The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class
of 2016
This year’s entering college
class of 2016 was born into cyberspace and they
have therefore measured their output in the
fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and
bauds. They have come to political consciousness
during a time of increasing doubts about
America’s future, and are entering college
bombarded by questions about jobs and the value
of a college degree. They have never needed an
actual airline “ticket,” a set of bound
encyclopedias, or Romper Room. Members of this
year’s freshman class, most of them born in
1994, are probably the most tribal generation in
history and they despise being separated from
contact with friends. They prefer to watch
television everywhere except on a television,
have seen a woman lead the U.S. State Department
for most of their lives, and can carry school
books--those that are not on their e-Readers--in
backpacks that roll.
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 don’t take pictures on
“film” and that CDs and DVDs are not “tapes.”
Those parents have been able to review the crime
statistics for the colleges their children have
applied to and then pop an Aleve as needed. In
these students’ lifetimes, with MP3 players and
iPods, they seldom listen to the car radio. A
quarter of the entering students already have
suffered some hearing loss. 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.
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 this fall. The creation of Beloit’s
former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief and
Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride,
authors of The Mindset Lists of American
History: From Typewriters to Text Messages, What
Ten Generations of Americans Think Is Normal
(John Wiley and Sons), it was originally created
as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated
references. It quickly became an internationally
monitored catalog of the changing worldview of
each new college generation. Mindset List
websites at themindsetlist.com and Beloit.edu,
as well as the Mediasite webcast and their
Facebook page receive more than a million visits
annually.
For those who cannot comprehend that it has been
18 years since this year’s entering college
students were born, they should recognize that
the next four years will go even faster,
confirming the authors’ belief that “generation
gaps have always needed glue.”
The
Mindset List for the Class of 2016
For
this generation of entering college students,
born in 1994, Kurt Cobain, Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis, Richard Nixon and John Wayne Gacy have
always been dead.
- They should keep their eyes open for
Justin Bieber or Dakota Fanning at freshman
orientation.
- They have always lived in cyberspace,
addicted to a new generation of “electronic
narcotics.”
- The Biblical sources of terms such as
“Forbidden Fruit,” “The writing on the
wall,” “Good Samaritan,” and “The Promised
Land” are unknown to most of them.
- Michael Jackson’s family, not the
Kennedys, constitutes “American Royalty.”
- 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.
- Robert De Niro is thought of as Greg
Focker's long-suffering father-in-law, not
as Vito Corleone or Jimmy Conway.
- Bill Clinton is a senior statesman of
whose presidency they have little knowledge.
- They have never seen an airplane
“ticket.”
- On TV and in films, the ditzy dumb
blonde female generally has been replaced by
a couple of Dumb and Dumber males.
- 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'.
- 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.
- They can’t picture people actually
carrying luggage through airports rather
than rolling it.
- There has always been football in
Jacksonville but never in Los Angeles.
- 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.
- Benjamin Braddock, having given up both
a career in plastics and a relationship with
Mrs. Robinson, could be their grandfather.
- Their folks have never gazed with pride
on a new set of bound encyclopedias on the
bookshelf.
- The Green Bay Packers have always
celebrated with the Lambeau Leap.
- Exposed bra straps have always been a
fashion statement, not a wardrobe
malfunction to be corrected quietly by
well-meaning friends.
- A significant percentage of them will
enter college already displaying some
hearing loss.
- The Real World has always stopped being
polite and started getting real on MTV.
- Women have always piloted war planes and
space shuttles.
- White House security has never felt it
necessary to wear rubber gloves when gay
groups have visited.
- They have lived in an era of instant
stardom and self-proclaimed celebrities,
famous for being famous.
- Having made the acquaintance of Furby at
an early age, they have expected their toy
friends to do ever more unpredictable
things.
- 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 smart
phone screens.
- 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.”
- There have always been blue M&Ms, but no
tan ones.’
- Along with online viewbooks, parents
have always been able to check the crime
stats for the colleges their kids have
selected.
- Newt Gingrich has always been a key
figure in politics, trying to change the way
America thinks about everything.
- They have come to political
consciousness during a time of increasing
doubts about America’s future.
- Billy Graham is as familiar to them as
Otto Graham was to their parents.
- Probably the most tribal generation in
history, they despise being separated from
contact with their similar-aged friends.
- Stephen Breyer has always been an
Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Martin Lawrence has always been banned
from hosting Saturday Night Live.
- Slavery has always been unconstitutional
in Mississippi, and Southern Baptists have
always been apologizing for supporting it in
the first place.
- The Metropolitan Opera House in New York
has always translated operas on seatback
screens.
- A bit of the late Gene Roddenberry,
creator of Star Trek, has always existed in
space.
- Good music programmers are rock stars to
the women of this generation, just as guitar
players were for their mothers.
- Gene therapy has always been an
available treatment.
- They were too young to enjoy the 1994
World Series, but then no one else got to
enjoy it either.
- The folks have always been able to grab
an Aleve when the kids started giving them a
migraine.
- While the iconic TV series for their
older siblings was the sci-fi show Lost, for
them it’s Breaking Bad, a gritty crime story
motivated by desperate economic
circumstances.
- Simba has always had trouble waiting to
be King.
- Before they purchase an assigned
textbook, they will investigate whether it
is available for rent or purchase as an
e-book.
- They grew up, somehow, without the
benefits of Romper Room.
- There has always been a World Trade
Organization.
- L.L. Bean hunting shoes have always been
known as just plain Bean Boots.
- They have always been able to see Starz
on Direct TV.
- Ice skating competitions have always
been jumping matches.
- There has always been a Santa Clause.
- NBC has never shown A Wonderful Life
more than twice during the holidays.
- Mr. Burns has replaced J. R. Ewing as
the most shot-at man on American television.
- They have always enjoyed school and
summer camp memories with a digital
yearbook.
- Herr Schindler has always had a List;
Mr. Spielberg has always had an Oscar.
- Selena's fans have always been in
mourning.
- They know many established film stars by
their voices on computer-animated
blockbusters.
- History has always had its own channel.
- Thousands have always been gathering for
“million-man” demonstrations in Washington,
D.C.
- Television and film dramas have always
risked being pulled because the story line
was too close to the headlines from which
they were ”ripped.”
- TheTwilight Zone involves vampires, not
Rod Serling.
- Robert Osborne has always been
introducing Hollywood history on TCM.
- Little Caesar has always been
proclaiming “Pizza Pizza.”
- They have no recollection of when
Arianna Huffington was a conservative.
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has always been
officially recognized with clinical
guidelines.
- They watch television everywhere but on
a television.
- Pulp Fiction’s meal of a "Royale with
Cheese" and an “Amos and Andy milkshake” has
little or no resonance with them.
- Point-and-shoot cameras are soooooo last
millennium.
- Despite being preferred urban gathering
places, two-thirds of the independent
bookstores in the United States have closed
for good during their lifetimes.
- Astronauts have always spent well over a
year in a single space flight.
- Lou Gehrig's record for most consecutive
baseball games played has never stood in
their lifetimes.
- Genomes of living things have always
been sequenced.
- The Sistine Chapel ceiling has always
been brighter and cleaner.
Copyright© 2012 Beloit College
Mindset List is a registered trademark
This website was originally
developed by
Charles Camp for
CIVL
1101.
This site is
Maintained by the
Department of Civil Engineering
at the University of Memphis.
Your comments and questions are welcomed.
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