As professors dust off their lecture notes in preparation for the new academic year, they might want to vet their cultural references with the folks at Beloit College.
Each August for the past dozen years, Beloit has published its Mind-Set List to bring professors and administrators in sync with the minds of today's freshmen. The average member of the Class of 2013 was born in the not-so-distant year of 1991.
Although much has changed, the two men who compile the list—Tom McBride, a professor of English, and Ron Nief, emeritus director of public affairs—found many similarities between today and the world of 18 years ago: "The headlines that year railed about government interventions, bailouts, bad loans, unemployment, and greater regulation of the finance industry. The Tonight Show was preparing for its first change of hosts in decades, and the nation asked, 'Was Iraq worth a war?'"
The Beloit College Mind-Set List for the Class of 2013
1. For these students, Martha Graham, Pan American World Airways, Michael Landon, Dr. Seuss, Miles Davis, the Dallas Times Herald, Gene Roddenberry, and Freddie Mercury have always been dead.
2. Jack Kevorkian and Mike Tyson have always been felons.
3. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.
4. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
5. Margaret Thatcher has always been a former prime minister.
6. Salsa has always outsold ketchup.
7. Earvin (Magic) Johnson has always been HIV-positive.
8. Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
9. They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
10. Rap music has always been mainstream.
11. Chocolate-chip-cookie-dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
12. Someone has always been building something taller than the Willis (nee Sears) Tower in Chicago.
13. The KGB has never officially existed.
14. Text has always been hyper.
15. They never saw the "Scud Stud" (but there have always been electromagnetic stud finders.)
16. Babies have always had a Social Security number.
17. They have never had to "shake down" an oral thermometer.
18. Bungee jumping has always been socially acceptable.
19. They have never understood the meaning of RSVP.
20. American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
21. Except for the present incumbent, the president has never inhaled.
22. State abbreviations in addresses have never had periods.
23. The European Union has always existed.
24. McDonald's has always been serving Happy Meals in China.
25. Condoms have always been advertised on television.
26. Cable-television systems have always offered telephone service and vice versa.
27. Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.
28. The American health-care system has always been in critical condition.
29. Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves.
30. Desperate smokers have always been able to turn to NicoDerm skin patches.
31. There has always been a Cartoon Network.
32. The nation's key economic indicator has always been the gross domestic product (GDP).
33. Their folks could always reach for a Zoloft.
34. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.
35. Women have always outnumbered men in college.
36. We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
37. Amateur radio operators have never needed to know Morse code.
38. Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, and Estonia have always been independent nations.
39. It's always been official: President Zachary Taylor did not die of arsenic poisoning.
40. Madonna's perspective on Sex has always been well documented.
41. Phil Jackson has always been coaching championship basketball.
42. Ozzy Osbourne has always been coming back.
43. Kevin Costner has always been Dancing with Wolves, especially on cable.
44. There have always been flat-screen televisions.
45. They have always eaten Berry Berry Kix.
46. Disney's Fantasia has always been available on video, and It's a Wonderful Life has always been on Moscow television.
47. Smokers have never been promoted as an economic force that deserves respect.
48. Elite American colleges have never been able to fix the price of tuition.
49. Nobody has been able to make a deposit in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
50. Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the Evening News came on.
51. Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.
52. They have never been Saved by the Bell.
53. Someone has always been asking: "Was Iraq worth a war?"
54. Most communities have always had a megachurch.
55. Natalie Cole has always been singing with her father.
56. The status of gays in the military has always been a topic of political debate.
57. Elizabeth Taylor has always reeked of White Diamonds.
58. There has always been a Planet Hollywood.
59. For one reason or another, California's future has always been in doubt.
60. Agent Starling has always feared The Silence of the Lambs.
61. "Womyn" and "waitperson" have always been in the dictionary.
62. Members of Congress have always had to keep their checkbooks balanced since the closing of the House Bank.
63. There has always been a computer in the Oval Office.
64. Compact discs have never been sold in cardboard packaging.
65. Avon has always been "calling" in a catalog.
66. NATO has always been looking for a role.
67. Two Koreas have always been members of the United Nations.
68. Official racial classifications in South Africa have always been outlawed.
69. NBC's Today show has always been seen on weekends.
70. Vice presidents of the United States have always had real power.
71. Conflict in Northern Ireland has always been slowly winding down.
72. The 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."
74. Congress could never give itself a midterm raise.
75. There has always been blue Jell-O.
Comments
1. rlpeterson - August 18, 2009 at 12:04 pm
I think we would all be a lot better off is Beloit College would stop this pointless publicity-grabbing annual exercise. At the very least, the Chronicle could stop grandstanding this total nonsense.
The new students beginning to arrive on our campuses have had different experiences growing up than most of their professors. This is worthy of discussion? The differences are almost always trivial and frequently childish.
Here are few to add to Beloit's list:
To everyone on earth, Thomas Jefferson has always been dead.
No one in the United States remembers when slavery was legal.
No one living can remember the Roman Empire.
Everyone born since 1945 has always lived in a world with nuclear weapons.
I see in this silliness just another example of our national obsession with youth and our childishly short national memory.
2. megginson - August 18, 2009 at 01:02 pm
And I'll add to rlpeterson's list:
There have always been curmudgeons who lack a sense of humor.
3. rightwingprofessor - August 18, 2009 at 01:28 pm
Seriously rlpeterson the point is to highlight the differences in the students and the facculty, your "list" proves you just don't get it. I appreciate being reminded that my students have never used a real card catalog.
4. jaysanderson - August 18, 2009 at 02:33 pm
Lighten up, Francis. Peterson only speaks the truth--it is silliness. I do, however, have one to add...young faculty members of today don't know the chronicle as an actual source of news (as it used to be)--only a purveyor of light, phluffy, happy pieces.
How about sending a reporter (there must be one around there somewhere) to two or three of the colleges that are going under and dig up a real story. Look into the lavish spending and empire-building that went on over the past decade, and its effect on the institution when the economy took a southward turn.
5. cjones599 - August 18, 2009 at 03:53 pm
I have followed this list for many years. I have lots of student contact on a weekly basis. I have to admit that this is the first time I feel out of the loop with the items on the list. The list makes me feel I am out of touch with what is important to our young students; either that, or the items on the list are meaningless to me to begin with, and they don't speak to me at all.
6. georgiaprof - August 19, 2009 at 10:18 am
This list didn't surprise me as much as previous ones have. there have always been a couple of things that surprised me. None of these did.