Scoop’s Views

Long before cell phones, MP3 players, CDs and DVDs, laptops, and home theaters, life was simple. There were wax records that were played on record players; notebooks and steno books for taking notes; and black-and-white television and the dear old radio, especially the ever-popular AM stations!

Gone are the days of some of the simple pleasures many of us enjoyed.

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Beloit College’s Class of 2012 Mindset List has been released. It’s a list of things that incoming freshmen – most of whom were born in 1990 – are familiar with, but things they also don’t know or comprehend. For example, Harry Potter could very well be one of their classmates, the Class of 2012 Mindset List notes.

The list was started by Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, providing insight into the life and realities — as they exist — for incoming freshmen. It provides cultural touchstones that shape the lives of the incoming students, sometimes making it easier for a professor to understand why some students don’t grasp course content. one such example, for which I must be an exception, is this year’s item #20.

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