Beloit College Mindset List for 2019

[ClarkKent_DC]

I used to post these pretty regularly on a past incarnation of the board.

If you are unfamiliar, each August, starting in 1998, Beloit College in Beloit, WI presents The Mindset List, "providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall." It initially was meant to be a guide to the faculty to help them understand the incoming freshman class, by pointing out the things that "everybody" knows are different for the teachers as they are for those students, because times have changed. Accordingly, it's a warning to those teachers to "watch their references."

For example, one past Mindset List points out that the icon on computers for saving files is an image of a 3.5 floppy disk, which is something no teenager today has ever used and likely has never ever seen.

As an additional wrinkle, this year's list adds 10 entries of expressions the young people use that the older generation may not understand.

Without futher ado: The 2019 Beloit College Mindset List

Students heading into their first year of college this year are mostly 18 and were born in 1997. 

Among those who have never been alive in their lifetimes are Princess Diana, Notorious B.I.G., Jacques Cousteau, and Mother Teresa.

Joining them in the world the year they were born were Dolly the sheep, The McCaughey septuplets, and Michael “Prince” Jackson Jr.

Since they have been on the planet:

1. Hybrid automobiles have always been mass produced.

2. Google has always been there, in its founding words, “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible.” 

3. They have never licked a postage stamp.

4. Email has become the new “formal” communication, while texts and tweets remain enclaves for the casual.

5. Four foul-mouthed kids have always been playing in South Park.

6. Hong Kong has always been under Chinese rule.

7. They have grown up treating Wi-Fi as an entitlement. 

8. The NCAA has always had a precise means to determine a national champion in college football.

9. The announcement of someone being the “first woman” to hold a position has only impressed their parents.

10. Charlton Heston is recognized for waving a rifle over his head as much as for waving his staff over the Red Sea.

11. Color photos have always adorned the front page of The New York Times.

12. Ellis Island has always been primarily in New Jersey.

13. “No means no” has always been morphing, slowly, into “only yes means yes.”

14. Cell phones have become so ubiquitous in class that teachers don’t know which students are using them to take notes and which ones are planning a party.

15. The Airport in Washington, D.C., has always been Reagan National Airport.

16. Their parents have gone from encouraging them to use the Internet to begging them to get off it.       

17. If you say “around the turn of the century,” they may well ask you, “which one?”

18. They have avidly joined Harry Potter, Ron, and Hermione as they built their reading skills through all seven volumes.

19. Attempts at human cloning have never been federally funded but do require FDA approval.

20. "Crosstown Classic” and the “Battle of the Bay” have always been among the most popular interleague rivalries in Major League Baseball.

21. Carry Me Back to Old Virginny has never been the official song of the Virginia Commonwealth.

22. Phish Food has always been available from Ben and Jerry.

23. Kyoto has always symbolized inactivity about global climate change.

24. When they were born, cell phone usage was so expensive that families only used their large phones, usually in cars, for emergencies. 

25. The therapeutic use of marijuana has always been legal in a growing number of American states.

26. The eyes of Texas have never looked upon The Houston Oilers.

27. Teachers have always had to insist that term papers employ sources in addition to those found online. 

28. In a world of DNA testing, the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington has never included a Vietnam War veteran “known only to God.”

29. Playhouse Disney was a place where they could play growing up.

30. Surgeons have always used “super glue” in the operating room.

31. Fifteen nations have always been constructing the International Space Station.

32. The Lion King has always been on Broadway.

33. Phoenix Lights is a series of UFO sightings, not a filtered cigarette.

34. Scotland and Wales have always had their own parliaments and assemblies.

35. At least Mom and Dad had their new Nintendo 64 to help them get through long nights sitting up with the baby.

36. First Responders have always been heroes.

37. Sir Paul and Sir Elton have always been knights of the same musical roundtable.

38. CNN has always been available en Español.

39. Heaven’s Gate has always been more a trip to Comet Hale-Bopp and less a film flop.

40. Splenda has always been a sweet option in the U.S.

41. The Atlanta Braves have always played at Turner Field.

42. Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have always been members of NATO.

43. Humans have always had implanted radio frequency ID chips—slightly larger than a grain of rice.

44. TV has always been in such high definition that they could see the pores of actors and the grimaces of quarterbacks. 

45. Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith have always been Men in Black, not their next-door neighbors.

46. The proud parents recorded their first steps on camcorders, mounted on their shoulders like bazookas.

47. They had no idea how fortunate they were to enjoy the final four years of Federal budget surpluses.

48. Amoco gas stations have steadily vanished from the American highway.

49. Vote-by-mail has always been the official way to vote in Oregon.

50. ...and there has always been a Beloit College Mindset List.

                                              ***

In fairness to the class of 2019 the following are a few of the expressions from their culture that will baffle their parents, older friends, and teachers …with translations.

1. They need to plan ahead so they don't find themselves "dankrupt."

One of a variety of painful declarations that we are out of weed. 

2. A heavy dose of "Natty Light" has always caught up with them in the morning.

It may taste great and be less filling, but there are limits. 

