a final copy for our teacher to grade as well.When I look back on this period, what I’m thankful for was that my single mother was able to send me to decent schools on a pretty modest income. Even though the area we lived in was wealthy, we could afford to live in it. I credit that to the economic conditions of the time. There were other wonderful opportunities as well.I discovered computer programming through our local library. This was a major distraction that my mom helped me gain some control over, so that I could focus on my school work. It was an obsession, though. Once I got the “bug,” I was hooked! The library had set up a couple computer labs, where patrons could sign up for time. The first time I saw someone using one of them, they were trying to write what looked like a simple horse racing simulation. It was the first time I had seen computer code, and I was fascinated. My mom noticed my interest, and suggested I ask a librarian if I could use their computers. I thought, “Naw! They wouldn’t allow a kid to use one. They’re probably just here for special people.” She prodded me to ask anyway. So I did. It turned out they let kids 10 and up sign up for time! Wow! I was almost 12. I’ve been on a journey with that ever since.As my interest in programming grew, and I got into Jr. high school, I discovered computer magazines in the school library. Some of them published complete source code, so that you could type in the program, and see it work. It would take many hours to type in one program, and sometimes I’d make mistakes copying the code. So, that created bugs I had to work out. As that was going on, I also got my own ideas for programs to write, which created much, much more opportunities for bugs to work out. Somehow I persisted. As I completed one idea, I’d think of more programs to write, which would present me with more challenges I’d have to slog through.Personal computers were so new, there wasn’t much software around. If a piece of software didn’t exist, your only choice was to either wait for someone else to write it, or write it yourself. That provided much of the motivation to keep working away on my programming skills.The more I read the computer magazines I found, the more I became fascinated by the new computers that were coming out. I got to read the thoughts of people who helped design them, and who wrote the software that people were raving about, and sometimes their thoughts on what this new technology represented were profound to me. I got a sense that this wasn’t just a neat thing that I was experiencing. It was historic. When I was in high school, my mom and I used to talk about it sometimes, and she came to the conclusion that, “This is going to change the world!” She helped me have that sense about it, and I so looked forward to being a part of helping to do that. I didn’t know how, though…We had electronics stores in town, and I used to visit them regularly, to check out what was for sale. It all looked so fascinating to me, but my mom couldn’t afford any of it. So, all I could do was try it out, if it was plugged in, or read about it. If they had computers on display, it could get to be like my programming. I would lose myself in the experience, and I would literally spend hours in these stores on the weekends. I got kicked out once.For a few years, the local shopping mall held an annual computer fair, where a large collection of computer stores would come to show off what they had. It was like being in a candy store. It was a place to be inspired. There were so many different kinds of personal computers then. So many companies were making them. It wasn’t anything like today, where you have 4+ Windows PC manufacturers, and Apple, and that’s it. There was Apple and IBM, and a bunch of PC-compatible, or clone manufacturers, but there were also lots of non-PC, and non-Apple manufacturers that were selling their own personal computers that were incompatible with the other two types. They all had different capabilities, and most of them were not cheap. So, you really had to pick wisely, if you were a buyer (which I wasn’t).The internet existed, though most people didn’t know it at the time (myself included). It was not available to the broad public. Computer ownership was not widespread, either, though it went through a spurt of rapid growth. The only way people who had computers connected them was either through electronic bulletin board systems (BBSes), or through subscriber-based online services, which gave proprietary access to their own message boards and databases of software. These were only accessible by phone modems, and those were usually pretty slow.My technologyThe only electronics I had in the house were our TV set, which was black and white, a couple electronics sets I got from Radio Shack, an AM radio (which I “upgraded” a couple years later to a small Sanyo boombox, with built-in AM/FM and cassette recorder).I got into recording songs off the radio onto tape, since I got tired of waiting for one of the FM stations to play my favorite music. That way, I could listen to it whenever I wanted. I thought I was the only one doing this. I recently found out lots of other people from my generation had