People -
In the event that you might not have received this announcement from
another source, I thought everyone might enjoy seeing the Beloit
College Mindset List for the Class of 2009.
Tendaji
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Tendaji W. Ganges
Assistant to the Chancellor and
Executive Director
Educational Opportunity Initiatives
University of Michigan-Flint
University Center - Suite 280
303 East Kearsley Street
Flint, MI 48502-1950
Voice and Voice Mail: 810-762-3365
Facsimile: 810-762-3190
Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
________________________________
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Jenny kilcoyne
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 9:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Beloit College Mindset List Class of 2009
Ron Nief
(608)-363-2137
[log in to unmask]
BELOIT COLLEGE RELEASES THE BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST
FOR THE CLASS OF 2009
Beloit, Wis. - In the coming weeks, millions of students will be
entering college for the first time. On average, these members of the
Class of 2009 will be 18 years old, which means they were born in
1987. Starbucks, souped-up car stereos, telephone voicemail systems,
and Bill Gates have always been a part of their lives.
Each August, as students start to arrive, Beloit College
releases the Beloit College Mindset List, which offers a world view of
today's entering college students. It is the creation of Beloit's
Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Director of Public
Affairs Ron Nief.
McBride, who directs Beloit's First Year Initiatives (FYI)
program for entering students, notes that "This year's entering
students have grown up in a country where the main business has become
business, and where terrorism, from obscure beginnings, has built up
slowly but surely to become the threat it is today. Cable channels
have become as mainstream as the "Big 3" used to be, formality in
dress has become more quaint than ever, and Aretha Franklin, Kermit
the Frog and Jimmy Carter have become old-timers."
"Each year," according to Nief, " when Beloit releases the
Mindset List, it is the birth year of the entering students that is
the most disturbing fact for most readers. This year will come as no
exception and, once again, the faculty will remain the same age as the
students get younger."
The list is distributed to faculty on campus during the
New Student Days orientation. According to McBride, "It is an
important reminder, as faculty start to show signs of 'hardening of
the references,' that we think about the touchstones and benchmarks of
a generation that has grown up with CNN, home computers, AIDS
awareness, digital cameras and the Bush political dynasty. We should
also keep in mind that these students missed out on the pleasures of
being tossed in the back of a station wagon with a bunch of friends
and told to keep the noise down, walking in the woods without fearing
Lyme Disease, or setting out to try all of the 28 ice cream flavors at
Howard Johnson's."
According to Nief, "This is not serious in-depth research.
It is meant to be thought- provoking and fun, yet accurate. It is as
relevant as possible, given the broad social and
geographic diversity of our students, who are drawn from every state
and 50 countries. It is always open to challenge, which has an
additional benefit in that it reminds us of students' varied
backgrounds. It is still a good reflection of the attitudes and
experiences of the young people that we must be aware of from the
first day of their college experience."
***
Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2009
Most students entering college this fall were born in 1987.
1. Andy Warhol, Liberace, Jackie Gleason, and Lee Marvin have
always been dead.
2. They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved scissors.
3. Heart-lung transplants have always been possible.
4. Wayne Gretzky never played for Edmonton.
5. Boston has been working on "The Big Dig" all their lives.
6. With little need to practice, most of them do not know how
to tie a tie.
7. Pay-Per-View television has always been an option.
8. They never had the fun of being thrown into the back of a
station wagon with six others.
9. Iran and Iraq have never been at war with each other.
10. They are more familiar with Greg Gumbel than with Bryant
Gumbel.
11. Philip Morris has always owned Kraft Foods.
12. Al-Qaida has always existed with Osama bin Laden at its
head.
13. They learned to count with Lotus 1-2-3.
14. Car stereos have always rivaled home component systems.
15. Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker have never preached on
television.
16. Voice mail has always been available.
17. "Whatever" is not part of a question but an expression of
sullen rebuke.
18. The federal budget has always been more than a trillion
dollars.
19. Condoms have always been advertised on television.
20. They may have fallen asleep playing with their Gameboys in
the crib.
21. They have always had the right to burn the flag.
22. For daily caffeine emergencies, Starbucks has always been
around the corner.
23. Ferdinand Marcos has never been in charge of the
Philippines.
24. Money put in their savings account the year they were born
earned almost 7% interest.
25. Bill Gates has always been worth at least a billion dollars.
26. Dirty dancing has always been acceptable.
27. Southern fried chicken, prepared with a blend of 11 herbs
and spices, has always been available in China.
28. Michael Jackson has always been bad, and greed has always
been good.
29. The Starship Enterprise has always looked dated.
30. Pixar has always existed.
31. There has never been a "fairness doctrine" at the FCC.
32. Judicial appointments routinely have been "Borked."
33. Aretha Franklin has always been in the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame.
34. There have always been zebra mussels in the Great Lakes.
35. Police have always been able to search garbage without a
search warrant.
36. It has always been possible to walk from England to mainland
Europe on dry land.
37. They have grown up in a single superpower world.
38. They missed the oat bran diet craze.
39. American Motors has never existed.
40. Scientists have always been able to see supernovas.
41. Les Miserables has always been on stage.
42. Halogen lights have always been available at home, with a
warning.
43. "Baby M" may be a classmate, and contracts with surrogate
mothers have always been legal.
44. RU486, the "morning after pill," has always been on the
market.
45. There has always been a pyramid in front of the Louvre in
Paris.
46. British Airways has always been privately owned.
47. Irradiated food has always been available but controversial.
48. Snowboarding has always been a popular winter pastime.
49. Libraries have always been the best centers for computer
technology and access to good software.
50. Biosphere 2 has always been trying to create a revolution in
the life sciences.
51. The Hubble Telescope has always been focused on new
frontiers.
52. Researchers have always been looking for stem cells.
53. They do not remember "a kinder and gentler nation."
54. They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly.
55. The TV networks have always had cable partners.
56. Airports have always had upscale shops and restaurants.
57. Black Americans have always been known as African-Americans.
58. They never saw Pat Sajak or Arsenio Hall host a late night
television show.
59. Matt Groening has always had a Life in Hell.
60. Salman Rushdie has always been watching over his shoulder.
61. Digital cameras have always existed.
62. Tom Landry never coached the Cowboys.
63. Time Life and Warner Communications have always been joined.
64. CNBC has always been on the air.
65. The Field of Dreams has always been drawing people to Iowa.
66. They never saw a Howard Johnson's with 28 ice cream flavors.
67. Reindeer at Christmas have always distinguished between
secular and religious decorations.
68. Entertainment Weekly has always been on the newsstand.
69. Lyme Disease has always been a ticking concern in the woods.
70. Jimmy Carter has always been an elder statesman.
71. Miss Piggy and Kermit have always dwelt in Disneyland.
72. Americas's Funniest Home Videos has always been on
television.
73. Their nervous new parents heard C. Everett Koop proclaim
nicotine as addictive as heroin.
74. Lever has always been looking for 2000 parts to clean.
75. They have always been challenged to distinguish between news
and entertainment on cable TV.
###
0506-019
August 24, 2005
Copyright, Beloit College 2005
Jenny Kilcoyne
Office of Public Affairs
Beloit College
700 College Street
Beloit, WI 53511
Phone:(608) 363-2625
Fax: (608) 363-2870
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
