Blog Archives
Presented to the League of Women Voters on February 10, 2013: 1. When they were toddlers, academics were talking about the “chilly climate” in the classroom for women; now that they are college students, academics are worried about the paucity of males attending American colleges and universities. 2. Although Hillary Clinton was a pioneering feminist, most of them supported Obama in 2008. 3. They fully expect the Democratic Party to be running women on the top or bottom of presidential tickets for the next decade and beyond—and think the Republicans might, too. 4. They are the least surprised people in America to learn that the Army is now bringing women into forward combat roles. 5. Read on »
An Excerpt from the Keynote Address for the NCAA National Convention Dallas, 2013 By Tom McBride and Ron Nief, co-authors of The Mindset Lists of American History (Wiley, 2011) What have today’s young people—those between eighteen and twenty-nine—grown up with in terms of American athletics? What has been “normal” for them? What is their “sports mindset”? There are two ways to answer this question: by offering some items off our famed, patented Lists, and by offering some analysis of a main difference between this sports generation and previous ones. Let’s start with some List items: they supply an immediate (and comic) insight into what has always been “normal”—in terms of athletics—for the current generation of young people: Sports bras Read on »
THE MINDSET LISTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY Frequently Asked Questions Posed to the Authors, Tom McBride and Ron Nief Q: Why didn’t you just publish a book that included all your Mindset Lists since the beginning in 1998? A: No one would buy such a book when they get all our Mindset Lists free online at www.beloit.edu/mindset or www.mindset.flywheelsites.com Besides, we wanted to do something larger: prove that our methods are an illuminating way to pursue historical truth, especially about American life over the past 150 years, from 1880-2030. Q: What do you mean by that? A: We mean that an investigation of what’s normal for one generation, but abnormal for another, reveals how history is all about change. Historical change Read on »
FROM THE MINDSET LIST®…. The Challenging Y Chromosome: Five Mistakes Managers Make With their Gen Y Employees…. Preview: #1: Managers fail to recognize that the high-tech savvy of this generation—unparalleled in history—masks their lack of low-tech skills. #2. Managers fail to perceive the nuances of Gen Y work habits. #3: Managers associate giving new employees what they want with an inevitable and perilous loss of authority. #4: Mangers become overly impressed with the widespread meme about Gen Y: that they expect to change jobs many, many times. #5: Managers will try to tell, not show, Gen Y worker what to do. ••• In some ways Gen Y is like any other young generation. It’s provincial, for instance—not in the Read on »
MINDSET LIST AUTHORS ISSUE 2013 ADVISORY FOR NEW PARENTS Beloit, Wis. – With only days remaining until the announcement of the first child born in 2013, two authors who have dealt for years with the world of the 18 year old, have some advice for new parents. “Start taking notes and preparing for those questions you will have to answer as they graduate from high school in in 2031,” suggest Ron Nief and Tom McBride, creators of the Beloit College Mindset List and authors of The Mindset Lists of American History. “Time will sneak by quickly,” they warn, “and soon they are going to want you to explain yourself and your generation. They will force you to show your age with quizzical looks Read on »
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 Read on »
Looking for Great and Time-Tested Public Speakers? The Mindset Team is now booking speaking engagements for 2014-15…. Tom McBride and Ron Nief, co-authors of The Beloit College Mindset List® and The Mindset Lists of American History (Wiley, 2011) speak frequently about the generation gap around the country and to a wide variety of organizations. We’ve spoken, led workshops and delivered the keynote addresses to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) national convention, to library associations, museum staff, and to educators at all levels, to state retirement fund administrators and to to educators and specialists dealing with youth and financial literacy, And all this is but a small sample. We work with our Read on »
From IOUs to ATMs: A Financial Literacy Guide to THE MINDSET LISTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY (Wiley, 2011)… By Tom McBride & Ron Nief… Introduction: A Tour, Followed By 10 Lessons… When we first began to write Mindset Lists about what had “always” or “never” been true for entering college students as they grew up, we little dreamed that such Lists would become so popular. And then we did not dream that we would be asked to write a book retelling American history over the past 150 years through the eyes of eighteen year olds as they grew up. And we certainly did not imagine that this book might become a way of teaching financial and economic literacy to today’s teens. Read on »