Just in case you weren't feeling too old today,
this will certainly change things. Each year,
the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts
together a list to try to give the faculty a
sense of the mind set of that year's
incoming freshmen.
Here is this year's (1998) list:
1. The people who are starting college this fall
across the nation were born in 1980.
2. They have no meaningful recollection of the
Reagan Era and did not know he had ever been shot.
3. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf
War was waged.
4. Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them
as the Great Depression.
5. There has been only one Pope. They can only
really remember one president.
6. They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke
apart and do not remember the Cold War.
7. They have never feared a nuclear war. "The
Day After" is a pill to them--- not a movie.
8. They are too young to remember the space
shuttle blowing up.
9. Tianamen Square means nothing to them.
10. Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
11. Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic
12. Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums.
13. The expression "you sound like a broken
record" means nothing to them.
14. They have never owned a record player.
15. They have likely never played Pac Man and
have certainly never heard of Pong.
16. Star Wars look very fake to them, and the
special effects are pathetic.
17. There have always been red M&M's and
blue ones are not new. There used to be beige ones?
18. They may have heard of an 8 track, but probably
never have actually seen or heard one.
19. The compact disc was introduced when they
were one year old.
20. As far as they know, stamps have always cost
about 32 cents.
21. They have always had an answering machine.
22. Most have never seen a TV set with only 13
channels, nor have they seen a black-and-white TV.
23. They have always had cable.
24. There have always been VCRs, but they have
no idea what Beta is.
25. They cannot fathom not having a
remote control.
26. They were born the year that Sony's
Walkman was introduced.
27. Roller skating has always meant
inline for them.
28. The Tonight Show has always been
with Jay Leno.
29. They have no idea when or why
Jordache jeans were cool.
30. Popcorn has always been cooked
in the microwave.
31. They have never seen Larry Bird play,
and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a football player.
32. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
33. The Vietnam War is as ancient history to
them as WWI, WWII, or even the Civil War.
34. They have no idea that Americans were
ever held hostage in Iran.
35. They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
36. They don't know who Mork was or
where he was from.
37. They never heard, "Where's the beef?" "I'd
walk a mile for a Camel," or "de plane, de plane!"
38. They do not care who shot J.R., and have
no idea who J.R. is.
39. The Titanic was found? I thought we always
knew where it was.
40. Michael Jackson has always been white.
41. Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama
are places, not groups.
42. McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.
43. There has always been MTV.
Do you feel old yet?