For my whole life, Iâve lived in a world with the U.S. as its sole superpower. Throughout my life, the federal budget has always been over a trillion dollars. Starbucks has always been available to me, and I apparently donât remember a time when âcut and pasteâ meant using scissors, paper, and glue.
Iâve been told all of this (though I donât agree with the last point) by the mindset list â an annual list created by Beloit College in Wisconsin. Every August the school puts out the list with a loose purpose of informing professors which cultural references their freshmen students will be too young to understand. Those I listed at the beginning were from my freshman year in 2009.
Before I go any further, I should let readers know that this is a subject Iâve written about before. Back then, I was a senior in college, writing about the mindset list in my school paper. My column contained a message to freshman that year: this is what professors think you donât know.
I encouraged those students to prove their professors wrong and show they werenât a bunch of technology-dependent kids who expected a medal for showing up. (That âeverybody is a winnerâ mantra seems to be a lightning rod of criticism toward my generation. As someone who grew up and played sports in that world, I can attest that it may have made a negative impact on some people my age, but to me, nothing goes better after a loss than a token trophy and pizza party.)
When I heard about this yearâs mindset list, I thought it could have a completely different meaning for Sun City residents. For you, the mindset list may help you understand your grandchildren a little better or at least help you to avoid making some references they wonât understand.
For example, people born in 1994 would know Robert DeNiro not as Vito Corleone or Jimmy Conway, but as the far less threatening Greg Focker of the âMeet the Parentsâ series. They understand the saying âToo big to fail,â but not âWe had to destroy the village in order to save it.â And donât try talking to them about âRomper Roomâ; the show went off the air in 1994, the year they were born.
Some entries on the list reflect more about our country than our youth, like the fact that two-thirds of independent bookstores have closed during the lifetime of these college freshmen. Or that White House security has never felt it necessary to wear rubber gloves when gay groups visit. Exposed bra straps have also always been a fashion statement for them.
Reading through some of the entries on the list, I get a case of the âback in my daysâ and laugh at how these kids have grown up with even more technology and convenience than I had. But there are some things I donât envy. For example, ever since this group of students has been politically conscience (a term I find a little too vague), theyâve been faced with doubts about Americaâs future.
I wonder how that will impact the political ambition of these students. Will they, having reached adolescence in a recession and a climate of greed and clout, feel discouraged and unmotivated to make a change? Or will it spur them into action?
I donât know the answer, but I find it interesting when I hear about how those who lived through the Great Depression carry on tendencies of saving money and generally have different values than those who did not. I wonder if the recession will affect those whoâve lived through it in a similar (though smaller) way.
So take a look at the mindset list if youâd like to learn more about how your grandchildren see the world. You can read it at www.beloit.edu/mindset. Just search for the list from whatever year your grandchild turned 18. It may not be scientific, and some entries may be trivial, but it would make for an interesting conversation the next time you see them.
*As a side note, Iâve gotten a few suggestions on superstitions from readers but am still looking for some more. If you have any superstitions you or someone you know believes in, please tell me about them at mason@mysundaynews.com and I will write about them in an upcoming column.
