I love following the Beloit Mindset list each year. It gives a great perspective into the incoming freshman at the college level. I mentioned the list earlier in my blog posts, but it is worth a revisit.
The 2016 list is out. This is the generation of my oldest niece. She started college this fall.
Some highlights that I have mentioned earlier…
- If they miss The Daily Show, they can always get their news on YouTube.
- Their lives have been measured in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and bauds.
- While still fans of music on radio, they often listen to it on their laptops or replace it with music downloaded onto their MP3s and iPods.
- Since they’ve been born, the United States has measured progress by a 2 percent jump in unemployment and a 16 cent rise in the price of a first class postage stamp.
- Star Wars has always been just a film, not a defense strategy.
- They have had to incessantly remind their parents not to refer to their CDs and DVDs as “tapes.”
As I looked at my new Advisees in my homeroom today, I realized that their parents would be around my age. So, for teachers with freshmen in 2012, this is the list that references their parents. The 2002 list is as close as I can get.
- They are too young to remember the Space Shuttle Challenger blowing up.
- Atari pre-dates them, as do vinyl albums.
- The expression “you sound like a broken record” means nothing to them.
- They have never owned a record player.
- They have likely never played Pac Man, and have never heard of “Pong.”
- Star Wars looks very fake to them, and the special effects are pathetic.
- They may never have heard of an 8-track, and chances are they’ve never heard or seen one.
- The compact disc was introduced when they were one year old.
- There have always been VCRs, but they have no idea what Beta is.
- They cannot fathom what it was like not having a remote control.
- They were born the year Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
- Kansas, Boston, Chicago, America, and Alabama are all places—not music groups.
- McDonald’s never came in Styrofoam containers.
- There has always been MTV, and it has always included non-musical shows.