3. As long as they can find a ballpoint pen they can use their "redneck teleprompter." 

The bigger the back of your hand, the more notes you can include, but don’t get caught looking. 

4. "Smartphone shuffles" have always slowed down traffic between classes. 

One can avoid all eye contact as one moves through the madding texting crowd.

5. "Vatican Roulette" has always been risky but acceptable. 

If you’ve got rhythm and like your planning natural, then Vatican Roulette is the game for you.

6. A significant other who is a bit "too Yoko Ono" has always created tension.   

A partner too hard to handle…hard for your friends to compete with perfection.

7. “Quiche” has everything to do with hot and nothing to do with food.

Turn down the heat. Some people are just so hot they enhance the appetite.

8. “Trolling” innocents on social media has always been uncharitable.  

Cynical and bullying attacks on happy campers, preserved on the internet, may come back to haunt you.

9. They'll know better than to text their professors "TL DR" about assignments. 

…and just hope their professor doesn’t scribble back to them, about their own papers: “TOO LONG: DIDN'T READ.” 

10. Slurring “textroverts” have always been a fact of social life.

If you're too drunk to say it face to face, you probably should wait until morning before you start texting. 

Copyright© 2015 Beloit College

[ClarkKent_DC]

Y'know, it would be easier for the rest of the world to understand what you mean if you followed conventional spellings, grammar, usage, syntax, etc. As it is, it's nearly impossible to discern if something you write doesn't have "routine mistypes" or omissions or ISN'T "garbled."

[John Dunbar]

People don't give equal weight to recent memories and distant ones.  Something that's been a part of a teenager's life in the last 5 years or so is going to stick with them much more than what happened previously.  Just my opinion, YMMV.

Also, I did get that you were painting Beliot as a school for rich kids for some reason.  Here's what I didn't get:

- "Spoiled cions Of The Rich And Gotbucks/99% go"

- "where their students so routinely have to deal with their probation offivers"

- "A far more " hip " Internet designator of " I'm just trying to be here ! " , knocking out that ol analog-style " LOL " , I just found out today...........)"

I found all of that indecipherable.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:

People don't give equal weight to recent memories and distant ones.  Something that's been a part of a teenager's life in the last 5 years or so is going to stick with them much more than what happened previously.  Just my opinion, YMMV.

Also, I did get that you were painting Beliot as a school for rich kids for some reason.  Here's what I didn't get:

- "Spoiled cions Of The Rich And Gotbucks/99% go"

- "where their students so routinely have to deal with their probation offivers"

- "A far more " hip " Internet designator of " I'm just trying to be here ! " , knocking out that ol analog-style " LOL " , I just found out today...........)"

I found all of that indecipherable.

  They . Were . Jokes .

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...Also , the idea of a teenager's memory of the last 5 years or so wasn't under discussion here , the idea being discussed here was what the Beloit list is built around assuming ~ That a 17/18-er of today has NEVER known the old things , not just in " the last 5 years " .

  In my rebuttal I even gave the argument that " they never have known anything else " more space to be accurate by starting " never " at counting from 6 years old so that " they have never known..." covered only the last 11-12 years ~ not the last 17/18 !

  " Spoiled scions " and " probation officers " were JOKES , based upon/filling out the " bratatorium " ~ JOKY ~ supposition .

  I used the phrase " scion " quite accurately !!!!!!!!!
 
John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:

People don't give equal weight to recent memories and distant ones.  Something that's been a part of a teenager's life in the last 5 years or so is going to stick with them much more than what happened previously.  Just my opinion, YMMV.

Also, I did get that you were painting Beliot as a school for rich kids for some reason.  Here's what I didn't get:

- "Spoiled cions Of The Rich And Gotbucks/99% go"

- "where their students so routinely have to deal with their probation offivers"

- "A far more " hip " Internet designator of " I'm just trying to be here ! " , knocking out that ol analog-style " LOL " , I just found out today...........)"

I found all of that indecipherable.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...Oh and , OK , that bad bad bad bad kitty , " I'm just trying to be FUNNY here " ! Another single-word drop ! " Funny " .

  I had seen this piece about " No one (practically) uses ' LOL ' on the 'Net anymore , even ' hehehe ' is used by more people " that day...

  If you knew some things about my posting circumstances , too.........

[ClarkKent_DC]

Emerkeith Davyjack said:

...Oh and , OK , that bad bad bad bad kitty , " I'm just trying to be FUNNY here " ! Another single-word drop ! " Funny " .

  I had seen this piece about " No one (practically) uses ' LOL ' on the 'Net anymore , even ' hehehe ' is used by more people " that day...

  If you knew some things about my posting circumstances , too.........

Your "JOKES" and efforts at being "FUNNY" are getting in the way of your message being understood.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Emerkeith Davyjack said:

  Yes . I submit that , if you follow that literally , it means that every one of those New Power Generation '19 Beloit graduates always had the newest technology around them , their whole entire lives , it leaves out that MAYBE , just mAYBE , every Deal Old Beloit future alumni may not have come from a home which had a groovy latest TV as the (Presumably , actually , they had multiple TVs but we'll stay away from that for now !) home TV , always had Wifi everywhere in their community , as their town(s) always had an " everywhere " availability of Wifi as far back as 2003...Yes , I believe there could actually be some exceptions to that , certainly if some Beloit admittees MAYBE , JUST MAYBE came from a less well-off personal situatuion/lived in a rural-backwoods situation/perhaps had a parental situation where their parental unit did always have the latest stuff around the home at all times !

