Most students entering college this fall were born in 1991.

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.

• Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Kevorkian, and Mike Tyson have always been felons.
• The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.
• They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
• Margaret Thatcher has always been a former prime minister.
• Salsa has always outsold ketchup.
• Earvin “Magic” Johnson has always been HIV-positive.
• Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
• They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
• Rap music has always been main stream.
• Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
• Someone has always been building something taller than the Willis (née Sears) Tower in Chicago.
• The KGB has never officially existed.
• Text has always been hyper.
• They never saw the “Scud Stud” (but there have always been electromagnetic stud finders.)
• Babies have always had a Social Security Number.
• They have never had to “shake down” an oral thermometer.
• Bungee jumping has always been socially acceptable.
• They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.
• American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
• Except for the present incumbent, the President has never inhaled.
• State abbreviations in addresses have never had periods.
• The European Union has always existed.
• McDonald’s has always been serving Happy Meals in China.
• Condoms have always been advertised on television.
• Cable television systems have always offered telephone service and vice versa.
• Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.
• The American health care system has always been in critical condition.
• Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves.
• Desperate smokers have always been able to turn to Nicoderm skin patches.
• There has always been a Cartoon Network.
• The nation’s key economic indicator has always been the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
• Their folks could always reach for a Zoloft.
• They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.
• Women have always outnumbered men in college.
• We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
• Amateur radio operators have never needed to know Morse code.
• Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, and Estonia have always been independent nations.
• It’s always been official: President Zachary Taylor did not die of arsenic poisoning.
• Madonna’s perspective on Sex has always been well documented.
• Phil Jackson has always been coaching championship basketball.
• Ozzy Osbourne has always been coming back.
• Kevin Costner has always been Dancing with Wolves, especially on cable.
• There have always been flat screen televisions.
• They have always eaten Berry Berry Kix.
• Disney’s Fantasia has always been available on video, and It’s a Wonderful Life has always been on Moscow television.
• Smokers have never been promoted as an economic force that deserves respect.
• Elite American colleges have never been able to fix the price of tuition.
• Nobody has been able to make a deposit in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).
• Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the Evening News came on.
• Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.
• They have never been Saved by the Bell
• Someone has always been asking: “Was Iraq worth a war?”
• Most communities have always had a mega-church.
• Natalie Cole has always been singing with her father.
• The status of gays in the military has always been a topic of political debate.
• Elizabeth Taylor has always reeked of White Diamonds.
• There has always been a Planet Hollywood.
• For one reason or another, California’s future has always been in doubt.
• Agent Starling has always feared the Silence of the Lambs.
• “Womyn” and “waitperson” have always been in the dictionary.
• Members of Congress have always had to keep their checkbooks balanced since the closing of the House Bank.
• There has always been a computer in the Oval Office.
• CDs have never been sold in cardboard packaging.
• Avon has always been “calling” in a catalog.
• NATO has always been looking for a role.
• Two Koreas have always been members of the UN.
• Official racial classifications in South Africa have always been outlawed.
• The NBC Today Show has always been seen on weekends.
• Vice presidents of the United States have always had real power.
• Conflict in Northern Ireland has always been slowly winding down.
• Migration of once independent media like radio, TV, videos and compact discs to the computer has never amazed them.
• Nobody has ever responded to “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
• Congress could never give itself a mid-term raise.
• There has always been blue Jell-O.

Most students entering college this fall were born in 1990.

For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been

dead.

• Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.
• Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.
• They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
• GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
• Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.
• Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.
• Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
• Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue

  increases.”

• Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
• Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.
• All have had a relative–or known about a friend’s relative–who died comfortably at home with Hospice.
• As a precursor to “whatever,” they have recognized that some people “just don’t get it.”
• Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando.
• Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.
• Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.
• Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.
• Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.
• WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
• Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
• The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.
• Students have always been “Rocking the Vote.”
• Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
• Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.
• We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
• There have always been gay rabbis.
• Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.
• College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
• IBM has never made typewriters.
• Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.
• McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.
• They have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola.
• There has always been Pearl Jam.
• The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.
• Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
• They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium.
• They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.
• Authorities have always been building a wall along the Mexican border.
• Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.
• Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
• Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.
• Macaulay Culkin has always been Home Alone.
• Their parents may have watched The American Gladiators on TV the day they were born.
• Personal privacy has always been threatened.
• Caller ID has always been available on phones.
• Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.
• The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.
• They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”
• Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
• Soft drink refills have always been free.
• They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”
• Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
• Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.
• The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.
• The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
• 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.
• Michael Milken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.
• Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.
• Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.
• There have always been charter schools.
• Students always had Goosebumps.

