Author Topic: The Mindset of the class of 2009  (Read 6536 times)

DrAmazon

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« on: August 24, 2005, 03:06:00 PM »
Thought I'd share an interesting tidbit from the world of academia.  Each year Beloit College puts out the "Mindset List" to help the faculty see where the incoming college freshmen are coming from.   Some are funny, some are interesting, some are scary and some are stupid.  I thought this group would enjoy it!

The freshmen at my college moved in today.  Lots of lofts and laundry baskets and truly overwhelmed looking parents.  

http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/mindset/

BELOIT COLLEGE'S MINDSET LIST®
FOR THE CLASS OF 2009

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 Edmonton.
5.     Boston has been working on the "The Big Dig" all their lives.
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.    Iran and Iraq have never been at war with each other.
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 Philippines.
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 China.
28.    Michael Jackson has always been bad, and greed has always been good.
29.    The Starship Enterprise has always looked dated.
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 Great Lakes.
35.    Police have always been able to search garbage without a search warrant.
36.    It has always been possible to walk from England to mainland Europe on dry land.
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 Paris.
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 Iowa.
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 Disneyland.
72.    America's Funniest Home Videos has always been on television.
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.
Experiment with a chemist!

Sindawe

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2005, 03:28:59 PM »
Guess I needs me a new cane.  Anybody seen my teeth?  I had last had them in glass by the bed....
I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

griz

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2005, 03:38:37 PM »
I remeber when pay phones were common and cell phones didn't exist. Of course I thought fire was a pretty good invention when I was young.
Sent from a stone age computer via an ordinary keyboard.

jefnvk

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2005, 04:11:33 PM »
Yep, us of us in the class of '08 laugh at the idiot freshmen Cheesy
I still say 'Give Detroit to Canada'

Azrael256

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2005, 06:40:43 PM »
None of these really got me until...
Quote
54.     They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly.
One of my earliest complete memories is of the Challenger exploding.  I can still see the ancient pre-remote TV I watched it on.  I turned four two weeks later.

So, for the class of '08...  During move-in week last year, I was stretched out on the couch in the lobby of my dorm.  Some fish with a buzzcut sits down behind me to watch, and as the commercial ended, and the movie, Top Gun, resumed, he exclaimed "Wow!  Top Gun!  This movie is a classic."
"Classic?!?  Had you been born when this movie came out?"
"I dunno, when did it come out?"
"May of '86."
"Um...  I guess not."
*sigh*...  "Whippersnapper."

Sindawe

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2005, 07:10:24 PM »
Quote
"Whippersnapper."
No doubt. Wink  Watching the Challenger disaster live in the student center made that days 2nd year Organic Chem class a blur.
I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

Azrael256

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2005, 03:37:12 AM »
Touche.

Winston Smith

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2005, 07:57:21 AM »
Heh, I'm in the class of 2006.. for high school. I'll be in the class of 2010 for college.
Jack
APS #22
I'm eighteen years old. I know everything and I'm invincible.
Right?

Old Fud

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2005, 10:21:12 AM »
What were you doing when John Kennedy was shot?
Change is Bad!

USP45usp

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2005, 12:15:32 PM »
Dang, I graduated (HS) in 1987... now I feel old.

Quote
They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly
We, as a class, were watching it on the Library TV when it happened, right when it happened, not replays.

I don't think that we really grasped what we were looking at until later.

Wayne

*edited:  Good to see that my government education didn't go to waste.... was rolleyes

Robert Sears

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #10 on: August 25, 2005, 01:00:22 PM »
I was in 6th grade class election when the principal came on the itercom and said Kennedy had been shot.

Bob

grampster

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #11 on: August 25, 2005, 01:04:38 PM »
As I bounced my infant son on my knee, we watched man take the first steps on the moon.  My father was in his prime with gas lighting at home, outhouses, pumps in the kitchen, horse travel, and wagons, radio was in its infancy and their were no commercial planes, the ice box was exactly that.  Dad watched the moon thing, too.

