Born before 1986, Then you are old!!!

[Atomic Frog]

Beloit, Wis.—

This fall, a new generation of students is entering colleges and universities with its own particular view of the world. Most of them are about 17 and were born in 1986.

For the seventh year, Beloit College has distributed to its faculty and staff the Beloit College Mindset List, which identifies some facts of life that distinguish this generation from those that preceded it.  One of its primary purposes has been, in the words of co-editor Tom McBride, Keefer Professor of the Humanities at the Wisconsin liberal arts college, an attempt to slow the onset of "hardening of the references" experienced by some faculty.

This year, the list was edited by Professor of Classics Art Robson who regularly teaches in the College's First Year Initiatives (FYI) program for entering students, along with Public Affairs director Ron Nief.  Robson notes that "these first-year students were born in the year that Chernobyl melted down and the Challenger exploded.  Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel, Calif., and the Soviets had been bogged down for the seventh year of frustration in Afghanistan. Domestically we were preoccupied by the Iran Contra scandal, and internationally the Iran-Iraq war continued to reveal a disturbing list of atrocities."

BELOIT COLLEGE MINDSET LIST® FOR THE CLASS OF 2008

[/b] [/glow][/size]

1.  Most students entering college this fall were born in 1986.

2.  Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Cary  Grant  have always been dead. 

3.  "Heeeere's Johnny!" is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson, not a warm welcome   from Ed McMahon. 

4.  The Energizer bunny has always been going, and going, and going. 

5.  Large fine-print ads for prescription drugs have always appeared in magazines.

6.  Photographs have always been processed in an hour or less.

7.  They never got a chance to drink 7-Up Gold, Crystal Pepsi, or Apple Slice.

8.  Baby Jessica could be a classmate.

9.  Parents may have been reading The Bourne Supremacy or It as they rocked them
in their cradles.

10.  Alan Greenspan has always been setting the nation's financial direction.

11.  The U.S.  has always been a Prozac nation.

12.  They have always enjoyed the comfort of pleather.

13.  Harry has always known Sally.

14.  They never saw Roseanne Roseannadanna live on Saturday Night Live.

15.  There has always been a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

16.  They never ate a McSub at McD's.

17.  There has always been a Comedy Channel.

18.  Bill and Ted have always been on an excellent adventure.

19.  They were never tempted by smokeless cigarettes.

20. Robert Downey, Jr. has always been in trouble.

21.  Martha Stewart has always been cooking up something with someone.

22.  They have always been comfortable with gay characters on television.

23.  Mike Tyson has always been a contender.

24.  The government has always been proposing we go to Mars, and it has always
been deemed too expensive.

25.  There have never been any Playboy Clubs.

26.  There have always been night games at Wrigley Field.

27.  Rogaine has always been available for the follicularly challenged.

28.  They never saw USA Today or the Christian Science Monitor as a TV news
program.

29.  Computers have always suffered from viruses.

30.  We have always been mapping the human genome.

31. Politicians have always used rock music for theme songs.

32.  Network television has always struggled to keep up with cable.

33.  O'Hare has always been the most delay-plagued airport in the U.S.

34.  Ivan Boesky has never sold stock.

35.  Toll-free 800 phone numbers have always spelled out catchy phrases.

36.  Bethlehem has never been a place of peace at Christmas.

37.  Episcopal women bishops have always threatened the foundation of the Anglican Church.

38.  Svelte Oprah has always dominated afternoon television; who was Phil Donahue
anyway?

39.  They never flew on People Express.

40.  AZT has always been used to treat AIDS.

41.  The international community has always been installing or removing the leader of
Haiti.

42.  Oliver North has always been a talk show host and news commentator.

43.  They have suffered through airport security systems since they were in strollers.

44.  They have done most of their search for the right college online.

45.  Aspirin has always been used to reduce the risk of a heart attack.

46.  They were spared the TV ads for Zamfir and his panpipes.

47.  Castro has always been an aging politician in a suit.

48.  There have always been non-stop flights around the world without refueling.

49.  Cher hasn't aged a day.

50.  M.A.S.H. was a game: Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House.

© 2004 Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin

  I Feel Old 

[Roll Tide]

You are older than you have ever been before!

