Totally 90s: An investigative report into nostalgia
October 21, 2010
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “In West Philadelphia, born and raised”?
If you thought of the time you became the prince of a town called Bel-Air, you would be a child of the 90s.
The 90s, a simpler time without Facebook or Hannah Montana; the time that we all grew up in.
The Collegian polled 10 random students, five males and five females, about their childhood. The results were insightful.
All 10 students recognized the theme song to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” although only eight could remember the lyrics.
Pokémon didn’t fair as well among surveyed students, with only six students knowing the three main characters: Ash, Brock and Misty.
When asked about their favorite toy fads as children, three of the 10 mentioned “Power Rangers” as their favorite.
Juniors Christina Browning and Rachel Ritter both agreed that “Power Rangers” was their favorite, citing the yellow and pink rangers as their respective favorites.
Other students listed Barbies, Batman, Legos, Hot Wheels and Pollys as their favorites.
When asked about their childhood career goals, answers were interesting.
“I wanted to be a lawyer,” freshman Alex Higgins said. “I wanted to be like Elle Woods from ‘Legally Blonde.'”
Other students had more colorful answers.
“I wanted to be a bus driver,” Ritter said with a laugh, while freshman Josh Quay said: “I wanted to be a pirate.”
Some students have stuck with their childhood career goals; freshmen Joanna Villinger and Kristen Pennington have wanted to be teachers since they were children and are currently education majors.
When asked about the most popular album in 2001, no students correctly said “Hybrid Theory” by Linkin Park, instead selecting Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys or N’Sync.
However, when asked to name the five members of the Backstreet Boys or N’Sync, only Browning knew every member of N’Sync.
Many guessed names for the boy band members.
“I know there’s a Kevin and maybe a Brian?” Higgins said, guessing only two.
Pennington faired only slightly better, managing to name three.
“Nick [Carter] was the only cute one!” she said.
While the girls made an effort to guess, three of the five boys didn’t even bother to guess.
“I could’ve cared less about those guys,” Quay said.
While music may not have been everyone’s strongest point, most students remembered their favorite book as a child. Rachel Ritter and Benjamin Black agreed that “Captain Underpants” was their choice literature, while senior Jimmy Hoppel and Pennington both recommended, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.”
Other books mentioned were “Matilida,” “The Hungry Caterpillar,” “Hank the Cowdog,” “Hatchet” and “Shiloh.”
Freshman Joanna Villinger strained to think of her favorite book: “It was about a train?”
Fortunately for the world of science, all ten students knew without hesitation who Bill Nye was, although not everyone liked him.
“He’s the science guy,” Pennington said. “I hated him!”
In terms of scientific genius, seven out of 10 students knew how to get a stubborn Nintendo game to work.
“You blow on it,” Browning said. “I have my original Nintendo in my room.”
While Nintendo may have been a favorite hobby at home, recess was a reason to be excited throughout the school day.
No two answers were the same in regards to favorite recess activity.
“We played state tag,” Ritter said, referring to a game of tag where all the players must run from one state to another on a map of the United States.
Benjamin Black said that the swing sets was his activity of choice. Other students reported that kickball, tetherball, tag and dodgeball were their games of choice.
Not all recess activities were conventional games.
“I liked to chase boys,” Pennington said.
While most look back fondly on their childhood, the surveyed students couldn’t agree on whether or not kids today have it better or worse.
“Worse,” freshman Cory Snyder said. “Everyone is poor now.”
Seniors Ryan Brock and Hoppel agreed that kids today may have better technology, but lack the outside activities that they had.
“It’s a little of both,” Hoppel said. “Some of their stuff is cooler, but I don’t know if many kids are going outside.”
Pennington expressed envy over modern kids.
“It’s better,” Pennington said. “They have more than what we had.”
Quay disagreed, however, explaining that technology has made kids worse.
“They’re better technology-wise but worse overall,” Quay said. “They have a lack of respect for their parents and they are coming into a bad age.”
Browning agreed.
“I feel like they have it worse,” Browning said. “They are growing up too fast.”
Black admitted that he feels sorry for today’s children.
“The TV and music is atrocious,” Black said. “We always had something good on PBS, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network in our day. Now they have ‘iCarly’? I weep and pray for these children today.”
Regardless of different opinions, everyone can admit that their childhood was totally rad.
But the real reason kids have it worse than we did today is that they missed out on Levar Burton, Mr. Rogers, Mark Summers, Goosebumps, Summer Sanders and “Dexter’s Laboratory.”