Friday, February 19, 2010

Beloit College Mindset List: The Book

Link to February 19 Wisconsin State Journal article, "Popular Beloit Mindset List to be expanded as book".

Excerpt: The creators of the popular Beloit College Mindset List are expanding the concept into a book tracing how different generations view the world.

The annual Mindset List is the brainchild of Beloit College officials Ron Nief and Tom McBride. Every August they release a list of items reminding professors that the incoming class sees the world differently than they do.

For example, this year's freshmen wouldn't understand the reference, "Here's Johnny," or share their parents' visceral reaction to Watergate
.

Here are some other library-related examples. (Retiring Guy finds the List to be a great teaching tool.)












Anyone else remember this late 1970s/early 1980s workshop staple?

2 comments:

Sarah H. said...

I attended Beloit College, and this was (of course) a big deal. Sadly, half of my class's list was untrue for me and many others, so all the hype every year just makes me roll my eyes.

Jen Moore said...

I hear you, Sarah -- I was also a Beloiter, and the list is also generally untrue for me. I feel like there are some parts of it that are valid (Google has always been a verb, for example) but the implication that college students won't recognize cultural events that happened before they were born always drives me crazy.