the same idea. Scott Stratten dramatized this so well. I hated it when DJs would talk over the start of a song, because that was usually the part I’d miss! Also, all tape recorders would eventually wear out. The “driver” spindle would stop winding the tape, either because the traction inside the motor was no good any longer, or because the inside of the cassette would get tight for some reason, and make it really hard for the tape player to wind it. When that happened, the player would munch on your tape, which you’d spent hours creating! The tape would get all up inside the player mechanism. So you had to carefully pull it out, and try to salvage it. Winding it back inside the cassette was a long, tedious process, because the tape would get twisted around itself, so you had to untangle it. You could still listen to it, once you got it all wound back inside, but it never sounded the same again. Where it munched the tape, it would sound warbly.I had also gotten some electronic toys. Mattel sold handheld electronic sports games, like Baseball, Football, and Basketball. Everything was displayed using segmented LED. Little light blips represented players, which wouldn’t seem like much to anyone now, but back then, us kids could get SO into these games, we’d be frantically pressing the buttons to try to win.I also had a TI Speak & Spell, and a TI Little Professor, which was like arithmetic flash cards.The Speak & Spell was the grand toy of them all for me. I first saw one in 1978, and it was amazing! It wasn’t a pull-string toy, where it would play something off of an internal plastic strip or record. This was electronic voice synthesis, and it sounded really good for its day. You could understand it (an unusual trait). It had words stored in its memory. It would say them out loud, and ask you to spell them by pressing the buttons on it. I really loved this thing for a few years. I got good enough to spell all the words in its memory, and then it got boring, because it couldn’t give you new words without you buying a cartridge that would give it more vocabulary. By then, I’d say I’d outgrown it. I still remember it fondly, though.TravelAlmost every summer, my mom and I traveled up to Grand Teton National Park in WY. It’s her favorite place in the world. A couple times we went to Yellowstone Park, which is just north of Grand Teton. We camped in campgrounds to save money. We spent a few weeks preparing for the trip. We’d buy food for the trip, and try out our camping gear to make sure it all worked. We spent a good part of the day before we left packing, and then we’d drive for 2–3 days to get there, stopping at campgrounds along the way to sleep. We’d typically spend a bit less than a week there, sightseeing, visiting museums, and doing some hiking. I liked it when we got there, but the travel part was always something I dreaded. It always felt hard, a lot of work, setting up and taking down the tent, cooking, washing dishes using stored water, etc. Sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag was never that comfortable, though the sense of sleeping outside was always kind of a wondrous experience. We slept through some rainstorms, and while you’d think the noise would keep us awake, I don’t think that was the hard part. My mom could sleep through almost anything. I think sleeping on the hard ground was what added the most stress to trying to get a good night’s sleep for me. The work of doing the trip felt like such an ordeal, I needed a vacation after the vacation when we got back home!I also visited my grandparents in NC during the summers. They’d pay for my round-trip plane ticket, and I’d stay for a few weeks. My grandfather kept a garden, raising flowers and vegetables, and he always wanted me to do some of the yard work. It was so hot and muggy during the summer, this was not comfortable, but I did it. I complained about how hot it was. My grandfather worried that I was spoiled. What I described above about the camping trips has a bearing on this. He tried to get through to me that when he was my age, he worked a lot harder than doing yard work. As I remember, I always took this as a way for him to reminisce about his youth, and maybe communicate that he was somehow better than me. Years later, I realized I misunderstood him. Even though there were events in his youth that he never appreciated, and didn’t like remembering, there were other things that happened to him through hard work that he really valued. I think he saw it as his ticket to bettering himself, to pull himself up out of the poverty that he grew up in. That’s what he was trying to drum into me, the sense that hard work is not something to complain about. It builds character, and leads to a better life. In hindsight, I agree with that. Maybe him telling me that helped form my character, and had some influence on how I thought about work later, but I think it took other experiences when I finally got out into the work world as an adult to finally understand what he was trying to tell me.My grandfather was a retired radiologist. Sometimes we went on short road trips to visit with other doctors he’d worked with during his career, and kept in touch with as friends. I