Saturday, September 18, 2010

Beloit College Mindset List: How Have Cultural Events Shaped Your Life?

Hello blog followers! My name is Stephanie Jensen,  a 2010 Hixson Scholar from Marion County in Iowa and I'm majoring in Interior Design at Iowa State University. In this blog, I'll be talking about Beloit College, which is in Wisconsin, and how they created a Mindset List. Basically, this list contains cultural items that a certain class (this class is the year you will graduate college) has seen.

In this list, for the Class of 2014, there are 53 that are accurate, in my view.  To begin, all of the following events, shows, and other cultural things that will be listed are accurate, according to my thoughts. Now 53 accurate listings may seem a lot to cover, so I'll save you some stress. I've picked out certain accurate listings that seemed very spot-on to how they would relate to our class. To begin, in society, "Caramel macchiato" and "vent half-caf vanilla latte" have always been street corner lingo. Also, with increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs , and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities. For supporting a cause, colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn. Since 1993, trading Chocolate the Moose for Patti the Platypus (or other selections) helped build out Beanie Baby collection. In all media-sense, Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess and we've never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around our wrists while chatting on the phone. To continue with media, Leno and Letterman have always been trading insults on opposing networks, computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive, and "Viewer Discretion" has always been an available warning on TV shows. On TV, our parents' favorite TV sitcoms have always been showing up as movies and  having hundreds of cable channels but nothing to watch has always been routine.

 Even though this Mindset LIst is pretty accurate, there are a few items that are not. Again, I won't list every inaccurate item, but I'll touch base on the main ones. First of all, this list starts off with the fact that few people in our class know how to write in cursive. This seems off considering I know how to write in cursive, however, I do not use it everyday. The list continued stating that our class has never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day. This statement is completely untrue. I point, along with others from my class, to my wrist when I'm asking for the time. Another item that stood out was that toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps. This, also, is untrue. As of now, I am using a tube of toothpaste that lies on its side, not on the cap. 

 Besides the inaccuracies of this list, the Beloit College Mindset List is accurate overall. The cultural events in this inventory seemed spot-on, for the most part, in view of the Class of 2014. I definitely suggest taking a peek at this Mindset List for your graduating class in college. 

Here's a link to this website:  

By: Stephanie Jensen

Bibliography:

McBride, Tom, and Ron Nief. "About the Mindset List." Beloit College Mindset List. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2010. < www.beloit.edu/mindset/index.php

11 comments:

  1. I absolutely agree with your analysis of the most untrue items from the list. I also know how to write in cursive, point to my wrist when I am inquiring about the time and have never even owned toothpaste that stands on its cap.

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  2. I agree with most of your accuracy points stated. I do agree their is a rising of handicap and braille acommodations, the ribbons on a lapel are used to support some kind of cause, and fergie is a pop singer to us not a princess. I however STILL don't know the coffee jargon. I don't get it!!!

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  3. I agree with you about the cursive statement because I write in cursive, usually for signatures but sometimes special occarions. I've always used a wireless phone, either cell or just a regular phone on a landline. And ever since I read this, I have still failed to find a toothpaste tube that stands on end, not its side.

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  4. I must say that this is about one of the most professional blogs I have ever read. I like the way you looked at all the points and gave a brief overview of your opinion rather than focusing on one and forgetting the rest. My favorite part is when you talked about the tv and how there is never anything on, I believe this is a very accurate statement.

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  5. I must say that most of the things that you agree with I do not. To be honest, you should broaden your horizons and maybe take a history class.

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  6. I'm not sure what kind of toothpaste people in Wisconsin use, but mine certainly is not made to be stored sitting on its cap. I also like your organization in this blog; it is very well written.

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  7. I agre with your inaccuracies from the list also. I have known how to write in cursive since the third grade and I always point to my rist when asking for the time.

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  8. The list definitely was not a mold for every person in our generation, but I agree that it had a good base of what we view as "the norm".

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  9. Stephanie! i really liked how u started ur blog. introducing yourself like that. very cool and so you.
    but i agree with the cursive thing because i know how to write in cursive, granted i dont use it everyday even tho my handwriting is a mixture of that and print.

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  10. I agree with your statement that I know how to write in cursive, even though I do not use it everyday

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  11. Most design students lose their writing abilities because we draw so much more than write. I encourage you not to lose this skill you have! Good job!

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