- Each year the staff at Beloit College
in Wisconsin puts together this list
- to try and give the faculty a sense of
the mind-set of that year's incoming
- freshman:
-
- 1. The people 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 only been one Pope.
They can only remember one other
- 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 Challenger blowing
- up.
- 9. Their lifetime has always included
AIDS.
- 10. They never had a Polio shot, and
likely, do not know what it is.
- 11. Bottle caps have not always been
screw off, but have always been
- plastic. They have no
- idea what a pull top can looks like.
- 12. Atari pre-dates 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 never heard of
- "Pong."
- 16. Star Wars looks 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. What do
- you mean there used to be beige ones?
- 18. They may never have heard of an
8-track, and chances are they've
- never heard or seen 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 & white TV.
- 23. They have always had cable.
- 24. There have always been VCR's,
but they have no idea what Beta is.
- 25. They cannot fathom what it was
like not having a remote control.
- 26. They were born the year Walkmen
were introduced by Sony.
- 27. Roller-skating has always meant
in-line 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 and 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 the terms "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, Boston, Chicago, America,
and Alabama are all places -- not
- music groups.
- 42. McDonalds never came in Styrofoam
containers.
- 43. There has always been MTV, and
it has always included non-musical
- shows.
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