(For THE 1ST ANNUAL MINDSET LIST PARENTS' ADVISORY, please scroll down.)
Change can take us from "flying machines" to jet planes. But growing up is the most vivid change of all!
Welcome
to your one-stop shop of information about growing up in America.
We’re Tom McBride and Ron Nief, co-authors of the famous annual MINDSET
LIST® and of THE MINDSET LISTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY, published by Wiley and now available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and in bookstores and libraries. Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News has called the book "Indispensable!" while the Associated Press hails it as "mesmerizing." THE MINDSET LIST®, which originated at superb Beloit College,
has delighted millions for over a decade about what has “always”
or “never” been true for entering college students. Now we’ve
expanded, not only into our forthcoming book but also (as you’ll
see here) into:
- A fun quiz based on Mindset Lists™ of the past (updated daily)
- “Moments” when all of
us realize that, yes, there really is a generation gap
- Links to all sorts
of information about America’s Generation Y (1991-2009)
- A movie of the month dealing with conflicts between young and old
- A gravely serious (not) advice column about how to resolve generational conflict: Ask ROM
Tom and Ron give frequent presentations around the country about today's American youth.
Also find us on Facebook (THE MINDSET LIST) & Twitter (@MindsetList).
MINDSET LIST
AUTHORS ISSUE ADVISORY FOR NEW PARENTS
Beloit, Wis. –
As the world anticipates the first children born in the New Year, the parents
of these 2012 arrivals should start getting ready for the questions this new
generation will confront them with--before they know it.
Authors of the
recent Mindset Lists of American History,
based on the annual Beloit College Mindset List, Tom McBride and Ron Nief, are
offering these awaiting parents a new take on the old game of “20 Questions,” a
game they will surely play as they explain the present to their children, who
will want some answers before they head off to College.
This “Parents’
Mindset Advisory” grows from the final chapter in their recent book, which
speculates on the world that the generation currently in diapers will encounter
as they graduate from high school. This new Generation Z born in 2012 will be
in the high school class of 2030, growing up in a world where smart phone apps
will replace computer websites and where computers will no longer use
“software.” For them, the Eurozone experiment will seem far away and long ago,
Facebook will have evolved into an over-50 site connecting their parents, and
coastal cities will be busy planning giant seawalls.
The authors
urge parents to be cautious as their children grow up. They warn: “As
kids grow up, history grows along with them and what was once ‘normal’ is
certain to change and seem, to the new generation, downright weird.”
THE 2012 PARENTS’
MINDSET ADVISORY:
20 QUESTIONS TO BE
PREPARED FOR
WHEN YOUR BABY TURNS 18.
1.
What was “software” and what was soft about it?
2.
Why do some universities fund minor-league football and basketball teams now
instead of regular student athlete programs?
3.
What were “websites” and why did people visit them?
4. What
are those small metallic disks I keep finding in the attic?
5.
Did you ever actually change a light bulb?
6.
Where did all those European countries get the dumb idea of having just one
currency?
7.
Is it true that once upon a time you actually had to type instructions into
smart phones?
8.
Wasn’t it pretty weird when you had to wear nerdy dark glasses in order to
watch 3-D television?
9.
Have those old people with salt and pepper ponytails occupying Wall Street
always been there?
10.
How did people learn to play the guitar before their fingers were computer
programmed?
11.
Do you remember when you first felt virtual wet or cold on your computer
screen?
12.
What do you mean, our house was "under water" the year I was
born?
13.
How did people remember the sketches on the backs of napkins without smart pens
to plug into their e-pads?
14.
When are we going to put solar siding on the house?
15.
Did you actually communicate on Facebook when you were my age?
16.
Don’t white males want to become president any more?
17.
What did people in Qatar do about the heat before they put up all those
artificial clouds?
18.
How did folks find their stray pets before insertion of GPS microchips became a
part of getting them neutered?
19.
Do you think I’ll live long enough to ride in a space elevator?
20.
If we stop burning coal do you think they will stop building that sea wall
around New York City?
THE MINDSET LISTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY, praised by Brian Williams of NBC as "Indispensable" and by the Associated Press as "Mesmerizing," is now available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble--and in bookstores.
