With those who were born in 2000 starting their first year in college, Beloit College's annual Mindset List takes a look back at the last 18 years.

The list began with the idea of looking back at what's happened in the last 18 years and how students and professors can benefit from it, and as a way for professors to remember that students might not recall the same things a professor does.

Since 1998, the annual Mindset List has circulated internationally as a way of reminding professors everywhere that they aren’t just teaching courses, they’re also teaching students. The list has generated several books, prompted international discussions and lists and scores of speaking appearances around the country.

This will be the last year that the Mindset List will be associated with Beloit College, but it will continue in the future at themindsetlist.com or at a new institutional home.

Here are a few of my favorite offerings from this year's Mindset List:

  • They are the first class born in the new millennium, escaping the dreaded label of “Millennial,” though their new designation—iGen, GenZ, etc. — has not yet been agreed upon by them.
  • People loudly conversing with themselves in public are no longer thought to be talking to imaginary friends.
  • They’ve grown up with stories about where their grandparents were on 11/22/63 and where their parents were on 9/11.
  • They never used a spit bowl in a dentist’s office.
  • “You’ve got mail” would sound as ancient to them as “number, please” would have sounded to their parents.
  • Exotic animals have always been providing emotional support to passengers on planes.
  • Robots have always been able to walk on two legs and climb stairs.
  • Donny and Marie who?
  • Oprah has always been a magazine.
  • Robert Downey Jr. has always been the sober Iron Man.
  • A visit to a bank has been a rare event.

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