If you check time on your cell phone instead of a watch, drive a Korean car, watch the Syfy Channel or prefer a caramel macchiato to plain coffee, you’re a sign of the times.

So says the Beloit College Mindset List, released every August since 1998. The list gives an overview of cultural references and norms for the entering freshman class, which Beloit defines as 18-year-olds.

The mindset list was originally intended as a reminder to Beloit faculty to be aware of dated cultural references. Today, it’s considered a broader look at the world view of each generation.

At the University, some professors have made an effort to reduce the cultural gap between generations, but it hasn’t disappeared entirely.

“I think there’s always going to be a cultural gap between teachers and students, just like there’s going to be between any adult and young adult,” said David Smilde, an associate professor of sociology.

But, he said, sociologists realize a gap between age groups is normal, so “we tend to take [the list] with a grain of salt.”

He said much of the gap can been seen in the “idioculture” — the idiomatic phrases and new words that differ between generations.

Also, some classes are more prone to a culture gap than others. For example, Smilde said the material in history, chemistry and biology classes doesn’t change much, but for his Sociology of Culture class, he has to revise his lectures to stay current.

“I can use the same lecture for two to three years, but then I have to change the references, or students won’t even know what I’m talking about,” he said.

Jonathan Evans, an associate professor of medieval languages and literature, has his own approach to keeping up with students’ cultural references. He asks students to write down their favorite music, movies and books and turn it in. His children also help keep him up to speed.

“Partly it’s self protection,” he said. “Time passes very quickly for me. What seems like current music to me might be three years out, and that’s an eon.”

In the subjects he teaches, pop culture isn’t too relevant, so if he makes any cultural references, they’re “just asides,” he said.

Still, mentioning musicians such as Ray LaMontagne and Sufjan Stevens helps him to identify with students, and he enjoys being exposed to new artists and authors.

Although the mindset list is intended to make professors aware of dated references, Evans said that’s already easy to do as a professor.

“By virtue of the fact that we live in this community and communicate daily with people of this demographic, it keeps me from getting old,” he said. “I don’t plan to ever become old.”

And where has he found the fountain of youth?

It’s in his students.

“The vitality of young people is essential to keeping old people from getting old,” he said.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MINDSET LIST

1) Few in the class know how to write in cursive.

15) Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause.

18) Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.

27) Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.

32) Czechoslovakia has never existed.

46) Nirvana is on the classic oldies station