# Beloit College Mindset List for Class of 2016 just released **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274 "2012-08-22T15:15:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/21 "2012-08-25T06:37:36Z")
> [@SaharaTea](#): > > The fact that most of them really don’t remember the Clinton administration is what got me. Same here. The rest of the list - whatever. But they don’t remember when _Clinton_ was president?! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/22 "2012-08-25T09:13:01Z")
Some of these are just odd. I went back to the class of 2003 list and they at least make an effort to list things that kids born in 1981 would have a hard time remembering (though I think it’s funny that the listmakers believe every rotary phone stopped working around my generation’s birth). However, this year’s list includes gems like… > [@](#): > > They should keep their eyes open for Justin Bieber or Dakota Fanning at freshman orientation. Yes, Bieber and Fanning are over 18. So? > [@](#): > > 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. A religious kid will know this, and a non-religious kid won’t. This is true in 2012 and it was probably true in 1912. > [@](#): > > They have never seen an airplane “ticket.” Those pieces of paper that airlines have you print out when you order online is called a “ticket.” > [@](#): > > They can’t picture people actually carrying luggage through airports rather than rolling it. Just… no. > [@](#): > > 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. What? A generation of kids got their first car and instantly ripped the radio out of it because… iPods! Really? > [@](#): > > Their folks have never gazed with pride on a new set of bound encyclopedias on the bookshelf. Bound encyclopedias are still printed and sold today. So it is quite likely that the _parents_ of this year’s freshman class have seen a new set of bound encyclopedias. > [@](#): > > They have had to incessantly remind their parents not to refer to their CDs and DVDs as “tapes.” First of all, there’s a joke to be made here about the inclusion of CDs and DVDs as modern technology in the same article that states car radios are dead. Secondly, who calls them “tapes”? > [@](#): > > Newt Gingrich has always been a key figure in politics, trying to change the way America thinks about everything. Gingrich’s political career began in the 70s. This entry could have been included 20 years ago and it still would have been valid. > [@](#): > > Billy Graham is as familiar to them as Otto Graham was to their parents. Billy Graham was last a fixture on television during the 90s, when today’s college freshman were under the age of four. They may have heard of him, but are unlikely to know much about him beyond “famous preacher.” Otto Graham retired from the NFL in 1955, almost two decades before most parents of today’s college freshmen were even born. Come to think of it, this entry looks like a leftover from when I was a freshman. > [@](#): > > Probably the most tribal generation in history, they despise being separated from contact with their similar-aged friends. Teenagers like hanging out with teenagers… Holy shit y’all! That has never happened before in the history of ever! > [@](#): > > Good music programmers are rock stars to the women of this generation, just as guitar players were for their mothers. What the hell is a “music programmer”? Do they mean radio DJs? Didn’t they say radio was dead a few entries up? > [@](#): > > 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. Lost’s final episode aired in 2010, two years _after_ the debut of Breaking Bad. _Television and film dramas have always risked being pulled because the story line was too close to the headlines from which they were ”ripped.”_ This entry is clearly referencing Law and Order, but it could equally apply to Dragnet, which made its radio debut in 1949. > [@](#): > > Point-and-shoot cameras are soooooo last millennium. A “point-and-shoot camera” is a marketing term and is applied equally to older film-based cameras and a brand-new digital camera that you can buy anywhere. > [@](#): > > Lou Gehrig’s record for most consecutive baseball games played has never stood in their lifetimes. Bzzt! I’m sorry, that’s incorrect. Cal Ripken set the record in 1995, a year after this year’s freshman class was born. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/23 "2012-08-25T10:18:06Z")
> [@](#): > > 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. Why wouldn’t they? > [@](#): > > Michael Jackson’s family, not the Kennedys, constitutes “American Royalty.” This is the first time i’ve ever heard either of those groups described using that term. > [@](#): > > Their lives have been measured in the fundamental particles of life: bits, bytes, and bauds. “What’s a baud, grandpa?” > [@](#): > > On TV and in films, the ditzy dumb blonde female generally has been replaced by a couple of Dumb and Dumber males. “Legally Blonde” and its sequel came out in 2001 and 2003 - and in the years since then, i’d say that Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Ke$ha haven’t exactly done much to dispel the “dumb blonde” meme. > [@](#): > > 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. I just don’t buy this at all. It’s not like new cars don’t _have_ radios in them. > [@](#): > > They have lived in an era of instant stardom and self-proclaimed celebrities, famous for being famous. Is there any recent era in American history which this statement _doesn’t_ apply to? I challenge the writers to explain why the “socialites” whose