Every year Beloit College prepares a list for it’s faculty to remind them how different the world the incoming freshmen were raised in is from the world they were raised in. The lists are always interesting. Here’s the list for the Class of 2008….

Most students entering college this fall were born in 1986.

• Desi Arnaz, Orson Welles, Roy Orbison, Ted Bundy, Ayatollah Khomeini, and Cary Grant have always been dead.
• “Heeeere’s Johnny!” is a scary greeting from Jack Nicholson, not a warm welcome from Ed McMahon.
• The Energizer bunny has always been going, and going, and going.
• Large fine-print ads for prescription drugs have always appeared in magazines.
• Photographs have always been processed in an hour or less.
• They never got a chance to drink 7-Up Gold, Crystal Pepsi, or Apple Slice.
• Baby Jessica could be a classmate.
• Parents may have been reading The Bourne Supremacy or It as they rocked them in their cradles.
• Alan Greenspan has always been setting the nation’s financial direction.
• The U.S. has always been a Prozac nation.
• They have always enjoyed the comfort of pleather.
• Harry has always known Sally.
• They never saw Roseanne Roseannadanna live on Saturday Night Live.
• There has always been a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• They never ate a McSub at McD’s.
• There has always been a Comedy Channel.
• Bill and Ted have always been on an excellent adventure.
• They were never tempted by smokeless cigarettes.
• Robert Downey, Jr. has always been in trouble.
• Martha Stewart has always been cooking up something with someone.
• They have always been comfortable with gay characters on television.
• Mike Tyson has always been a contender.
• The government has always been proposing we go to Mars, and it has always been deemed too expensive.
• There have never been any Playboy Clubs.
• There have always been night games at Wrigley Field.
• Rogaine has always been available for the follicularly challenged.
• They never saw USA Today or the Christian Science Monitor as a TV news program.
• Computers have always suffered from viruses.
• We have always been mapping the human genome.
• Politicians have always used rock music for theme songs.
• Network television has always struggled to keep up with cable.
• O’Hare has always been the most delay-plagued airport in the U.S.
• Ivan Boesky has never sold stock.
• Toll-free 800 phone numbers have always spelled out catchy phrases.
• Bethlehem has never been a place of peace at Christmas.
• Episcopal women bishops have always threatened the foundation of the Anglican Church.
• Svelte Oprah has always dominated afternoon television; who was Phil Donahue anyway?
• They never flew on People Express.
• AZT has always been used to treat AIDS.
• The international community has always been installing or removing the leader of Haiti.
• Oliver North has always been a talk show host and news commentator.
• They have suffered through airport security systems since they were in strollers.
• They have done most of their search for the right college online.
• Aspirin has always been used to reduce the risk of a heart attack.
• They were spared the TV ads for Zamfir and his panpipes.
• Castro has always been an aging politician in a suit.
• There have always been non-stop flights around the world without refueling.
• Cher hasn’t aged a day.
• M.A.S.H. was a game: Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House.

Every year Beloit College prepares a list for it’s faculty to remind them how different the world the incoming freshmen were raised in is from the world they were raised in. The lists are always interesting. Here’s the list for the Class of 2007….

