Reflection on the Beloit College Mindset List

The Beloit College Mindset List is something new and unheard of to me. I find it to be an interesting way of documenting today's occurrences and life style. Items on the list ranged from very familiar acts to unheard of descriptions in my perspective. I also found some facts to be interesting, while others seemed insignificant. The list describes the class of 2014, some points good to be known for while others not so much.

A few descriptions on the Beloit List portray the class of 2014 in a dim light. For example number 28 states, "They've never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day." The action of pointing to your wrist is a universal sign for asking the time. The class of 2014 surely has enough common sense to understand this small and simple gesture. Another example is number 45, "They have always had a chance to do community service with local and federal programs to earn money for college." While this statement may be somewhat true, earning money for college is not the only reason the class of 2014 volunteers their time for community service. We also care about our community and environment and strive to make it a better place for everyone. These were a couple examples from the list I found to be inaccurate.

There were other descriptions on the list I found to be interesting. Number 58 for example is almost comical. "Beethoven has always been a good name for a dog." The majority of the population knows who the actual, musically talented Beethoven is. However today, you hear the name "Beethoven" used to call a dog more often rather than in discussion of the music Beethoven. To prove this point, there is even a series of movies named Beethoven where a dog is the main character. Number 31, "The first home computer they probably touched was an Apple II or Mac II; they are now in a museum" is also an interesting point on the list. The class of 2014 has grown up with technology. When the first computers came out, they were coolest thing around; today those computers are ancient and no one wants them because of the newer, better technology available. Number two also goes along with this point, "email is just to slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail." With so many other means of communication available, email is often rarely used. Texts messages, phone calls, and instant messaging are much faster methods of communication. These points can be compared to previous year's list and it is obvious how much things have changed over time.

There were other items on the list I was able to connect with or strongly agree with. Being born in 1992, I agreed with the first sentence which stated most students were born in 1992. Point number one stated, "few in the class will know how to write in cursive." Cursive was curriculum taught in elementary school, but never re-enforced later in our education and many students have forgotten it, besides how to sign their name. Points relating to the government were 69. "The Post Office has always been going broke" and 71. "The nation has never approved of what Congress is doing." Growing up, these were common news stories and it no longer is breaking news. These are a few of the points which I strongly agree with.

I found this list to be unique. It can be stated the class of 2014 experienced a much different childhood from what their parents did. Some of the points on the Beloit College Mindset List are postive comments about the class of 2014, while other points were not so good to be known for. It is most certainelty an interesting topic of discussion and hopefully the class of 2014 will go on to accomplish great things in life.