Professor Angry and I have mixed feelings about tomorrow’s expected release of the Beloit Class of 2018 Mindset List. On the one hand, we’ll get to start debunking another poorly researched and written list of trivia unconvincingly connected to incoming  college freshman. On the other hand, since our goal is to destroy the Beloit Mindset List, its continued existence is a painful failure.

We already know a few things about the new list. It won’t be funny. It will have little to do with the “mindset” of new college students. Here are a few questions about the new list that we’ll learn the answers to tomorrow.

1. Will the list be as error-ridden as previous lists? As I examine items from past lists, I continue to be amazed at how many easily checked errors they contain. It would seemingly be simple for Messrs. McBride and Nief to hire a couple of student fact-checkers to check their work. However, if they have any interest in accuracy, they’ve kept it well hidden.

2. How will media respond to the list? If last year is any indication, fewer media outlets are publishing the Mindset List uncritically and more are critiquing it or mocking it. This is a trend I hope continues. In the age of Buzzfeed, the Mindset list is just one of countless pointless listicles floating around the Internet. What sets it apart is its academic pedigree and unwarranted attention from the media. While not as satisfying as complete destruction of the list, having it mostly ignored would be a well-deserved fate.

3. Will the list change at all? The Mindset List for years has contained familiar tropes and tics. The meaning of words change. People are shaped by the events that took place in the year of their birth. Things that happened over 18 years ago never happened. Do Messrs. McBride and Nief have any new ideas? Probably not.

We expect two more posts here before the new Mindset List is released: (1) an essay on how the Mindset List could actually be improved (if it continues to survive destruction) and (2) Prof. Angry’s and my Class of 2018 Beloit Mindlessness List, which like the Mindset List itself, is just a bunch of made-up stuff.