College Mindset List

The new school year is just about upon us -classes start here on Monday. With the influx of new students (and the departure of good parking places), your mind starts to drift back to the time when you were a scared freshman, out in the world for the first time. Beloit College has been putting together a mindset list since the class of 2002 arrived on campus. It’s interesting to see what experiences these new students have had up to this point, and how they know (and don’t know) the world.

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Emeritus Public Affairs Director Ron Nief.  It is used around the world as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation.

Mindset list for the class of 2013

Here are some of my favorites:

• 4. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
• 9. They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
• 14. Text has always been hyper.
• 31. There has always been a Cartoon Network.
• 52. They have never been Saved by the Bell
• 72. Migration of once independent media like radio, TV, videos and compact discs to the computer has never amazed them.
• 73. Nobody has ever responded to “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”