always enjoyed those trips, as I got to see my grandparents socialize, and that seemed to bring them joy.Expectations of a big futureIt seemed to me that with NASA’s successes in landing men on the Moon, and the continuation of the space program, that there was a cultural expectation that one day our civilization would send human explorers to other planets and moons, to explore the Solar System, and one day in the distant future, to even try interstellar travel, to try to find other solar systems, habitable planets, and ways of living permanently in space colonies. That’s what I kept hearing from shows that talked about the space program. I believed it. I think that expectation was somewhat dampened by the Challenger disaster. I don’t know how everyone else took it, but I still expected the idea of venturing further into space to continue. I assumed everyone knew that space exploration was risky, and this was just one of those times when the risk was realized.Someone asked here on Quora (though I can’t find this question now) something about, “If people from the 1980s were sent through time into our present, would they be surprised that we hadn’t landed astronauts on other planets?” I answered that they wouldn’t be surprised. They would be shocked and disappointed. I think that expectation was so deeply ingrained in us that there was very little question about that. When the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011, with nothing to follow it, it was depressing to me. It felt pathetic. We didn’t even have a way to get astronauts to the International Space Station anymore. We’ve had to rely on Russia to do that, because they’ve been the only ones with the technology to do it. And as we know, they haven’t been friendly to us for years. A part of me said, “My country sent men to the Moon, for God’s sake!”“Smart” was cool, sort ofSomething I remember about the TV dramas of the time is they always seemed to encourage some virtues. I’ve since heard that this was a condition of broadcasters’ FCC license, but I don’t think it was just driven by that, since in some cases it was an ongoing theme on some shows. They would talk about history, cultural understanding, and for kids, doing well in school. They tried to promote the idea that being smart with wit, and being educated, was cool. It didn’t sound fake, either. I believed it. This tended to be reinforced at the schools I went to. When I was in high school, getting a bad grade was a social downgrade. If I got a good grade, my fellow students would high-five me. I came to discover, though, that there was a trend going the other way. A friend went to a different Jr. high school than I did, and I heard about how he had gotten good grades there, and the other kids had ragged on him about it. They called him names like “nerd,” and “preppy.” I remember getting teased with those names sometimes, or “geek,” and this was before I got into computers. By the way, “geek” was not a term of respect. It was like being called weird and yucky. I looked it up. The only definition my dictionary had was that it was a name for a circus performer who bit off the heads of chickens…I learned years later that “preppy” was a socio-economic class name that either conferred respect or derision, depending on what community you were in. It came from the term “preparatory school,” which was an old name from decades earlier for high schools. I guess the reason I was called that is sometimes I wore khaki pants.The schools were called “preparatory,” because they were exclusively for college-bound students (ie. “preparation for college”), and tended to be dominated by the families of our country’s social aristocracy. I wasn’t going to any school that was called “preparatory.” It was just a name. Anyway, my friend got the idea that to be cool, he had to act dumber, and so that’s what he started doing. He started acting differently around others, a little more rowdy and irresponsible, picking on weaker students, and he started answering wrong on tests, on purpose, so he’d get a lower grade. It was working, too. He got more friends that way. His mom eventually found out about this, and straightened him out. I was amazed. I’d never heard of someone trying to act less smart than they were just to gain social acceptance, though I heard years later that girls would get into this as they become attracted to boys, because they didn’t want to intimidate them. I think it’s a foolish thing to do, not living up to your potential, but teenagers are just learning about such things.Higher educationThere was some expectation that people would go on to college after high school. There certainly was in my family. My grandfather told me from the time I entered my teen years that he had saved up some money for my college expenses. However, it was not a universal expectation. Half of high school graduates didn’t go on to college.I took my interest in computers into college, and got my degree in computer science. Since I mentioned the technology I grew up with earlier, I’ll mention that I got an Atari 130XE 8-bit computer when I graduated from high school. I took it with me to college. I got a phone modem, and a dot matrix printer to go