Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List, providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall.
The Beloit College Mindset List, which this year is as old as the entering students themselves, is created by Ron Nief, Emeritus Director of Public Affairs; Tom McBride, Emeritus Professor of English; and Charles Westerberg. Additional items on the list as well as commentaries and guides are found
here and at www.themindsetlist.com Regular updates and discussions are on Facebook and Twitter.
Previous lists are available online dating back to the Class of 2002.
Among the 50 entries I found it interesting that, from their perspective, there's always been Google, South Park, and mass-produced hybrid vehicles. What is/are your favorite(s) and why? What did they leave out?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2015, @01:39AM
Purposely offensive at several points but accurate at several others.
the official language of business
There's an old saying: You can buy in any language. [google.com]
To sell, OTOH, you have to speak your customer's language.
American Exceptionalism [wikipedia.org] has kept a large number of USAians from discovering that, with a huge trade imbalance to show for that.
nationalism
There's nothing wrong with being proud of your country's accomplishments.
You, however, appear to be using the wrong word: Jingoism [google.com]
See also "American Exceptionalism" (above).
-- gewg_
(Score: 4, Insightful) by soylentsandor on Friday August 21 2015, @07:33PM
I feel it's a bit odd to be proud of the accomplishments of other people for the sole reason that they happened to be born in the same country you were born in.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2015, @07:50PM
I guess that I see society differently than you do.
You sound like a Randian (an elitist).
Think about how little time that really smart|specialized|ambitious people would have left over to be the movers and shakers if they had to produce their own food, build their own houses, mow their own lawns, fix their own cars, transport their children to school, cart their trash to the dump, etc, etc., etc.
The division of labor that a civilization provides allows for specialization.
As such, I value EVERYONE who contributes labor into the system and see each of those as part of the overall success of the society.
I see honor in ALL honest labor and think that an honest day's labor should be honored with a proper day's wages representing the individual's valuable contribution to a stable civilization.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @01:26PM
That's called patriotism. Nationalism means you think your nation is inherently superior to the others.