• Ricky Nelson, Richard Burton, Samantha Smith, Laura Ashley, Orson Welles, Karen Ann Quinlan, Benigno Aquino, and the U.S. Football League have always been dead.
• They are not familiar with the source of that “Giant Sucking Sound.”
• Iraq has always been a problem.
• “Ctrl + Alt + Del” is as basic as “ABC.”
• Paul Newman has always made salad dressing.
• Pete Rose has always been a gambler.
• Bert and Ernie are old enough to be their parents.
• An automatic is a weapon, not a transmission.
• Russian leaders have always looked like leaders everyplace else.
• The snail darter has never been endangered.
• There has always been a screening test for AIDS.
• Gas has always been unleaded.
• They never heard Howard Cosell call a game on ABC.
• The United States has always had a Poet Laureate
• Garrison Keillor has always been live on public radio and Lawrence Welk has always been dead on public television.
• Their families drove SUVs without “being fuelish.”
• There has always been some association between fried eggs and your brain.
• They would never leave their calling card on someone’s desk.
• They have never been able to find the “return” key.
• Computers have always fit in their backpacks.
• Datsuns have never been made.
• They have never gotten excited over a telegram, a long distance call, or a fax.
• The Osmonds are just talk show hosts.
• Undergraduate college athletes have always been a part of the NBA and NFL draft.
• They have always “grazed” for food.
• Three-point shots from “downtown” have always been a part of basketball.
• Test tube babies are now having their own babies.
• Stores have always had scanners at the checkout.
• The Army has always driven Humvees.
• Adam and PC Junior computers had vanished from the market before this generation went online.
• The Statue of Liberty has always had a gleaming torch.
• They have always had a PIN number.
• Banana Republic has always been a store, not a puppet government in Latin America.
• Car detailing has always been available.
• Directory assistance has never been free.
• The Jaycees have always welcomed women as members.
• There has always been Lean Cuisine.
• They have always been able to fly Virgin Atlantic.
• There have never been dress codes in restaurants.
• Doctors have always had to deal with “reasonable and customary fees” and patients have always had controls placed on the number of days they could stay in a hospital.
• They have always been able to make photocopies at home.
• Michael Eisner has always been in charge of Disney.
• They have always been able to make phone calls from planes.
• Yuppies are almost as old as hippies.
• Rupert Murdoch has always been an American citizen.
• Strawberry Fields has always been in New York.
• Rock and Roll has always been a force for social good.
• Killer bees have always been swarming in the U.S.
• They have never seen a First Lady in a fur coat.
• Don Imus has always been offending someone in his national audience.

In all fairness it should be understood that students entering college this fall do have a few items on their own lists that will separate them from many of their mentors:

• For many of them today, it’s all about the “bling, bling.”
• They know who the “Heroes in a half shell” are.
• Peeps are not a candy, they are your friends.
• They have been “dissing”and “burning” things all their lives.
• They can expect to get a ticket for “ricing out their wheels.”
• They knew how to pop a Popple and trade a Pog.
• They can still sing the rap chorus to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the theme song from Duck Tales.

Every year Beloit College prepares a list for it’s faculty to remind them how different the world the incoming freshmen were raised in is from the world they were raised in. The lists are always interesting. Here’s the list for the Class of 2006.

Most students entering college this fall in the class of 2006, were born in 1984.

• A Southerner has always been President of the United States.
• Richard Burton, Ricky Nelson and Truman Capote have always been dead.
• South Africa’s official policy of apartheid has not existed during their lifetime.
• Cars have always had eye-level rear stop lights, CD players, and air bags.
• We have always been able to choose our long distance carriers.
• Weather reports have always been available 24-hours a day on television.
• The “evil empire” has moved from Moscow to a setting in some distant galaxy.
• Big Brother is merely a television show.
• Cyberspace has always existed.
• Bruce Springsteen’s new hit, Born in the USA, could have been played to celebrate their birth.
• Barbie has always had a job.
• Telephone bills have always been totally incomprehensible.
• Prom dresses have always come in basic black.
• A “Hair Band” is some sort of fashion accessory.
• George Foreman has always been a barbecue grill salesman.
• Afghanistan has always been a front page story.
• There has always been an heir to the heir to the British throne.
• They have no recollection of Connie Chung or Geraldo Rivera as serious journalists.
• Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, and Tom Brokaw have always anchored the evening news.
• China has always been a market-based reforming regime.
• The United States has always been trying to put nuclear waste in Nevada.
• The U.S. and the Soviets have always been partners in space.
• Mrs. Fields’ cookies and Swatch watches have always been favorites.
• Nicolas Cage, Daryll Hannah, Eddie Murphy, and John Malkovich made their first major film impressions the year they were born.
• The GM Saturn has always been on the road.
• The “Fab Four” are not a male rock group, but four women enjoying Sex and the City.
• Fox has always been a television network choice.
• Males do not carry a handkerchief in a back pocket.
• This generation has never wanted to “Be a Pepper, too.”
• Ozzy’s lifestyle has nothing to do with the Nelson family.
• Women have always had tattoos.
• Vanessa Williams and Madonna are aging singers.
• Perrier has always come in flavors.
• Cherry Coke has always come in cans.
• A “hotline” is a consumer service rather than a phone used to avoid accidental nuclear war.
• The drug “ecstasy” has always been around.
• Genetic testing and DNA screening have always been available.
• Electronic filing of federal income taxes has always been an option.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has always been available to doctors.
• Trivial Pursuit may have been played by their parents the night before they were born.
• The U.S. has always maintained that it has a “clear right to use force against terrorism.”
• The drinking age has always been 21 throughout the country.
• Women have always been members of the Jaycees.
• The center of chic has shifted from Studio 54 to Liza’s living room, live!
• Julian Lennon had his only hit the year they were born.
• Sylvan Learning Centers have always been an after-school option.
• Hip-hop and rap have always been popular musical forms.
• They grew up in minivans.
• Scientists have always recognized the impact of acid rain.
• The Coen Brothers have always been making films.

