Mindset of the Students

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college that year. This list is fun, and provokes a lot of thought. It helps us understand the difference in the mindset of the students we teach.

Here are some of the characteristics of students of the class of 2015, according to this list. They believe that music has always been available via free downloads and that Public schools have always made space available for advertising. They won’t go near a retailer that lacks a website and have often broken up with their significant others via texting, Facebook, or MySpace. Their parents have always been able to create a will and other legal documents online. Their school’s “blackboards” have always
been getting smarter.

As I read through this list, I realized that this was true of a lot of the students that I teach. The world is progressing so fast, and it’s important that I understand what they think. Instead of looking at the world from my eyes, I need to start looking at it from their eyes. The things that I find fascinating must be things that they accept as part of their lives and culture. At the same time, they have no idea of what things were like, and how we have reached where we are today.

This list is a great way to celebrate the “generation gap” and cherish its beauty.

Do you have “mindset” snippets about the students that you teach that you would like to share?

Read the full list here.