with it. I used it to log in to the university’s computers to complete programming assignments, and to write most of my college papers.My grandfather insisted, since he was paying, that I go to a liberal arts college. That’s something I’ll always be thankful for. I didn’t value that going in, but I did once I went through the curriculum.I spent the ’80s in a university town. So I’d sometimes rub elbows with kids whose parents were college professors. The culture in the community valued education. As I recall, most of those who went through college either went to the local university, or went to another in-state college. I did the latter. The local university felt too much like a party school, which I took to mean that it wasn’t serious about education. I learned years later that wasn’t the case. It was probably better than the school I went to.The peopleThis seems like an odd subject to bring up, but I feel it’s important to draw a contrast, because of what I’ve seen in our culture in recent years. What I remember about many of the people I met in the older generation of that time was there was more of an interest in history, in literature, and in science. Having a proper education was more valued. If you wanted to carry out an argument, you couldn’t gain much legitimacy if you couldn’t substantiate what you said, either by referring to tradition, or to some work that had proven something out. You also were expected to argue rationally. This isn’t to say there weren’t forums where people could just talk about how they felt, and not really think that much. Those forums were indeed popular, but I think (I could be mistaken) the wider culture still regarded that as kind of an escape, a form of therapy, not a dominant way of hashing things out, where important issues were being discussed that would have repercussions for millions of people, though it was on the rise. In recent years, I’ve heard it referred to as the “therapeutic culture.” It certainly seems that way. Anyway, this is an aspect of our culture that I miss the most from that time.The pop cultureEven though there were some big fears in that era, I remember the popular culture being upbeat.A lot of the music was about love, and lost love. Most of it was party music. Here’s a small sample.A couple songs from the ’80s that have stuck with me for years as favorites are “Only The Lonely” by The Motels, and “Piano In The Dark” by Brenda Russell.Heavy metal was popular, and it had darker, rebellious themes, and New Wave tended to have that, too, though it was less “in your face.”If you want to hear more, I and others have posted some collections of 80s music on Quora at:What were some of the best songs in the 1980s?What are some of the most classic songs from the 80's or 90's?MoviesA significant part of my experience of the ’80s was the movies. These are the ones I remember seeing, growing up, in the theater, or on TV or videotape.“Xanadu”“Popeye”“The Elephant Man”“Coal Miner’s Daughter”“Resurrection”“The Gods Must Be Crazy”“Super Fuzz”“Flash Gordon”“Superman II”“9 To 5”“Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back”“Time Bandits”“The Final Conflict”“On Golden Pond”“Condorman”“Chariots of Fire”“Excalibur”“Raiders of The Lost Ark”“Gandhi”“Quest for Fire”“Tron”“The World According to Garp”“My Favorite Year”“Tootsie”“E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”“The Dark Crystal”“The Beastmaster”“A Christmas Story”“The Right Stuff”“Mr. Mom”“Never Cry Wolf”“Star Wars: Return of The Jedi”“The Outsiders”“WarGames”“All Of Me”“The Killing Fields”“Beverly Hills Cop”“Amadeus”“Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom”“Dune”“The Karate Kid”“Hardbodies”“The Natural”“Revenge of The Nerds”“2010: The Year We Make Contact”“Top Secret!”“Ghostbusters”“The Color Purple”“The Trip to Bountiful”“Real Genius”“Mask”“Cocoon”“Back To The Future”“The Emerald Forest”“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”“Back to School”“The Clan of The Cave Bear”“Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”“Peggy Sue Got Married”“The Karate Kid Part II”“Tough Guys”“Short Circuit”“Crocodile Dundee”“Top Gun”“The Golden Child”“Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”“Aliens”“Gung Ho”“Planes, Trains and Automobiles”“The Secret of My Success”“Raising Arizona”“Fatal Attraction”“Baby Boom”“La Bamba”“Good Morning, Vietnam”“Three Men and a Baby”“Made in Heaven”“The Princess Bride”“Dirty Dancing”“Beverly Hills Cop II”“Spaceballs”“Working Girl”“The Naked Gun”“Rain Man”“A Fish Called Wanda”“Tucker: The Man and His Dream”“The Last Temptation of Christ”“Who Framed Roger Rabbit”“Akira”“The Seventh Sign”“Big”“Gorillas in The Mist”“Stand and Deliver”“Coming to America”“The Adventures of Baron Munchausen”“The Little Mermaid”“Glory”“Dead Poets Society”“Look Who’s Talking”“Honey, I Shrunk The Kids”“Ghostbusters II”“Always”“Steel Magnolias”“Lean On Me”“Born on the Fourth of July”“Driving Miss Daisy”“Batman”“Parenthood”“Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure”“Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade”“Back To The Future Part II”“Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”“When Harry Met Sally…”“Roger & Me”“The Abyss”“Weekend at Bernie’s”