Much progress with tools has happened in the last 100 years.  Not much happened before that.
"Never wrestle with a pig.  You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."  G.B. Shaw

Guest

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« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2005, 01:50:30 PM »
Well, there was the discovery of the concept of zero, back when you were a boy. Smiley


(Are you all healed up now? I'd feel bad picking on you if you were sick. Of course, if you're better..you're fair game again!)

Nathaniel Firethorn

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« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2005, 02:30:21 PM »
Quote
What were you doing when John Kennedy was shot?
Going to second grade. They shut the school down early and my parents picked me up.

- NF
Give up no state. Give up no ground.

http://www.njcsd.org

Standing Wolf

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #14 on: August 25, 2005, 04:57:23 PM »
Times change; human nature doesn't.
No tyrant should ever be allowed to die of natural causes.

Sindawe

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« Reply #15 on: August 25, 2005, 05:28:36 PM »
Quote
What were you doing when John Kennedy was shot?
This.

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.

Larry Ashcraft

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #16 on: August 25, 2005, 05:30:38 PM »
Quote from: Old Fud
What were you doing when John Kennedy was shot?
7th grade lunch period.  The school had set up a TV in the lunchroom.

The atmosphere was really "Shock and Awe", much more than the media inspired 'shock and awe' of today.

Guest

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« Reply #17 on: August 25, 2005, 06:24:37 PM »
Quote
What were you doing when John Kennedy was shot?
Third Grade, my teacher was from Dallas, she lost it. The whole school, and faculty were numb. Then I remember seeing Jack Ruby on the b/w TV in the parking garage...

I recall National Geographic has a square vinyl recording of the Landing on the Moon. One put this atop a 45 record for stability, we played ours on a Philco record player .

Now I am a older returning student. I have actually had classmates tell the instructor the assigment is not due until 5PM - so as long as the assignment is in by 4:59PM - they are good to go.  Instructor suggested that in the real world getting things done early was a sign of good  work habits. She asked what if the work was wrong and needed tobe  re-done. Reply was - "Hey we get paid again to fix the mistake - that is how you make money now-a-days - "billing".

The other night the pencil sharpener went nutzoid in the Router room. The classmate with the battery operated one in his backpack - well the batteries died. We were doing network math - instructor required pencils be used.

I produce a hand held sharpener. Now the older folks knew what this was, the younger ones were kinda in awe. When I said "if that plays out - I gotta pocket knife".  Gasps. "We were not allowed pocketknives in school" the younger one said. I pulled my Kershaw Leek and said " well when I was growing up a person was not dressed w/o a pocketknife". Then I sharpened a pencil with my Kershaw.  Younger folks just shook heads - instructor grinned, and the other older students with pocket knives sharpened theirs with their knives.

Us older folks grinning, young ones keeping an eye on us eevil old farts. Tongue

griz

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #18 on: August 26, 2005, 11:55:24 AM »
I started to say how surprised I was that they didn't know how to sharpen a pencil without batterys. Then I remebered that my niece (14 at the time) had never seen a manual can opener.

Now I feel old again. :/
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Brad Johnson

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #19 on: August 26, 2005, 12:20:18 PM »
Quote
So, for the class of '08...  During move-in week last year, I was stretched out on the couch in the lobby of my dorm.  Some fish with a buzzcut sits down behind me to watch, and as the commercial ended, and the movie, Top Gun, resumed, he exclaimed "Wow!  Top Gun!  This movie is a classic."
"Classic?!?  Had you been born when this movie came out?"
"I dunno, when did it come out?"
"May of '86."
"Um...  I guess not."
*sigh*...  "Whippersnapper."
Jeez, my graduating class (all 26 of us) traveled two hours by yellow-dog bus to the nearest theatre to see Top Gun for our senior party.

And my high school computer teacher was on the finalist list for the Challenger teacher spot. Not only was she good lookin', we got to ogle her while we were playing on the latest technology - an Apple Mac AND a Tandy 8086 (with DUAL eight inch floppy drives, no less).