And in 1984, perhaps it was “Too Soon to Tell”…

• Technology analysts questioned the need for briefcase-sized computers.
• The National Children and Youth Fitness Study announced that children were overweight and underactive.
• A CPA organization heralded that computerized audit systems were being used to avoid errors and they were doing much better at spotting mistakes and providing internal audit controls.
• Film critics declared that George Lucas was looking for new directions because Star Wars interest was waning.
• Videotape technology was said to be killing the film industry and slowing cable network development.
• Analysts stated there was no market for Direct Broadcast Satellite systems.
• The U.S. Supreme Court declared sleeping to be a form of free speech.

Every year Beloit College prepares a list for it’s faculty to remind them how different the world the incoming freshmen were raised in is from the world they were raised in. The lists are always interesting. Here’s the list for the Class of 2005.

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1983.

1. Ricky Nelson, Marvin Gaye and Laura Ashley have always been dead.
2. The New Kids on the Block are over the hill.
3. They want to be PHAT but not fat.
4. IBM Selectrics are antiques.
5. Thongs no longer come in pairs and slide between the toes.
6. God has never been a “he” in most churches.
7. Hard copy has nothing to do with a TV show; a browser is not someone relaxing in a bookstore; a virus does not make humans sick; and a mouse is not a rodent (and there is no proper plural for it).
8. Moscow has always been opposed to “star wars.”
9. Recording TV programs on VCRs became legal the year they were born.
10. The British Royal family has always behaved badly.
11. There has always been Diet Coke.
12. Artificial hearts have always been ticking.
13. The Social Security system has always been on the brink.
14. There have always been warnings about second-hand smoke.
15. They have never experienced a real recession.
16. A hacker is not just a kid who won’t stop fooling around.
17. Grenada has always been safe for democracy.
18. They were born the same year as the PC and the Mac.
19. The U.S. Senate has always had a daycare program.
20. One earring on a man indicates that he is probably pretty conservative.
21. CDs have always been labeled for explicit content.
22. Lethal Weapon in one form or another has always been “at the movies.”
23. Boeing has not built the 727 since they were born.
24. Sarajevo was a war zone, not an Olympic host.
25. They don’t remember Janet Jackson when she was cute and chubby.
26. Drug testing of athletes has always been routine.
27. There has always been a hole in the ozone layer.
28. They have always had access to email.
29. The Colts have always been in Indianapolis.
30. The precise location of the Titanic has always been known.
31. When they were born, Madonna was still a radiant woman holding a beatific child.
32. Jimmy Hoffa has always been officially dead.
33. Tylenol has always been impossible for children or adults to open.
34. Volkswagen beetles have always had engines in the front.
35. They do not know what the Selective Service is, but men routinely register for it on their financial aid forms.
36. Ron Howard and Rob Reiner have always been balding older film directors.
37. Cal Ripken has always been playing baseball.
38. They have probably never used carbon paper and do not know what cc and bcc mean.
39. Lasers have always been marketed as toys.
40. Major newspapers have always been printed in color.
41. Beta is a preview version of software, not a VCR format.
42. They have never known exactly what to call the rock star formerly and presently known as Prince.
43. They are the first generation to prefer tanning indoors.
44. Survivor is a TV show not a rock group.
45. They have heard “just say no” since they were toddlers.
46. Most of them know someone who was born with the help of a test tube.
47. It has paid to “Discover” since they were four.
48. Oprah has always been a national institution.
49. With a life expectancy of 77 years, they can anticipate living until about 2060.

Every year Beloit College prepares a list for it’s faculty to remind them how different the world the incoming freshmen were raised in is from the world they were raised in. The lists are always interesting. Here’s the list for the Class of 2004.