If you're telling us that not everyone has or could afford the newest, latest technology, that's a fair point. But the Beloit Mindset List illustrates how baseline standards have changed over time.

We're quibbling over whether today's 17-year-olds would have had high-definition TV all their lives, but their parents (and most of us) grew up with decidedly low-definition TVs with CRT tubes. The cheapest, most basic TV sold today blows the best of those sets out of the water with the clarity and sharpness of its images.

Some of us are old enough to remember black-and-white TVs, and remember that TV networks were broadcasting in black-and-white even into the 1970s. Today's 17-year-olds didn't experience that. And on and on. That's what the Mindset List illustrates.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...That what you are saying . Fine . That isn't my point .

  My point is what the Beloit List says .
 
ClarkKent_DC said:

Emerkeith Davyjack said:

  Yes . I submit that , if you follow that literally , it means that every one of those New Power Generation '19 Beloit graduates always had the newest technology around them , their whole entire lives , it leaves out that MAYBE , just mAYBE , every Deal Old Beloit future alumni may not have come from a home which had a groovy latest TV as the (Presumably , actually , they had multiple TVs but we'll stay away from that for now !) home TV , always had Wifi everywhere in their community , as their town(s) always had an " everywhere " availability of Wifi as far back as 2003...Yes , I believe there could actually be some exceptions to that , certainly if some Beloit admittees MAYBE , JUST MAYBE came from a less well-off personal situatuion/lived in a rural-backwoods situation/perhaps had a parental situation where their parental unit did always have the latest stuff around the home at all times !

If you're telling us that not everyone has or could afford the newest, latest technology, that's a fair point. But the Beloit Mindset List illustrates how baseline standards have changed over time.

We're quibbling over whether today's 17-year-olds would have had high-definition TV all their lives, but their parents (and most of us) grew up with decidedly low-definition TVs with CRT tubes. The cheapest, most basic TV sold today blows the best of those sets out of the water. 

Some of us are old enough to remember black-and-white TVs, and remember that TV networks were broadcasting in black-and-white even into the 1970s. Today's 17-year-olds didn't experience that. And on and on. That's what the Mindset List illustrates.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Emerkeith Davyjack said:

...That what you are saying . Fine . That isn't my point .

  My point is what the Beloit List says .

It says this:

From The Beloit Mindset List:

44. TV has always been in such high definition that they could see the pores of actors and the grimaces of quarterbacks.

And as I pointed out:

ClarkKent_DC said:

We're quibbling over whether today's 17-year-olds would have had high-definition TV all their lives, but their parents (and most of us) grew up with decidedly low-definition TVs with CRT tubes. The cheapest, most basic TV sold today blows the best of those sets out of the water with the clarity and sharpness of its images.

So I don't see where the Mindset List is wrong.

[Richard Willis]

ED, in an earlier post on this thread I said:

It's not so much that they must not hear something but that if they hear it they may not understand it. If the goal is to communicate it helps if the speaker and the listener both understand the terms used.

This also applies to written communication. I don't say it often but it IS often hard to understand what you are trying to communicate to the rest of the Round Table. Every once in a great while you post something that isn't intentionally full of cutesy punctuation marks and misspellings. When you do it is easier to understand what you are trying to tell us. What is the point of posting anything if very few people can understand you?

[John Dunbar]

John Dunbar (the mod of maple) said:

Also, I did get that you were painting Beliot as a school for rich kids for some reason.  Here's what I didn't get:

- "Spoiled cions Of The Rich And Gotbucks/99% go"

- "where their students so routinely have to deal with their probation offivers"

- "A far more " hip " Internet designator of " I'm just trying to be here ! " , knocking out that ol analog-style " LOL " , I just found out today...........)"

I found all of that indecipherable.

Emerkeith Davyjack said:

 They . Were . Jokes .

Duly noted.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...As I said , the ML seemed to argue " That's how it's been like , for every 17-18 entering Beloit (and by extension elsewhere) THEIR WHOLE LIVES " , emphasis mine .

  It isn't what you said (and , as I said , other media simplification of it was another nails-on-blackboard point) .
 
ClarkKent_DC said:

Emerkeith Davyjack said:

...That what you are saying . Fine . That isn't my point .

  My point is what the Beloit List says .

It says this:

From The Beloit Mindset List:

44. TV has always been in such high definition that they could see the pores of actors and the grimaces of quarterbacks.

And as I pointed out:

ClarkKent_DC said:

We're quibbling over whether today's 17-year-olds would have had high-definition TV all their lives, but their parents (and most of us) grew up with decidedly low-definition TVs with CRT tubes. The cheapest, most basic TV sold today blows the best of those sets out of the water with the clarity and sharpness of its images.

So I don't see where the Mindset List is wrong.