Each year since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students. The college traditionally issues the list in August, when the class enters college.

As another class of Huskies prepares to leave college and enter the world, we revisit the list of cultural touchstones for members of the Class of 2015, who were mostly born in 1993 and began their UConn careers four years ago. (The list has been edited for length.)

The Mindset List for the Class of 2015

1. There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.
2. States have always required that they wear their bike helmets.
3. The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major league sports.
4. There have nearly always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded U.S. Navy ships.
5. They “swipe” cards, not merchandise.
6. As they’ve grown up on websites and cell phones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration.
7. Their school’s “blackboards” have always been getting smarter.
8. “Don’t touch that dial!”… What dial?
9. American tax forms have always been available in Spanish.
10. More Americans have always traveled to Latin America than to Europe.
11. Amazon has never been just a river in South America.
12. Refer to LBJ, and they might assume you’re talking about LeBron James.
13. Women have never been too old to have children.
14. They’ve always gone to school with Mohammed and Jesus.
15. The Communist Party has never been the official political party in Russia.
16. “Yadda, yadda, yadda” has always come in handy to make long stories short.
17. Video games have always had ratings.
18. The Rocky Horror Picture Show has always been available on TV.
19. Jimmy Carter has always been a smiling elderly man who shows up on TV to promote fair elections and disaster relief.
20. Dial-up is soooooooooo last century!
21. Women have always been kissing women on television.
22. Their older siblings have told them about the days when Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera were Mouseketeers.
23. Most have grown up with a faux Christmas tree in the house at the holidays.
24. They’ve always been able to dismiss boring old ideas with “been there, done that, gotten the T-shirt.”
25. Unlike their older siblings, they spent bedtime on their backs until they learned to roll over.
26. Music has always been available via free downloads.
27. Grown-ups have always been arguing about health care policy.
28. Moderate amounts of red wine and baby aspirin have always been thought good for the heart.
29. Sears has never sold anything out of a Big Book that could also serve as a doorstop.
30. Electric cars have always been humming in relative silence on the road.
31. No longer known for just gambling and quickie divorces, Nevada has always been one of the fastest growing states in the Union.
32. They’re the first generation to grow up hearing about the dangerous overuse of antibiotics.
33. Russian courts have always had juries.
34. No state has ever failed to observe Martin Luther King Day.
35. While they’ve been playing outside, their parents have always worried about nasty new bugs borne by birds and mosquitoes.
36. Public schools have always made space available for advertising.
37. Fidel Castro’s daughter and granddaughter have always lived in the United States.
38. Their parents have always been able to create a will and other legal documents online.
39. Charter schools have always been an alternative.
40. New Kids have always been known as NKOTB.
41. They’ve always wanted to be like Shaq or Kobe: Michael Who?
42. They’ve often broken up with their significant others via texting, Facebook, or MySpace.
43. Their parents sort of remember Woolworths as this store that used to be downtown.
44. Frasier, Sam, Woody, and Rebecca have never Cheerfully frequented a bar in Boston during primetime.
45. Major League Baseball has never had fewer than three divisions and never lacked a wild card entry in the playoffs.
46. Nurses have always been in short supply.
47. They won’t go near a retailer that lacks a website.
48. When they were 3, their parents may have battled other parents in toy stores to buy them a Tickle Me Elmo while they lasted.
49. It seems the United States has always been looking for an acceptable means of capital execution.
50. Andy Warhol is a museum in Pittsburgh.
51. They’ve grown up hearing about suspiciously vanishing frogs.
52. They’ve always had the privilege of talking with a chatterbot.
53. Refugees and prisoners have always been housed by the U.S. government at Guantanamo.
54. Women have always been Venusians; men, Martians.
55. “PC” has come to mean Personal Computer, not Political Correctness.

Copyright© 2011 Beloit College
Mindset List is a registered trademark

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