doings were documented on the society page in days of yore were any more deserving of fame than any of today’s “self-proclaimed celebrities”. > [@](#): > > Having made the acquaintance of Furby at an early age, they have expected their toy friends to do ever more unpredictable things. What the what? > [@](#): > > They have come to political consciousness during a time of increasing doubts about America’s future. As has _every_ person born in America in the last 400 years or so. > [@](#): > > Slavery has always been unconstitutional in Mississippi And it _wasn’t_ until just before 1994? > [@](#): > > Good music programmers are rock stars to the women of this generation, just as guitar players were for their mothers. Do the writers of this know that Pete Townshend and Edgar Winter and Stevie Wonder _were_ “programming” electronic music in the '70s? > [@](#): > > The folks have always been able to grab an Aleve when the kids started giving them a migraine. Naproxen sodium has been on the market since 1980. > [@](#): > > Television and film dramas have always risked being pulled because the story line was too close to the headlines from which they were ”ripped.” The main character of “The Greatest American Hero” had his name changed from “Hinkley” to “Hanley” in 1981. Even the series premiere of Doctor Who, in 1963, was postponed because of the JFK assassination. > [@](#): > > The Twilight Zone involves vampires, not Rod Serling. No, just no. Do you even know the _names_ of the things you’re trying to comment on? > [@](#): > > Little Caesar has always been proclaiming “Pizza Pizza.” “Pizza! Pizza!” was introduced in 1979, and it isn’t even _used_ by the chain anymore. Considering how far it’s fallen from its peak in the early 90s, the most likely response you’d get from asking a youth about it is “What’s Little Caesar’s”? > [@](#): > > Point-and-shoot cameras are soooooo last millennium. Do you not point and shoot with cameras anymore? This list is about one-third genuine observations and two-thirds “What’s with the young people these days” rambling by old people who have no idea what they’re talking about. I may now be too old to call myself a young person, but i’m not NEARLY as out of touch as these squares. Did they even CONSULT any class-of-'16-ers when they wrote this? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/24 "2012-08-25T13:03:21Z")
The most shocking thing about the college class of 2016 is that my son is in it. That’s also the best thing, in my prejudiced opinion 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/25 "2012-08-25T14:41:55Z")
Agree with others that a number of items in the list look more like “things that the kids today are talking about that \*we who are doing the list \*only noticed now that we looked at it”. And if these are the youth going to college I’d expect them to be aware of things beyond what was receiving commercial publicity between ages 8 and 18. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/26 "2012-08-25T15:33:26Z")
[QUOTE=Smapti] > [@](#): > > Slavery has always been unconstitutional in Mississippi And it wasn’t until just before 1994? [/QUOTE] Mississippi’s \*state \*constitution wasn’t amended to outlaw slavery until 1995. In practical terms, the U.S. Constitution trumped any state law on the subject, but most states whose constitutions made explicit reference to slavery had long since amended their documents to outlaw it. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/27 "2012-08-26T05:12:59Z")
> [@](#): > > 34.They’ve always been able to dismiss boring old ideas with “been there, done that, gotten the T-shirt.” IOW, they’ve always been massive tools?😕 Other than some different historical and cultural reference points, I don’t see a lot on this list that indicates a fundamental difference in how this class thinks or views the world. For example, growing up with Internet, cellphones, email and texting is a fundamental difference from how I grew up. We didn’t really have that stuff until I graduated college in the mid-90s. But that hasn’t been a big deal in years. > [@Smapti](#): > > I just don’t buy this at all. It’s not like new cars don’t have radios in them. I don’t buy that either, unless they are talking about Sirius Sattelite Radio, which isn’t in every car. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/28 "2012-08-26T08:54:13Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I’m kind of embarrassed that a college graduate wrote that list, let alone a college professor. It reads like they pulled up the wiki article for 1994 and added “There’s always been…” in front of each item. > > And you can tell the author is a million years old: There’s always been Aleve! Robert Osbourne has always been on Turner Classic Movies! It would be interesting to track things (like TCM) that are still going, but that college freshmen wouldn’t give a shit to know about. Not the Electoral College or the Tennessee Valley Authority, 'cause that’s been done. Material or cultural things that are just not part of a lot of people’s worlds if they are young or parent young people. 1. What’s canning? 2. Have you ever used shoe polish? 3. Is there a sewing machine in your home? 4. What’s baking powder used for?\* \*“Baking, _doy_” is not an acceptable answer. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/29 "2012-08-26T09:34:50Z")
