Every year Beloit College creates a “Mindset List” which reflects the culture that the incoming Freshman class have grown up experiencing. It helps their faculty know how to relate to these incoming students. Click here for this year’s Mindset List.
I download this list every year and read it with increasing wonder at the speed of our cultural changes.
The college graduating class of 2014 was born in 1992. Think about that for a second. If you are a writer, you can no longer assume that your audience will understand your cultural references. In a mere six years, today’s 18-year-olds will be adults…possibly with families and jobs and children…they will be reading your books and articles.
And you will only be six years older than you are now.
Think about it …
For the class of 2014 Czechoslovakia has never existed.
For the class of 2014 Ruth Bader Ginsburg has always sat on the Supreme Court.
For the class of 2014 Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
There are 72 other observations in this year’s list.
Earlier lists illustrate things even more dramatically.
For this generation of future readers:
MTV has never featured music videos.
They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears.
Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.
Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves.
The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.
They have never seen “Magic” Johnson play an NBA basketball game since he has always been HIV-positive
They have grown up with bottled water.
Google has become a verb.
Smoking has never been allowed on a US airplane flight
Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling
It also dawned on me that, for these incoming Freshman, 9/11 happened when they were nine years old. Pause for a moment and try to remember what major world changing event occurred when you were nine or ten? Then ask if it really changed the way you saw the world. Of course it didn’t…you were nine. (For me it was the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy in the same year, 1968.) Your parents were effected but you weren’t, at least not as much. This means we have a new generation of readers who were only tangentially affected by 9/11.
So, the next time you visualize the audience to which you are writing, realize that they don’t think like you, process information like you, or see the world the same way you do.
With all this change it is comforting to know that our Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
No related posts.
Giving out facts like that just reaffirms what I already felt anecdotally as a teacher. I planned a very somber and reflective lesson plan for the anniversary of 9/11 as a first-year, and became frustrated when our class discussion of the events fizzled out so quickly. Eventhough I was only 8 years older than my students, the event had a totally different significance. I remember watching the buildings collapse live on television; I remember touring them before they fell. It is indeed encouraging to know that God is our still place in an ever-turning world.
I found this list very interesting, especially since I was born in ’93. I go into much more detail about my reaction on my blog (www.SelinaRGonzalez.blogspot.com), but I wanted to say something about 9/11.
If it really is true that 9/11 did not effect those born in ’92 as much as it did adults, that’s really quite sad. I remember 9/11 very clearly for being 8 at the time. It definitely is not ‘some date’ to me, like most history dates are. I’ve never been good at remembering dates. For example, I don’t couldn’t even give you the date of V-E day off-hand.
But I DO know that 9/11 was September 11, 2001. (Sadly, I’ve heard that many adults can’t tell you what year it was. True? Maybe, maybe not.)
All-in-all, I found the list very interesting–even somewhat humorous and entertaining. Probably a very good resource, too.
I just find it sad that some of this is/might be true. But, I guess, if that’s this generations’ mindset…
I really enjoyed this post and think it is vital to understanding our readers. Brilliant Steve. My son was born in ’93 and I cannot wait to discuss this with him.
I teach fifth graders, and every year, I feel older. My class this year were one and two years old when 9/11 happened. Today, we were talking about natural disasters, and I brought up Hurrican Katrina and they all looked at me with funny faces. Then I remembered they were only five when that happened.
Well, if I didn’t feel old before, I sure do now!
The list sure does put things into perspective. I wonder what events will effect my little one when he grows up. I can only hope they’re mostly good things, but it’s out of my hands.
And in God’s. Great scripture at the end. It’s one of my favorites.
Hold the phone.
MTV doesn’t play music videos anymore???
I haven’t had cable in a long time evidently…
My eldest was 1 when 9/11 happened… For some reason it never occurred to me that she wouldn’t know what that is and the importance of it! Time flies…
This list always gives me a heads-up. Thanks for the link to the update.
That Hebrews verse is one I always turn to when it seems the world is spinning out of control. When it seems all the “knowns” have morphed into ongoing uncertainty, these eloquent words remind me it’s okay if nothing makes sense to me. God is the same and that’s enough. Our future is in his hands, just as the past, and we need not dither and fret, despite being surrounded by “what ifs.” Thanks.
Steve, I’ve traveled a lot by air over the last 40 years. One change that I’ve noticed when flying with toddlers is that they are much less likely to be rebelling against staying in their seats, now.
When my own children were that age, they were not required to stay strapped into car seats, so they had no expectation of staying seated for long periods of time. With the changes in requirements for car travel, children became more likely to accept similar requirements in air travel.
My point is that even subtle changes in our lives have unintended consequences. Large, one-time events are more noticable, but not any more effective in changing the environment and point of view of differing generations. Only God, human nature, and our need for redemption remain the same.
This list always blows me away. Since my oldest is starting college next week, seeing a few things from her point of view gives me pause. Wow. Here’s to working on communication!
A good resource, thanks Steve.
One thing I’ve noticed about Canadian youth is their increasing awareness of the global culture – the ability to look beyond their boarders and understand the larger world. I hope to see this happing in the US and being reflected on future lists. I think American youth are also more aware of the world beyond the US boarders than older generations.
Thanks so much!
Wow. And some of the things I’ve experienced weren’t even mentioned.
The Cuban missile crisis and the shooting of John F Kennedy (I was on active duty in the Air Force overseas for these events)
The first landing on the moon (saw it on a B&W TV set–do they even exist any more?–with my children beside me)
Got to stop before I start feeling old.
Thanks, Steve, for sharing this thought-provoking post.
A good resource, thanks Steve. One thing I’ve noticed about Canadian youth is their increasing awareness of the global culture – the ability to look beyond their boarders and understand the larger world. I hope to see this happing in the US and being reflected on future lists. I think American youth are also more aware of the world beyond the US boarders than older generations. Thanks so much!