Each
August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List,
providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students
entering college.
The
class of 2016 was born the year of the professional baseball strike and the
last year for NFL football in Los Angeles. They have spent much of their lives
helping their parents understand that you do not take pictures on “film” and
that CDs and DVDs are not “tapes.”
Members
of this year’s freshman class, most born in 1994, are probably the most tribal
generation in history—they despise being out of contact with friends. They
prefer watching television everywhere except on a television, have seen a woman
lead the U.S. State Department for most of their lives, and can carry schoolbooks–those
not on their e-Readers–in backpacks that roll.
For
this generation of students entering college, Kurt Cobain, Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis and Richard Nixon have always been dead. Also on the list:
1.
They
should keep their eyes open for Justin Bieber or Dakota Fanning at freshman
orientation.
2.
They
have always lived in cyberspace, addicted to a new generation of “electronic
narcotics.”
3.
Most
of them are unfamiliar with the Biblical sources of phrases such as “forbidden fruit,”
“the writing on the wall,” “good Samaritan” and “the promised land.”
4.
Michael
Jackson’s family, not the Kennedys, constitutes “American Royalty.”
5.
If
they miss The Daily Show, they can always get their news on YouTube.
6.
Their
lives have been measured in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and
bauds.
7.
Robert
De Niro? That’s Greg Focker’s long-suffering father-in-law, not Vito Corleone
or Jimmy Conway.
8.
Bill
Clinton is a senior statesman of whose presidency they have little knowledge.
9.
On
TV and in films, the ditzy dumb blonde female generally has been replaced by a
couple of Dumb and Dumber males.
10.
The
paradox “too big to fail” has been, for their generation, what “we had to
destroy the village in order to save it” was for their grandparents’.
11.
For
most of their lives, maintaining relations between the U.S. and the rest of the
world has been a woman’s job in the State Department.
12.
They
can’t picture people actually carrying luggage through airports rather than
rolling it.
13.
Having
grown up with MP3s and iPods, they never listen to music on the car radio and
really have no use for radio at all.
14.
Since
they’ve been born, the U.S. has measured progress by a 2% jump in unemployment
and a 16-cent rise in the price of a first-class postage stamp.
15.
Benjamin
Braddock, from the movie, “The Graduate,” having given up both a career in
plastics and a relationship with Mrs. Robinson, could be their grandfather.
16.
Their
folks have never gazed with pride on a new set of bound encyclopedias on the bookshelf.
17.
The
Green Bay Packers have always celebrated with the Lambeau Leap.
18.
Exposed
bra straps have always been a fashion statement, not a wardrobe fail.
19.
The
Real World has always stopped being polite and started getting real on MTV.
20.
Women
have always piloted war planes and space shuttles.
21.
They
have lived in an era of instant stardom and self-proclaimed celebrities, famous
for being famous.
22.
Having
made the acquaintance of Furby at an early age, they have expected their toy
friends to do ever more unpredictable things.
23.
Outdated
icons with images of floppy discs for “save,” a telephone for “phone,” and a
snail-mail envelope for “mail” have oddly decorated their tablets and smartphone
screens.
24.
“Star
Wars” has always been just a film, not a defense
strategy.
25.
They
have had to incessantly remind their parents not to refer to their CDs and DVDs
as “tapes.”
26.
There
have always been blue M&Ms, but no tan ones.
This
year’s list includes additional items at www.beloit.edu/mindset and at www.themindsetlist.com.