People –
In the event that you might not have
received this announcement from another source, I thought everyone might enjoy
seeing the Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2009.
Tendaji
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Tendaji W. Ganges
Assistant to the Chancellor and
Executive Director
Educational
University of Michigan-Flint
Voice and Voice Mail: 810-762-3365
Facsimile: 810-762-3190
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
From:
[log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jenny kilcoyne
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005
9:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:
Ron Nief
(608)-363-2137
[log in to unmask]
FOR THE CLASS OF 2009
Each August,
as students start to arrive,
McBride, who
directs Beloit’s First Year Initiatives (FYI) program for entering
students, notes that “This year’s entering students have grown up
in a country where the main business has become business, and where terrorism,
from obscure beginnings, has built up slowly but surely to become the threat it
is today. Cable channels have become as mainstream as the “Big 3”
used to be, formality in dress has become more quaint than ever, and Aretha
Franklin, Kermit the Frog and Jimmy Carter have become old-timers.”
“Each
year,” according to Nief, “ when
The list is
distributed to faculty on campus during the New Student Days orientation.
According to McBride, “It is an important reminder, as faculty start to
show signs of ‘hardening of the references,’ that we think about
the touchstones and benchmarks of a generation that has grown up with CNN, home
computers, AIDS awareness, digital cameras and the Bush political dynasty. We
should also keep in mind that these students missed out on the pleasures
of being tossed in the back of a station wagon with a bunch of friends
and told to keep the noise down, walking in the woods without fearing Lyme Disease,
or setting out to try all of the 28 ice cream flavors at Howard
Johnson’s.”
According to
Nief, “This is not serious in-depth research. It is meant to be thought-
provoking and fun, yet accurate. It is as relevant as possible, given the broad
social and
geographic diversity of our students, who are drawn from every state and 50
countries. It is always open to challenge, which has an additional
benefit in that it reminds us of students’ varied backgrounds. It is
still a good reflection of the attitudes and experiences of the young people
that we must be aware of from the first day of their college experience.”
***
Most students entering college this fall were born in 1987.
1. Andy Warhol, Liberace,
Jackie Gleason, and Lee Marvin have always been dead.
2. They don't remember when
“cut and paste” involved scissors.
3. Heart-lung transplants have
always been possible.
4. Wayne Gretzky never played
for
5.
6. With little need to
practice, most of them do not know how to tie a tie.
7. Pay-Per-View television has
always been an option.
8. They never had the fun of
being thrown into the back of a station wagon with six others.
9.
10. They are more familiar with Greg Gumbel than with Bryant Gumbel.
11. Philip Morris has always owned Kraft
Foods.
12. Al-Qaida has always existed with Osama
bin Laden at its head.
13. They learned to count with Lotus 1-2-3.
14. Car stereos have always rivaled home
component systems.
15. Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker have
never preached on television.
16. Voice mail has always been available.
17. “Whatever” is not part of a
question but an expression of sullen rebuke.
18. The federal budget has always been more
than a trillion dollars.
19. Condoms have always been advertised on
television.
20. They may have fallen asleep playing
with their Gameboys in the crib.
21. They have always had the right to burn
the flag.
22. For daily caffeine emergencies,
Starbucks has always been around the corner.
23. Ferdinand Marcos has never been in
charge of the
24. Money put in their savings account the
year they were born earned almost 7% interest.
25. Bill Gates has always been worth at
least a billion dollars.
26. Dirty dancing has always been
acceptable.
27. Southern fried chicken, prepared with a
blend of 11 herbs and spices, has always been available in
28. Michael Jackson has always been bad,
and greed has always been good.
29. The Starship
30. Pixar has always existed.
31. There has never been a “fairness
doctrine” at the FCC.
32. Judicial appointments routinely have
been “Borked.”
33. Aretha Franklin has always been in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
34. There have always been zebra mussels in
the
35. Police have always been able to search
garbage without a search warrant.
36. It has always been possible to walk
from
37. They have grown up in a single
superpower world.
38. They missed the oat bran diet craze.
39. American Motors has never existed.
40. Scientists have always been able to see
supernovas.
41. Les
Miserables has always been on stage.
42. Halogen lights have always been
available at home, with a warning.
43. “Baby M” may be a
classmate, and contracts with surrogate mothers have always been legal.
44. RU486, the “morning after
pill,” has always been on the market.
45. There has always been a pyramid in
front of the Louvre in
46. British Airways has always been
privately owned.
47. Irradiated food has always been
available but controversial.
48. Snowboarding has always been a popular
winter pastime.
49. Libraries have always been the best
centers for computer technology and access to good software.
50. Biosphere 2 has always been trying to
create a revolution in the life sciences.
51. The Hubble Telescope has always been
focused on new frontiers.
52. Researchers have always been looking
for stem cells.
53. They do not remember “a kinder
and gentler nation.”
54. They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly.
55. The TV networks have always had cable
partners.
56. Airports have always had upscale shops
and restaurants.
57. Black Americans have always been known
as
African-Americans.
58. They never saw Pat Sajak or Arsenio
Hall host a late night television show.
59. Matt Groening has always had a Life in Hell.
60. Salman Rushdie has always been watching
over his shoulder.
61. Digital cameras have always existed.
62. Tom Landry never coached the Cowboys.
63. Time Life and Warner Communications
have always been joined.
64. CNBC has always been on the air.
65. The Field
of Dreams has always been drawing people to
66. They never saw a Howard Johnson’s
with 28 ice cream flavors.
67. Reindeer at Christmas have always
distinguished between secular and religious decorations.
68. Entertainment
Weekly has always been on the newsstand.
69. Lyme Disease has always been a ticking
concern in the woods.
70. Jimmy Carter has always been an elder
statesman.
71. Miss Piggy and Kermit have always dwelt
in
72.
73. Their nervous new parents heard C.
Everett Koop proclaim nicotine as addictive as heroin.
74. Lever has always been looking for 2000
parts to clean.
75. They have always been challenged to
distinguish between news and entertainment on cable TV.
###
0506-019
August 24, 2005
Copyright, Beloit College 2005