The List is Out!

For the last fifteen years, I have looked forward to seeing “the list” as it is released for the start of the academic year. “What list?” you might ask. It is the Mindset list, released annually by Beloit College to describe their incoming classes. This year’s list outlines the outlook and context that this year’s entering university class (last year’s Grade 12s) has. Previous lists do the same for each college entering class, starting in 2002. (As a sidebar, if you asked me, I had the impression that they have been coming out for much longer – perhaps for 25 or 30 years – but likely that says more about my mindset than any reality.)

I don’t think that the lists are of much interest to the classes that they profile, nor to students younger than them (e.g. current Appleby students,) but older generations are often fascinated by these younger generations’ realities. Here are a few examples from the list for the (university) class of 2017:

1.     Eminem and LL Cool J could show up at parents’ weekend.

2.     They are the sharing generation, having shown tendencies to share everything, including possessions, no matter how personal.

3.       GM means food that is Genetically Modified.

4.      As they started to crawl, so did the news across the bottom of the television screen.

5.      “Dude” has never had a negative tone.

6.     As their parents held them as infants, they may have wondered whether it was the baby or Windows 95 that had them more excited.

7.     As kids they may well have seen Chicken Run but probably never got chicken pox.

8.     Having a chat has seldom involved talking.

9.     Gaga has never been baby talk.

10.   They could always get rid of their outdated toys on eBay.

11.   They have known only two presidents.

12.   Their TV screens keep getting smaller as their parents’ screens grow ever larger.

13.   PayPal has replaced a pen pal as a best friend on line.

14.   Rites of passage have more to do with having their own cell phone and Skype accounts than with getting a driver’s license and car.

Many of these resonate with me as a parent, and some do in my reality as an educator. For instance #2 about sharing – we have lots of challenges with students regularly exchanging clothing, like we live in a communal clothing bank, which makes issues of missing/lost/stolen articles, at best, somewhat ambiguous. Although there is something to be said for underlying values on this one.

I am also struck by #14 – how getting a driver’s license is often met with ambivalence compared to the unbridled anticipation mixed with anxiety of potentially failing the test when I was growing up.

In some ways, the first list from Beloit for the class of 2002 (i.e. published in 1998) is just as interesting. Here are some of the realties for that group (Appleby’s class of 1998 +/-) back when they graduated:

1. They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan era, and did not know he had ever been shot.
2. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
3. Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
4. There has only been one Pope. They can only remember one other president.
5. They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart, and do not remember the Cold War.
6. Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
7. They never had a polio shot, and likely, do not know what it is.
8. Bottle caps have not always been screw off, but have always been plastic. They have no idea what a pull top can looks like.
9. Atari pre-dates them, as do vinyl albums.
10. They have likely never played Pac Man, and have never heard of "Pong."
11. There have always been red M&Ms, and blue ones are not new. What do you mean there used to be beige ones?
12. The compact disc was introduced when they were one year old.
13. They have always had an answering machine.
14. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a black & white TV.
15. They have always had cable.
16. They cannot fathom what it was like not having a remote control.
17. "The Tonight Show" has always been with Jay Leno.
18. Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
19. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
20. They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
21. They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
22. They never heard the terms "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" or "De plane, de plane!"
23. Michael Jackson has always been white.
24. Kansas, Boston, Chicago, America, and Alabama are all places—not music groups.
25. McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.

It is interesting to note that this cohort is now 33 and many have their own children. Some might even have students starting in Appleby this year or in the next few.

So what does it all mean? On one level, I find these both entertaining and a sober reminder of my own aging. But they also make me think about the notions of adaptability and flexibility.

I was lucky to know three of my four grandparents. I had the very good fortune of growing up within 100 metres of their homes, so we were close. Three of them were born in the last 2 decades of the 19^th Century and my maternal grandmother, whom I knew the best, was born in 1901. When she was dying over a period of many months, I tried to spend lots of time with her and ask her about her life and her experiences growing up in the same house she ended up dying in. It is located in central Toronto (Yonge and St. Clair, for those who are familiar with the city) but when she was growing up, it was forests and farmers’ fields, and she got around in a horse-drawn carriage.

In our conversations, what struck me most was the remarkable change that she saw over her life: She lived during the Boer War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the War in Vietnam; the Russian Revolution, the re-drawing of the World map through the treaty of Versailles, the creation of the League of Nations and later the United Nations; the Chinese Revolution, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany; the time of horse-drawn carriages to space shuttles; the introduction of women’s suffrage to women’s liberation to post-feminism; the transformation of medical science; 12 Prime Ministers (Laurier to Mulroney), 9 popes, and 5 monarchs. As profound as these world events were, however, I began to understand that the changes in day-to-day living and social interactions – notions of morality, religion, communities, diversity, travel, communication, etc. – were just as significant.

What amazed me the most was how well my grandmother adapted to the changes over her 90 years, and how at peace she was with the changed world in which she lived. Many of the foundational assumption under which she grew up were flipped on their ear … and some many times over.

Futurists tell us that my generation will live through ten times the change that my grandmother did, and current students ten times the change that my generation will experience. It is difficult to comprehend the implication of these projections, even if they are only half right.

There are two very clear implications. The first is a challenge to parents and educators – to understand where students today are coming from. What are their motivators, values, and realities … our own version of the Beloit list? Because influencing attitudes and behavior must stem from understanding of what drives the people we are trying to influence. And knowing that the half-life of change is getting shorter and shorter, the importance of this understanding is amplified. This places a huge imperative on ongoing professional development and challenging ourselves constantly to differentiate between what is the same about our contexts and what is different.

The second implication is the imperative for young people to develop traits of flexibility, adaptability, problem-solving, and perseverance. One could easily make an argument that this set of skills may be the most important ones with which to equip students when thinking about life-long success. They are very much intertwined with empathy and risk-taking. And Charles Swindoll’s quote (which I discussed  in the start of year address) sums up the core challenge in dealing with this change: “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”

Throughout this year, I will post thoughts on what we are doing now and what we are considering doing in the future here at Appleby to address these essential aspects of “performance character.”