Mindset List

The Mindset List is an annual compilation of the values that shape the worldview (or “mindset”) of students about 18 years old and entering college and, to a lesser extent, adulthood. It is co-authored by Ron Nief, Public Affairs Director Emeritus; Tom McBride, Professor of English and Keefer Professor of Humanities; and Charles Westerberg, Brannon-Ballard Professor of Sociology, all at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. It originated in 1997 as an e-mail forward, without author credits, passed on by then College Statistician Richard Miller to Ron Nief, who passed it on to peers at other schools. The Mindset List began as a cute way of reminding colleagues on the faculty to "watch their references" with freshmen.[1] It reappeared in the fall of 1998 after requests from peers who mistook the forward as having originated with Ron Nief. Ever since, Nief and McBride have collaborated to create The List, and Westerberg joined them as a co-author starting with the Class of 2020 List released in 2016.

The List now appears every August as American first-year students enter college. It has been mentioned on the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams[2] and an essay by Nancy Gibbs of Time.[3] In 2009, Time declared "mindset list" a new phrase in the American lexicon.[4]

The Mindset List website has a daily quiz about growing up in the United States, a Mindset List Movie of the Month, “Mindset Moments” of reports about the generation gap, links to information about the current generation of young people, and an ironic advice column called Ask ROM. The List also appears on Twitter and Facebook.

Book

The Mindset Lists of American History: From Typewriters to Text Messages, What Ten Generations of Americans Think Is Normal was released in 2011.

Criticism

The website Beloit Mindlessness calls the Mindset List “a poorly written compendium of trivia, stereotypes and lazy generalizations, insulting to both students and their professors, and based on nothing more than the uninformed speculation of its authors. It inspires lazy, inaccurate journalism and is an embarrassment to academia.” Beloit Mindlessness publishes posts critiquing specific items on the Mindset Lists.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Introduction: 2016 List". August, 2012. Beloit College. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#32467906
  3. ↑ What College Students Don't Know Time Magazine, September 21, 2009
  4. ↑ Verbatim Time Magazine, August 31, 2009
  5. ↑
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