The Beloit College Mindset List reveals 2016 views of the world
(Photo courtesy of fromthebarn.org)
By Kelsey Thomas, Staff Writer thomask15@up.edu
If you think of "Star Wars" as a film rather than a defense strategy, have never seen a tan M&M and do not have an encyclopedia on your shelf then you are in good company with the entire college class of 2016.
A non-scientific list called Beloit College Mindset List reveals a snapshot of the worldview of incoming college freshman.
Themindsetlist.com, compiled each year by Beloit College English and humanities professor Tom McBride and former college Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, now boasts more than a million hits a year.
"It started out as a faculty warning to beware of references in the classroom and it has turned into both an international measure of how the world has changed and an opportunity to make you feel old," creator Nief said in a video interview on the Beloit College website.
University of Portland Philosophy Professor and Assistant Dean for Curriculum of the College of Arts & Sciences Norah Martin agrees that students' comprehension of her references in the classroom show how the world has changed.
"The ones that have gotten dated are my popular culture references. I talk about Star Trek the Next Generation and students say 'yeah, my parents used to watch that'" Martin said.
For the class of 2016, women in positions of leadership and power is normal.
"It is more surprising to hear of guy nurses than female leaders," freshman Christina Rothaupt said.
Equally commonplace is the constant presence of cyberspace.
"We go on [the internet] for a lot of things: entertainment, researching stuff, to order books, communication, and news" freshman Cecilia Cortes said.
Another trend seen in the class of 2016 is an increase in frugality and awareness of the economy due to the recession.
"I definitely do worry about the economy. I'll check to see if textbooks are available for rent or used to see if I can get them a bit cheaper," Rothaupt said.
According to Martin, however, frugality has always been a student habit.
"I don't see a big difference in frugality [among students] at the moment," Martin said. "Students have always been worried about the price of textbooks.
Cortes believes some freshmen are more aware of passé historic and cultural references than the Mindset List says. Although the newest class of Pilots were not alive when Twilight Zone was on TV or Star Wars was a defense strategy does not mean they are as ignorant about these subjects as the list suggests. Nor do all freshman associate the term "Twilight" with vampires.
"A teacher introduced Twilight Zone to me when I was in elementary school," Cortes said.
While the Mindset List reveals trends in the changing worldview of the class of 2016 across the country, Martin notes a problem with applying it specifically to University of Portland students.
"UP has changed in the time that I have been here," Martin said. "UP is attracting more qualified students than it did when I started so it is hard to tell whether the differences are because UP is attracting different students or whether it is a change in the students because they are from a different generation."