Just for fun, I pulled up their list for 2004, the year I graduated college (or would’ve if i’d gone). Let’s see how they did with _my_ generation. > [@](#): > > 1.Most students entering college this fall in the class of 2004, were born in 1982. True, but that’s a mathematical observation, not really anything cultural or “mindset” related. I guess it’s better than noting “Hey, Biebs was born in '82, wasn’t he?” > [@](#): > > 2.Grace Kelly, Elvis Presley, Karen Carpenter, and the E.R.A. have always been dead. True. > [@](#): > > 3.Kurt Cobain’s death was the “day the music died.” I don’t think i’ve ever heard that term used to describe Kurt Cobain’s death, and I knew the song “American Pie” from the radio (which we old fogeys still listen to, not like the young people these days) long before I knew what a Nirvana was. > [@](#): > > 4.Somebody named George Bush has been on every national ticket, except one, since they were born. True. > [@](#): > > 5.The Kennedy tragedy was a plane crash, not an assassination. False and patronizing - did they think people my age didn’t know who JFK was? Hell, Oliver Stone’s _JFK_ came out when I was 8. > [@](#): > > 6.Huckleberry Finn has always been a “banned book.” True. > [@](#): > > 7.A “45″ is a gun, not a record with a large hole in the center. Those of us who were born in 1982, as you so astutely noted above, were listening to our music mostly on vinyl until we were ten or so. False. > [@](#): > > 8.They have no clue what the Beach Boys were talking about when they sang about a 409, and the Little Deuce Coupe. False on the latter, though i’ll admit that the former makes me think “bathroom cleaner” more than it does “muscle car”. > [@](#): > > 9.They have probably never lost anything in shag carpeting. True. > [@](#): > > 10.MASH and The Muppet Show have always been in re-runs. True. > [@](#): > > 11.Punk Rock is an activist movement, not a musical form. No, we had punk rock in the '90s, too. I was 17 or 18 before I found out punk rock actually started in the '70s and _wasn’t_ a new phenomenon. > [@](#): > > 12.They have always bought telephones, rather than rent them from AT&T. True. > [@](#): > > 13.The year they were born, AIDS was found to have killed 164 people; finding a cure for the new disease was designated a “top priority” for government-sponsored research. True. > [@](#): > > 14.We have always been able to reproduce DNA in the laboratory. DNA fingerprinting became available in 1987 and wasn’t widely known about until the OJ Simpson case, so not quite. > [@](#): > > 15.Wars begin and end quickly; peace-keeping missions go on forever. They wrote this in _2004_, right? I remember 2004, and I seem to recall a war or two going on at the time that neither began nor ended quickly. > [@](#): > > 16.There have always been ATM machines. The first ATM went online in 1959, so this isn’t particularly relevant to _my_ generation. > [@](#): > > 17.The President has always addressed the nation on the radio on Saturday. True. (Not that any of us ever listened.) > [@](#): > > 18.We have always been able to receive television signals by direct broadcast satellite. True. > [@](#): > > 19.Cities have always been trying to ban the possession and sale of handguns. They HAVEN’T always been? > [@](#): > > 20.Watergate is as relevant to their lives as the Teapot Dome scandal. Disagree - Watergate was a critical moment in the rise of modern conservatism and a major factor in how people of my generation think about government. I’m surprised they didn’t throw a Lewinsky joke in here. > [@](#): > > 21.They have no idea that a “presidential scandal” once meant nothing more than Ronald Reagan taking President Carter’s briefing book in “Debategate.” Oh, wait, there it is. Incidentally, i’m pretty sure there were bigger presidential scandals than that in the '70s. Water-something? I forget. I don’t know, it’s about as relevant to me as Teapot Dome. > [@](#): > > 22.They have never referred to Russia and China as “the Reds.” False. > [@](#): > > 23.Toyotas and Hondas have always been made in the United States. True. > [@](#): > > 24.There has always been a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. MLK Day was established in 1986, but I can’t say that I ever remember it not being a holiday. Well played, Beloit College Mindset List. > [@](#): > > 25.Three Mile Island is ancient history, and nuclear accidents happen in other countries. False and patronizing. > [@](#): > > 26.Around-the-clock coverage of congress, public affairs, weather reports, and rock videos has always been available on cable. Even when I was a teenager we were cracking jokes about how “MTV never plays videos anymore”, so i’m calling BS on that. > [@](#): > > 27.Senator Phil Gramm has always been a Republican. True. > [@](#): > > 28.Women sailors have always been stationed on U.S. Navy ships. True, but i’m really getting tired of this “X has always been Y” thing. I’m half-expecting to see “We have always been at war with Eastasia” on the list. > [@](#): > > 29.The year they were born, the New York Times announced that the “boom in video games,” a fad, had come to an end. I’m not aware of any specific article making that claim, but the video game market DID crash in a big way in '83, so i’ll give them partial credit. And yet, I can’t help but imagine the guys who write this list STILL think video games are a fad that’s about to come to an end, or else they’d have put something in like “Mario has always been a plumber, not a governor of New York”. > [@](#): > > 30.Congress has been questioning computer intrusion into individuals’ personal lives since they were born. True? > [@](#): > > 31.Bear Bryant has never coached at Alabama. I don’t know what a Bear Bryant is. > [@](#): > > 32.They have always been able to afford