Born Before 1991? Then You're...

October 03, 2009, 08:30 PM Post Comments

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...OLD! And here is the proof. Every year Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin publishes what it calls "The Mindset List"--fun facts and figures about the incoming crop of freshmen so professors will be able to relate to their new students. Beloit says the list is a reminder that the world view of today's new college students is significantly different from the intellectual framework of those students who entered only a few years earlier. Put another way, it's a reminder that you are getting on in years.

You'll be shocked and outraged! Thirty percent of high school students have done WHAT?

Most of today's college freshmen were born in 1991. Had they been aware of current events as infants, they would have a severe case of déjà vu now. The headlines that year railed about government interventions, bailouts, bad loans, unemployment and greater regulation of the finance industry. "The Tonight Show" changed hosts for the first time in decades, and the nation asked, "Was Iraq worth a war?" As millions of students head off to college this fall, most will continue to experience the economic anxiety that marked their first two years of life just as it has marked their last two years of high school. Fears of the middle class--including their parents--about retirement and health care have been a part of their lives. Now however, they can turn to technology and text a friend: "Momdad still worried bout stocks. urs 2? PAW PCM."

What is the No. 1 skill teenagers need for college? More than writing or mathematics, THIS is what is most needed for collegiate success.

The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2013:
1. For these students, Martha Graham, Pan American Airways, Michael Landon, Dr. Seuss, Miles Davis, The Dallas Times Herald, Gene Roddenberry and Freddie Mercury have always been dead.
2. Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Kevorkian and Mike Tyson have always been felons.
3. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.
4. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
5. Margaret Thatcher has always been a former prime minister.
6. Salsa has always outsold ketchup.
7. Magic Johnson has always been HIV-positive.
8. Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
9. They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
10. Rap music has always been main stream.

There is a frightening trend among college men. Some are drinking so much that "binge" doesn't begin to describe it. You won't believe how many drinks they have at one time!

11. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
12. Someone has always been building something taller than the Willis (née Sears) Tower in Chicago.
13. The KGB has never officially existed.
14. Text has always been hyper.
15. They never saw the "Scud Stud" (but there have always been electromagnetic stud finders.)
16. Babies have always had a Social Security number.
17. They have never had to "shake down" an oral thermometer.
18. Bungee jumping has always been socially acceptable.
19. They have never understood the meaning of RSVP.
20. American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.

You won't believe what happens at age 30!

21. Except for the present incumbent, the president has never inhaled.
22. State abbreviations in addresses have never had periods.
23. The European Union has always existed.
24. McDonald's has always been serving Happy Meals in China.
25. Condoms have always been advertised on television.
26. Cable television systems have always offered telephone service and vice versa.
27. Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.
28. The American health care system has always been in critical condition.
29. Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves.
30. Desperate smokers have always been able to turn to Nicoderm skin patches.

To read the rest of the 2009 Beloit College Mindset List--75 in all!--click here.