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More about the Mindset List

Beloit College's Mindset List has me thinking: what will future lists look like? Some ideas:

The 2024 List

  • The Class of 2024 were born in 2002.
  • They never saw Captain Kangaroo or Mr. Rogers on live TV.
  • The World Trade Center has never existed.
  • There has always been an American military presence in Afghanistan.
  • Monica Lewinsky means as much to them as Christine Keeler meant to their parents.

The 2034 List

  • The Class of 2034 were born in 2012.
  • Heath Ledger, Michael Jackson, John Hughes, and Brittany Murphy died before they were born.
  • The President has always been black, Latino, or a woman.
  • They have never heard their parents worry about providing health insurance.
  • Their classmates could include Samuel Affleck and Blue Ivy Knowles.

The 2059 List

  • The Class of 2059 were born in 2037.
  • The Mississippi River has always flowed through Morgan City, Louisiana.
  • Scotland, Catalunya, Kurdistan, and Wallonia have always been independent countries; West Sahara, Nepal, and North Korea have never been.
  • To them, an iPad seems as quaint as a Selectric was to their parents.

The 2102 List

  • The Class of 2102 were born in 2079.
  • They are the 100th class to have their own List.
  • Incoming first-year classes have always spent the previous year in the military or in public service.
  • Beloit College's campus has always had palm trees, and the surrounding area has always had orange groves.
  • New York City has always had a seawall; New Orleans and Miami have always been islands; Greenland has always been green.
  • Trains from Chicago to New York, Atlanta, and Kansas City have always been faster and less expensive than airplanes.
  • They have always needed a passport to visit Dallas, and never needed one to visit Toronto.
  • People have always walked on Mars, and there has always been a permanent base on the moon.

Any other ideas?

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