Calvin Klein. Not that I’ve ever wanted to. > [@](#): > > 33.Coors Beer has always been sold east of the Mississippi, eliminating the need for Burt Reynolds to outrun the authorities in the Smokey and the Bandit films. And now you’ve lost me. Is _that_ what those movies were about? Who the hell would run state lines for _Coors_? > [@](#): > > 34.They were born the same year that Ebony and Ivory lived in perfect harmony. Yes, that was a song that was recorded in 1982. It was also the year that the heat of the moment shone in your eyes, the year that the last known survivor stalked his prey in the night, and the year that you were working as a waittress in a cocktail bar when I met you. Congratulations, Beloit College, for proving that your periodicals department has a complete collection of Billboard on microfiche. > [@](#): > > 35.The year they were born, Dustin Hoffman wore a dress and Julie Andrews wore a tuxedo. Yeah, that sure happened in a movie that year, alright! > [@](#): > > 36.Elton John has only been heard on easy listening stations. Every single classic rock station in America would like to have a word with you, gentlemen. > [@](#): > > 37.Woodstock is a bird or a reunion, not a cultural touchstone. False. > [@](#): > > 38.They have never heard a phone “ring.” My phone rings. The phone at my work rings. > [@](#): > > 39.They never dressed up for a plane flight. False, but that’s because I LIKE playing dress-up. > [@](#): > > 40.Hurricanes have always had men’s and women’s names. Hurricanes have had male names since 1979. > [@](#): > > 41.Lawn darts have always been illegal. Lawn darts weren’t banned until 1989. > [@](#): > > 42.“Coming out” parties celebrate more than debutantes. True. > [@](#): > > 43.They only know Madonna singing American Pie. Two “American Pie” quips in one list? Now you’re just getting lazy on me. As I noted above, this is wrong, and INSULTING. > [@](#): > > 44.They neither know who Billy Joe was, nor wondered what he was doing on the Talahatchee Bridge. True. > [@](#): > > 45.They never thought of Jane Fonda as “Hanoi Jane,” nor associated her with any revolution other than the “Fitness Revolution” videotape they may have found in the attic. True. > [@](#): > > 46.The Osmonds are talk show hosts. False. When I first heard that the Osmonds were getting a talk show, I thought to myself “Those sappy pop singers from the '70s that my mom liked?” > [@](#): > > 47.They have never used a bottle of “White Out.” I used enough bottles of it to know it’s called Wite-Out, not “White Out”. > [@](#): > > 48.If they vaguely remember the night the Berlin Wall fell, they are probably not sure why it was up in the first place. True, but my parents explained it to me as it was happening. > [@](#): > > 49.“Spam” and “cookies” are not necessarily foods. True, but this should be true for EVERYONE, unless you’re admitting you have no idea how computo-boxes work. > [@](#): > > 50.They feel more danger from having sex and being in school, than from possible nuclear war. No, not really. So overall - not much difference between that list and the current list. One-third genuinely interesting observations, two-thirds “The kids these days don’t appreciate the same things that I appreciated when I was a kid back in the Stone Age” nonsense, that makes it sound like they never even ASKED any people of the appropriate age about any of these things. These must be the people who conservatives complain about when they whine about “ivory tower intellectuals” who are out of touch with the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/30 "2012-08-26T12:20:14Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And yet, I can’t help but imagine the guys who write this list STILL think video games are a fad that’s about to come to an end, or else they’d have put something in like “Mario has always been a plumber, not a governor of New York”. That’s too clever, you’re one of them! ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/31 "2012-08-26T13:01:50Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > It’d be better to do this every 10 years; every 5 tops. Like a HS reunion type of thing. I agree. I have an eighteen-year-old son this year, so I read the list even though I haven’t for years… and it’s dull. Too much pop-culture stuff and minor historical matters in between stuff that might actually mean something. It felt like they were padding out the list. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/32 "2012-08-26T17:48:28Z")
Since when is _Lost_ considered iconic? I’m 38, and I know that _Breaking Bad_ is clearly the better show. I’m as big a fan of it as any college freshman with taste would be. And, if I miss The Daily Show, I go to Hulu or comedycentral.com–not youtube, which often won’t have the full episode, or will have a low-quality video. And 18 year olds can’t imagine carrying luggage through airports? They don’t know biblical references? They think gene therapy and full genome sequencing has always existed, like fire, or the wheel? Gimme a break. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274/33 "2012-08-26T17:53:22Z")
Beloit is the bottom rung of the ladder in Wisconsin. It’s where people who are trying to escape end up, _thinking_ they have made it across the border into Illinois. That tells you something about their mental abilities right there, and why a screed for their college students is written with a fifth grade vocabulary. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beloit-college-mindset-list-for-class-of-2016-just-released/632274.md?page=1)