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 2011….

Most students entering college this fall were born in 1989.

• What Berlin wall?
• Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public.
• Rush Limbaugh and the “Dittoheads” have always been lambasting liberals.
• They never “rolled down” a car window.
• Michael Moore has always been angry and funny.
• They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group.
• They have grown up with bottled water.
• General Motors has always been working on an electric car.
• Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
• Pete Rose has never played baseball.
• Rap music has always been mainstream.
• Religious leaders have always been telling politicians what to do, or else!
• “Off the hook” has never had anything to do with a telephone.
• Music has always been “unplugged.”
• Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
• Women have always been police chiefs in major cities.
• They were born the year Harvard Law Review Editor Barack Obama announced he might run for office some day.
• The NBA season has always gone on and on and on and on.
• Classmates could include Michelle Wie, Jordin Sparks, and Bart Simpson.
• Half of them may have been members of the Baby-sitters Club.
• Eastern Airlines has never “earned their wings” in their lifetime.
• No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of “liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
• Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
• Being “lame” has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.
• Wolf Blitzer has always been serving up the news on CNN.
• Katie Couric has always had screen cred.
• Al Gore has always been running for president or thinking about it.
• They never found a prize in a Coca-Cola “MagiCan.”
• They were too young to understand Judas Priest’s subliminal messages.
• When all else fails, the Prozac defense has always been a possibility.
• Multigrain chips have always provided healthful junk food.
• They grew up in Wayne’s World.
• U2 has always been more than a spy plane.
• They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as “The Joker.”
• Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.
• American rock groups have always appeared in Moscow.
• Commercial product placements have been the norm in films and on TV.
• On Parents’ Day on campus, their folks could be mixing it up with Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz with daughter Zöe, or
• Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford with son Cody.
• Fox has always been a major network.
• They drove their parents crazy with the Beavis and Butt-Head laugh.
• The “Blue Man Group” has always been everywhere.
• Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.
• Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.
• Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time.
• They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.
• Most phone calls have never been private.
• High definition television has always been available.
• Microbreweries have always been ubiquitous.
• Virtual reality has always been available when the real thing failed.
• Smoking has never been allowed in public spaces in France.
• China has always been more interested in making money than in reeducation.
• Time has always worked with Warner.
• Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.
• The purchase of ivory has always been banned.
• MTV has never featured music videos.
• The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters.
• Jerry Springer has always been lowering the level of discourse on TV.
• They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.
• They’re always texting 1 n other.
• They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom.
• They never saw Johnny Carson live on television.
• They have no idea who Rusty Jones was or why he said “goodbye to rusty cars.”
• Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities.
• Chavez has nothing to do with iceberg lettuce and everything to do with oil.
• Illinois has been trying to ban smoking since the year they were born.
• The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.
• Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been debilitating and controversial.
• Burma has always been Myanmar.
• Dilbert has always been ridiculing cubicle culture.
• Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.

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 2010….

Most students entering college this fall were born in 1988.

• The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.
• They have known only two presidents.
• For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.
• Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S.
• They have grown up getting lost in “big boxes.”
• There has always been only one Germany.
• They have never heard anyone actually “ring it up” on a cash register.
• They are wireless, yet always connected.
• A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents’.
• Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.
• A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
• Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines.
• Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.
• The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.
• They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.
• DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.
• They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.
• They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.
• “Google” has always been a verb.
• Text messaging is their email.
• Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.
• Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.
• Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.
• Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.
• Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.
• “Boogers” candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents.
• There has never been a “skyhook” in the NBA.
• Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents’ attics.
• Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.
• Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.
• They grew up in mini-vans.
• Reality shows have always been on television.
• They have no idea why we needed to ask “…can we all get along?”
• They have always known that “In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet

  equally important groups.”

• Young women’s fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.
• They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.
• Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.
• Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.
• “So” as in “Sooooo New York,” has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn

  modifies something else.

• Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series.
• They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.
• Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.
• They are not aware that “flock of seagulls hair” has nothing to do with birds flying into it.
• Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.
• Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.
• Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.
• Small white holiday lights have always been in style.
• Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.
• They have always been searching for “Waldo.”
• The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.
• Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.
• They never played the game of state license plates in the car.
• They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.
• There have always been live organ donors.
• They have always had access to their own credit cards.
• They have never put their money in a “Savings & Loan.”
• Sara Lee has always made underwear.
• Bad behavior has always been getting captured on amateur videos.
• Disneyland has always been in Europe and Asia.
• They never saw Bernard Shaw on CNN.
• Beach volleyball has always been a recognized sport.
• Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti have always been luxury cars of choice.
• Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem.
• LoJack transmitters have always been finding lost cars.
• Diane Sawyer has always been live in Prime Time.
• Dolphin-free canned tuna has always been on sale.
• Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
• “Outing” has always been a threat.
• Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
• They have always “dissed” what they don’t like.
• The U.S. has always been studying global warming to confirm its existence.
• Richard M. Daley has always been the Mayor of Chicago.
• They grew up with virtual pets to feed, water, and play games with, lest they die.
• Ringo Starr has always been clean and sober.
• Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

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 2009….