Most students entering college this fall in the class of 2004, were born in 1982.

• Grace Kelly, Elvis Presley, Karen Carpenter, and the E.R.A. have always been dead.
• Kurt Cobain’s death was the “day the music died.”
• Somebody named George Bush has been on every national ticket, except one, since they were born.
• The Kennedy tragedy was a plane crash, not an assassination.
• Huckleberry Finn has always been a “banned book.”
• A “45” is a gun, not a record with a large hole in the center.
• They have no clue what the Beach Boys were talking about when they sang about a 409, and the Little Deuce Coupe.
• They have probably never lost anything in shag carpeting.
• MASH and The Muppet Show have always been in re-runs.
• Punk Rock is an activist movement, not a musical form.
• They have always bought telephones, rather than rent them from AT&T.
• The year they were born, AIDS was found to have killed 164 people; finding a cure for the new disease was designated a “top priority” for government-sponsored research.
• We have always been able to reproduce DNA in the laboratory.
• Wars begin and end quickly; peace-keeping missions go on forever.
• There have always been ATM machines.
• The President has always addressed the nation on the radio on Saturday.
• We have always been able to receive television signals by direct broadcast satellite.
• Cities have always been trying to ban the possession and sale of handguns.
• Watergate is as relevant to their lives as the Teapot Dome scandal.
• They have no idea that a “presidential scandal” once meant nothing more than Ronald Reagan taking President Carter’s briefing book in “Debategate.”
• They have never referred to Russia and China as “the Reds.”
• Toyotas and Hondas have always been made in the United States.
• There has always been a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Three Mile Island is ancient history, and nuclear accidents happen in other countries.
• Around-the-clock coverage of congress, public affairs, weather reports, and rock videos has always been available on cable.
• Senator Phil Gramm has always been a Republican.
• Women sailors have always been stationed on U.S. Navy ships.
• The year they were born, the New York Times announced that the “boom in video games,” a fad, had come to an end.
• Congress has been questioning computer intrusion into individuals’ personal lives since they were born.
• Bear Bryant has never coached at Alabama.
• They have always been able to afford Calvin Klein.
• Coors Beer has always been sold east of the Mississippi, eliminating the need for Burt Reynolds to outrun the authorities in the Smokey and the Bandit films.
• They were born the same year that Ebony and Ivory lived in perfect harmony.
• The year they were born, Dustin Hoffman wore a dress and Julie Andrews wore a tuxedo.
• Elton John has only been heard on easy listening stations.
• Woodstock is a bird or a reunion, not a cultural touchstone.
• They have never heard a phone “ring.”
• They never dressed up for a plane flight.
• Hurricanes have always had men’s and women’s names.
• Lawn darts have always been illegal.
• “Coming out” parties celebrate more than debutantes.
• They only know Madonna singing American Pie.
• They neither know who Billy Joe was, nor wondered what he was doing on the Talahatchee Bridge.
• They never thought of Jane Fonda as “Hanoi Jane,” nor associated her with any revolution other than the “Fitness Revolution” videotape they may have found in the attic.
• The Osmonds are talk show hosts.
• They have never used a bottle of “White Out.”
• If they vaguely remember the night the Berlin Wall fell, they are probably not sure why it was up in the first place.
• “Spam” and “cookies” are not necessarily foods.
• They feel more danger from having sex and being in school, than from possible nuclear war.

Every year Beloit College prepares a list for it’s faculty to remind them how different the world the incoming freshmen were raised in is from the world they were raised in. The lists are always interesting. Here’s the list for the Class of 2003.

Most of this year’s students entering college were born in 1981.

