Latest Mindset List Will Make You Feel Old

Every year, Ron Nief and Tom McBride write the "Beloit College Mindset List" to the class of incoming freshmen. The list will absolutely make you feel old.

Although we can laugh about a few things on the list, Beloit.edu wants us to remember:

Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones and experiences that have shaped the worldview of students entering colleges and universities in the fall.

Behind the light humor of the Mindset List there are always some serious issues about the future of the class and their role in the future of the nation. The digital technology that affords them privacy from their parents, robs them of their privacy amid the “big data” of the NSA and Google. How will the absence of instant on-line approval impact their performance in the classroom and work place? Will this generation continue to seek reliance on prescription medications to address challenges and adjust reality?

 

Beloit College has released this list every year since 1998. (See past lists here.) Here are some of my favorite points made on the list this year:

1. "Press pound" on the phone is now translated as "hit hashtag."

2. When they see wire-rimmed glasses, they think Harry Potter, not John Lennon.

3. Pepsi has always refreshed travelers in outer space.

4. Joe Camel has never introduced one of them to smoking.

5. Celebrity "selfies" are far cooler than autographs.

6. Attending schools outside their neighborhoods, they gather with friends on Skype, not in their local park.

7. During their initial weeks of kindergarten, they were upset by endlessly repeated images of planes blasting into the World Trade Center.

The list goes on with 50 different notes on the list. It's a fantastic read and really makes you think. Beloit College also offers each list from 1998 and on.

Here the authors Ron Nief and Tom McBride speak about the list: