Beloit Mindset List

I often belabor (and occasionally belittle) my students for their lack of basic cultural background which I take for granted. But they have lived an entire life without things which were elemental to my perspective. Failure to consider those differences can make it difficult to connect with them; and if the prof doesn't connect there won't be effective communication.

Beloit College has recognized this and for the past twelve years has been offering the Mindset List to attempt to inform their faculty about the background experiences of the incoming freshman class. Here's their compilation for the Class of '14:

The Lives They've Lived...So Far

I come away feeling very old. To realize that I had been retired for five years from the military and was fifty when they were born is shocking!

Some excerpts:

"Honda has always been a competitor at the Indy 500"...Not true, Beloit! It was the Dallara chassis with an INFINITI engine for several years. I've been driving Infiniti since the Class of '14 were three years old.

"Nirvana is on the classic oldies station"...It's NOT on my classic oldies station!

"Hundreds of cable channels and nothing on"...Once there was quality programming, but that was before "Real Housewives" of anywhere.

"Clint Eastwood is a sensitive director rather than Dirty Harry..." C'mon gang, is nothing sacred?

Not a thing on the list about the Constitution once limiting the power of the federal government. I guess it never did in my lifetime either. I was born when FDR had already been in office for 10 years...