I'm not sure why, but
Tom McBride, a professor of English from my alma mater, showed up in a dream of mine last night. It may or may not have been his way of telling me that his new Beloit College Mindest List is
now out.
For those of you who don't remember my diary on this from last year, I'll remind you that the Mindset List is something Beloit prepares for its professors to let them know what to expect of the new students, to help them cross the generational divide, so to speak. I remember the early efforts at the list, back in the early-to-mid-90s when I was there (I'm so old!), and they've been releasing it publicly since 1998.
Anyway, it's time to take a look at what the college's incoming class knows or doesn't know. Come below the fold for some of my favorities!
1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
6. There has always been only one Germany.
11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
19. "Google" has always been a verb. (This one is bittersweet, since I was at Beloit when Google launched!)
34. They have always known that "In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups."
51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
74. Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.
Read the whole list, and then, as I plan to, whine for a little while in the comments about how old you are.
And, for kicks, check out McSweeny's Beloit College Mindset List, Class of 1918.