What's 'normal' for today's college freshmen?
Students entering college this fall can't imagine a world without Internet. And Kurt Cobain has always been dead.
Beloit College has released its annual Mindset List to give a snapshot of how incoming freshmen view the world. Here are some highlights from the Class of 2016:
Beloit College has released its annual Mindset List to give a snapshot of how incoming freshmen view the world. Here are some highlights from the Class of 2016:
They can't imagine a world without the Internet, and have always lived in cyberspace.
Kurt Cobain has always been dead. So has Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Richard Nixon and John Wayne Gacy.
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."
Bill Clinton is a senior statesman of whose presidency they have little knowledge.
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.
Having grown up with MP3s and iPods, they never listen to music on the car radio and really have no use for radio at all.
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.
Star Wars has always been just a film, not a defense strategy.
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.
Before they purchase an assigned textbook, they will investigate whether it is available for rent or purchase as an e-book.
There has always been a "Santa Clause."
They have always enjoyed school and summer camp memories with a digital yearbook.
The "Twilight Zone" involves vampires, not Rod Serling.
They watch television everywhere but on a television.
Point-and-shoot cameras are soooooo last millennium.
Read the full Beloit College list here.