(Sadly, you look older than ever as well.)

[Atomic Frog]

You are older than you have ever been before!

(Sadly, you look older than ever as well.)

Thanks Tide,

If I had any Feelings left i Just might Cry.....

      Go VOLS[/glow] [/size][/color]

[Roll Tide]

Hey, we have something in common. I consider Johnny Major to be the greatest coach in UT history!!!

(AND if you were born before 1986, you don't know how many times he won 9 or 10 games in a season but fell short to Alabama!)

[DainJer]

Funny to see something from so close to home... Beloit is only a few minutes away.

I was only 13 in 1986, but i guess that's old enough to start remembering most of the things listed.

[HousePuke]

My YOUNGEST son was born in 1986.  Ouch!  I don't want to be this old.

[Rain Man]

My YOUNGEST son was born in 1986.  Ouch!  I don't want to be this old.

Shouldn't that be "grandson" Housepuke??

[Wolfen]

Don't pick on Housepuke, Rainman.  He's younger than you!

[Ladyradhp39]

1986 Wasn't that just yesterday. it really seems like it. Of course, they say the older you get the faster time goes. It went! Where? How! Why? Yeps! It's almost 2006! Just think one of these days , they will be running the world or life expectancy will continue to get higher and we will still think of them as the "X" generation. Maybe, we are up to the "Y" generation by now.

[Rain Man]

Don't pick on Housepuke, Rainman.  He's younger than you!

Don't make me hit you with my walker.

[JessJen]

geeze and I bet next youre going to come up with something bizarre like mcdonalds came in styrofoam or people actually used DOS based programmes

[Rain Man]

geeze and I bet next youre going to come up with something bizarre like mcdonalds came in styrofoam or people actually used DOS based programmes

That also.....and it is true there used to be on 3 channels on TV and Paul McCartney WAS in another band before Wings.

[JessJen]

*shrugs* whoever that mccartney fellow is....oh I think I learned about him in history class he was in that group named after the volkswagon right?

[tres_amigos]

 
-5 for spelling Jes the correct spelling is Volkswagen  but don't worry Prob just a typo...

[Rain Man]

*shrugs* whoever that mccartney fellow is....oh I think I learned about him in history class he was in that group named after the volkswagon right?

You're a good history student.  That Volkswagen also sold for about $900 new off the showroom floor.

[JessJen]

You're a good history student.  That Volkswagen also sold for about $900 new off the showroom floor.

Did you use shells and beads as currency? And, if so, did you prefer to receive your diem in which one?

[Rain Man]

Did you use shells and beads as currency? And, if so, did you prefer to receive your diem in which one?

No, just the pelts of fur-bearing animals....and I've always preferred my PD in chickens and goats.  Although there are a few old-timers on the board that found big, heavy, circular stones with a hole in the middle acceptable.

[JessJen]

it mustve been a trip having to use an abacus, I bet theyre not as easy to tote as your average modern day calculator. *shudders* I can't fathom what it must have been like to have to do math "in your head".  

[wolf459]

When I first got to hanford I was on a tour of B reactor and in Fermi's office was a slide rule. One of the younger new techs asked what the funny looking ruler was for. OUCH!

[JessJen]

 a slide WHAT!

[Phurst]

Slide rules were too cool. I still am amazed at how they work and how quck you cab get.

[JessJen]

I don't think Ive seen one up close and thats the honest truth!

[wolf459]

I don't think Ive seen one up close and thats the honest truth!

I'll send you a picture some time. I still have one and know how to use it.

[JessJen]

I guess youd consider it solar powered since Im assuming with no light up display theyre hard to read in the dark

[wolf459]

Not just solar. It also works using gas lighting or a candle. You can read about those in the history books. (And yes we had matches before 1986 to lite them.)