Most students entering college this fall were born in 1987.

• Andy Warhol, Liberace, Jackie Gleason, and Lee Marvin have always been dead.
• They don’t remember when “cut and paste” involved scissors.
• Heart-lung transplants have always been possible.
• Wayne Gretzky never played for Edmonton.
• Boston has been working on “The Big Dig” all their lives.
• With little need to practice, most of them do not know how to tie a tie.
• Pay-Per-View television has always been an option.
• They never had the fun of being thrown into the back of a station wagon with six others.
• Iran and Iraq have never been at war with each other.
• They are more familiar with Greg Gumbel than with Bryant Gumbel.
• Philip Morris has always owned Kraft Foods.
• Al-Qaida has always existed with Osama bin Laden at its head.
• They learned to count with Lotus 1-2-3.
• Car stereos have always rivaled home component systems.
• Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker have never preached on television.
• Voice mail has always been available.
• “Whatever” is not part of a question but an expression of sullen rebuke.
• The federal budget has always been more than a trillion dollars.
• Condoms have always been advertised on television.
• They may have fallen asleep playing with their Gameboys in the crib.
• They have always had the right to burn the flag.
• For daily caffeine emergencies, Starbucks has always been around the corner.
• Ferdinand Marcos has never been in charge of the Philippines.
• Money put in their savings account the year they were born earned almost 7% interest.
• Bill Gates has always been worth at least a billion dollars.
• Dirty dancing has always been acceptable.
• Southern fried chicken, prepared with a blend of 11 herbs and spices, has always been available in China.
• Michael Jackson has always been bad, and greed has always been good.
• The Starship Enterprise has always looked dated.
• Pixar has always existed.
• There has never been a “fairness doctrine” at the FCC.
• Judicial appointments routinely have been “Borked.”
• Aretha Franklin has always been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• There have always been zebra mussels in the Great Lakes.
• Police have always been able to search garbage without a search warrant.
• It has always been possible to walk from England to mainland Europe on dry land.
• They have grown up in a single superpower world.
• They missed the oat bran diet craze.
• American Motors has never existed.
• Scientists have always been able to see supernovas.
• Les Miserables has always been on stage.
• Halogen lights have always been available at home, with a warning.
• “Baby M” may be a classmate, and contracts with surrogate mothers have always been legal.
• RU486 has always been on the market.
• There has always been a pyramid in front of the Louvre in Paris.
• British Airways has always been privately owned.
• Irradiated food has always been available but controversial.
• Snowboarding has always been a popular winter pastime.
• Libraries have always been the best centers for computer technology and access to good software.
• Biosphere 2 has always been trying to create a revolution in the life sciences.
• The Hubble Telescope has always been focused on new frontiers.
• Researchers have always been looking for stem cells.
• They do not remember “a kinder and gentler nation.”
• They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly.
• The TV networks have always had cable partners.
• Airports have always had upscale shops and restaurants.
• Black Americans have always been known as African-Americans.
• They never saw Pat Sajak or Arsenio Hall host a late night television show.
• Matt Groening has always had a Life in Hell.
• Salman Rushdie has always been watching over his shoulder.
• Digital cameras have always existed.
• Tom Landry never coached the Cowboys.
• Time Life and Warner Communications have always been joined.
• CNBC has always been on the air.
• The Field of Dreams has always been drawing people to Iowa.
• They never saw a Howard Johnson’s with 28 ice cream flavors.
• Reindeer at Christmas have always distinguished between secular and religious decorations.
• Entertainment Weekly has always been on the newsstand.
• Lyme Disease has always been a ticking concern in the woods.
• Jimmy Carter has always been an elder statesman.
• Miss Piggy and Kermit have always dwelt in Disneyland.
• America’s Funniest Home Videos has always been on television.
• Their nervous new parents heard C. Everett Koop proclaim nicotine as addictive as heroin.
• Lever has always been looking for 2000 parts to clean.
• They have always been challenged to distinguish between news and entertainment on cable TV.

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.