What Is True For The College Freshmen Of 2014?

Photo Credit: Novartis AG

Each year at the start of the new school year, Beloit College releases what they call the Mindset List -- a list of important facts and events which influence the worldview and perspective that this year's college freshmen class brings with them.

This year's list, which is made up for the graduating class of 2018, represents those students who were born in 1996. As you can see, this year's list highlights advances in science, changes in technology, significant world events, the role that social media now plays and the evolution of societal views on human sexuality and religion.

You can read the complete list here but I've included some entries below that I found particularly interesting:

• During their initial weeks of kindergarten, they were upset by endlessly repeated images of planes blasting into the World Trade Center.
• “Press pound” on the phone is now translated as “hit hashtag.”
• Celebrity “selfies” are far cooler than autographs.
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has always been the only news program that really “gets it right.”
• The water cooler is no longer the workplace social center; it’s the place to fill your water bottle.
• In their lifetime, a dozen different actors have portrayed Nelson Mandela on the big and small screen.
• Hong Kong has always been part of China.
• Hello Dolly...cloning has always been a fact, not science fiction.
• Women have always been dribbling, and occasionally dunking, in the WNBA.
• Hell has always been associated less with torment and more with nothingness.
• There has always been “TV” designed to be watched exclusively on the web.
• They have never had to hide their dirty magazines under the bed.
• Attending schools outside their neighborhoods, they gather with friends on Skype, not in their local park.
• “Good feedback” means getting 30 likes on your last Facebook post in a single afternoon.
• Since Toys R Us created a toy registry for kids, visits to Santa are just a formality.

Please remember to pray for the 22 million U.S. college students that are starting classes over the next few weeks. They are part of a changing world...and they also have the opportunity to influence how the world changes.