• They are the first generation to be born into Luvs, Huggies, and Pampers.
• John Lennon and John Belushi have always been dead.
• There has always been a woman on the Supreme Court, and women have always been traveling into space.
• They have never needed a prescription to buy ibuprofen.
• They never realized that for one brief moment, Gen. Alexander Haig was “in charge.”
• They never heard Walter Cronkite suggest that “That’s the way it is.”
• They were born and grew up with Microsoft, IBM PCs, in-line skates, NutraSweet, fax machines, film on disks, and unregulated quantities of commercial interruptions on television.
• Somebody named Dole has always been running for something.
• Cats has been on Broadway all their lives.
• While they all know her children, they have no idea who “Ma Bell” was.
• They never heard anyone say, “Book ‘em, Dano,” “Good night, John-boy,” or “Kiss my grits,” in prime time.
• They never knew Madonna when she was like a virgin.
• Mike Myers is the Spy Who Shagged Me not the first congressman expelled from that body in a century for his role in “Abscam.”
• They have never had to worry about the packaging of Tylenol.
• Yugoslavia has never existed.
• They have never seen Bob Marley perform reggae live.
• Jesse Jackson has always been getting someone out of trouble someplace.
• Strikes by highly paid athletes have been a routine part of professional athletics.
• The moonwalk is a Michael Jackson dance step, not a Neil Armstrong giant step.
• John Cougar has always been John Cougar Mellencamp, or vice versa.
• Travel to space has always been accomplished in reusable spacecraft.
• The term “adult” has increasingly come to mean “dirty.”
• The year they were born, reports condemned violence on television and in Hollywood films for producing the likes of John Hinckley.
• They have always been able to get their news from USA Today and CNN.
• They have spent more than half their lives with Bart Simpson.
• They don’t understand why Solidarity is spelled with a capital “S.”
• They don’t think there is anything terribly futuristic about 2001, and were never concerned about the year 1984.
• They have no idea how big a breadbox is.
• Camelot refers to King Arthur’s seat of government, not John Kennedy’s.
• President Kennedy’s assassination is as significant to them as that of Lincoln or Garfield.
• They have probably never dialed a phone or opened an icebox.
• The only thing a “churchkey” has ever opened for them is a church.
• They have never seen white smoke over the Vatican and do not know its significance.
• They cannot identify the last United States President to throw-up on a Japanese prime minister.
• Ketchup has always been a vegetable.
• Susan B. Anthony has always been on the dollar but probably never bought them anything.
• They cannot imagine waiting a generation to get the dirt on the U.S. President.
• They felt pretty special when their elementary school had top-of-the-line Commodore 64s.
• ET, Gremlins, and The Hulk provided their Halloween costumes and lunch box themes.
• They were introduced to Kramer on the TV show Friday’s.
• They remember when Saturday Night Live was still funny.
• They have never seen a BankAmericard.

In all fairness to this latest generation of entering college students, we this year add a list of items that only a child of the ’80s can explain…don’t ask us!

• They owned and operated a “trapper keeper.”
• They can explain the “cha-ching” thing.
• They know what a “burnout” is.
• They know what “psych” means.
• During time in the arcade, they actually lined up quarters on the top panel of the game to “reserve” a spot.
• They know the profound meaning of “Wax on, Wax off.”
• They know that another name for a keyboard is a “synthesizer.”
• They can name at least half of the members of the elite “Brat Pack.”
• They know who Tina Yothers is.
• They felt ashamed when Rob Lowe got in trouble for having sex with minors and videotaping it, because they liked him.
• They know who Max Headroom is.
• They could breakdance, or wished they could.
• Partying “like it’s 1999” seemed SOOO far away.
• They thought that “transformers” were more than meets the eye.
• They can, right now, hum the theme to Inspector Gadget.
• They wanted to be on Star Search.
• They can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off.
• They wore banana clips at some point during their youth, or knew someone who did.
• They owned a doll with “Xavier Roberts” signed on its rear, or knew someone who did.
• They knew what Willis was “talkin’ ’bout.”
• They HAD to have their MTV.
• They hold a special place in their hearts for Back to the Future.
• They thought Molly Ringwald was REALLY cool.
• They actually thought Dirty Dancing was a REALLY good movie.
• They collected Garbage Pail Kids.
• They actually saw Ted Danson as the MacDaddy he played “Sam” to be.
• They remember when ATARI was a state of the art video game system.
• They own(ed) cassette singles.
• They were led to believe that, in the year 2000, we’d all be living on the moon.
• They owned pieces of the Care Bear Glass collection from Pizza Hut.
• Poltergeist freaked them out.
• They have occasionally pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.
• They know what a Doozer is.
• They wore bike shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish, or knew someone who did.
• They had Swatch Watches.
• They had WonderWoman or Superman underoos.
• They know what a “Whammee” is.