2009-08-20

Youth: The Mindset of Today's College Freshman

The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2013

Each year since 1998 professors at Beloit College have created a list of cultural touchstones to help serve as a reminder to the college staff about the mindset of the students they will engage with. 

Each year since 1998 youth pastors have been paying attention to this list.

Most students entering college for the first time this fall were born in 1991.

Below are some highlights that I found interesting.

Click HERE for more information and the rest of this year’s list.

 

4.       They have never used a card catalog to find a book.

9.        They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.

20.     American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.

24.     McDonald's has always been serving Happy Meals in China.

25.     Condoms have always been advertised on television.

29.     Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves.

34.     They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.

  1. Women have always outnumbered men in college.
  2. We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.

50.     Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the Evening News came on.

53.     Someone has always been asking: “Was Iraq worth a war?”

  1. Most communities have always had a mega-church.

72.     Migration of once independent media like radio, TV, videos and compact discs to the computer has never amazed them.

  1. Nobody has ever responded to “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”

 

1 comment:

PETE Di LALLO said...

I have to add to the list of young graduates and recent ones I've interviewed for work here...

None of them can spell worth a darn,
not many have had help in writing a resume, and hardly any can write a simple letter...no one's hardly heard of spell-check or even think they need to check spelling...
the resume's 'objective' for me is an almost immediate ' this is not a person I'll hire'...
i.e. "I'd like to work at your office to get experience so I can open up my own office in a few years"!
I often write these people back telling them what I think of their objective...I have to mention that we are not a school and most write back thanking me...