I was rummaging through some old things recently and came across a Conway Twitty 8-track. Just for fun I took it to the office and plopped it down on the counter in front of our (teenage) receptionist. Not a clue... she just stared at it for a while and then asked me who Conway Twitty was. rolleyes

...sigh...

Brad
It's all about the pancakes, people.
"And he thought cops wouldn't chase... a STOLEN DONUT TRUCK???? That would be like Willie Nelson ignoring a pickup full of weed."
-HankB

K Frame

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« Reply #20 on: August 26, 2005, 12:40:14 PM »
"Watching the Challenger disaster live in the student center made that days 2nd year Organic Chem class a blur."

I remember that day well. I hit the student union after a history class.


I wasn't alive when Kennedy was shot, but I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Reagan had been shot. We were coming in from track practice (MISERABLE, rainy cold day in Central PA) and the football coach was running around the locker room, naked as an old, skeletal jaybird, yapping how the President had been shot.

I've been drinking heavily for years trying to erase that memory, but to no avail.
Carbon Monoxide, sucking the life out of idiots, 'tards, and fools since man tamed fire.

Iain

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« Reply #21 on: August 26, 2005, 02:44:56 PM »
The question is - where were you for the great Shrewsbury earthquake?

I was out playing football in a PE lesson, despite the assurances of many others that there was some pronounced rumbling and a touch of shaking, I noticed not a thing.

Now the Kidderminster earthquake? Well that's a whole other story, done shook me out of my bed, thought a lorry had hit the house.

Never seen a manual can opener? I don't think I've ever seen an electric one. Same for pencil sharpeners, I've seen the ones that sit on a desk and you turn a handle, and I've seen the little manual ones (metal ones were/are far superior to plastic bodied ones), but I don't think I've ever seen an electric one. Guess you folks is more lazy than us out here, or we're just backward.
I do not like, when with me play, and I think that you also

toro

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« Reply #22 on: August 26, 2005, 03:10:04 PM »
I remember when gas was .25 cents a gallon:)  

When Kennedy died I was working as a file girl and checking an underwriters desk.  He said it was the best thing that could ever happen.  I'm guessing he was a Republican.  Things have changed since then.  We found out he was an unfaithful man who shared a girlfriend with a Mafia boss.  Not the prince of Camelot.


                                               Mrs. Toro



===========================================
Ephesians 2:2
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Guest

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #23 on: August 26, 2005, 06:15:17 PM »
Hand Held pencil Sharpeners...
... are the small ones ~ 1/2" wide and 1" long - These are Metal.  I bought all they had years ago at a Mom & Pop office supply store.  I have given a few away over the years and more than once these recipieients have gone to a Chain office supply store looking to buy more. One place told the person these were antique and no longer made.  rolleyes  She finally asked the older Mgr at Office Depot and sure enough they have them...

Can Openers-
Years ago when I attended another College, we had a terrible Thunderstorm. Streets were flooding, power outtages, traffic lights out  and such. I suggested a couple of classmates come to my Apartment at the time I had, being I was in town, on high ground, and we could study. One young lady from the UK , the other from Croatia. Seems traffic was at a standstill towards where they stayed. Well my power goes out. I fire up the Oil lamps , and at the time it was still legal here to use a grill on one's upper level balcony. I fired up the grill to boil water for tea and whatever...Knock on the door, new neighbor, "Power is out and I need batteries , candles or something...oh - got any any ideas how to open a can of tuna, my electric can opener won't work".  I handed her a hand- held can opener. She just looked at it, "grandma had one of these - how does it work?" . Well the girl from Croatia showed her...then she really got baffled when the girl from the UK came with a pot of boiling water and made tea..."How'd you do that - these apartments are all electric?"  I let the classmates explain.

10th Grade Jimi Hendrix died. Biology teacher was a young good looking honey whom drove a 'Vette.  [ Probably why I aced Biology, I was paying attention to her...] She was sad as we all were about Hendrix death. She fired up the Music and played Santana, Hendrix and CCR while we diseccted our worms. Seems all the good scaples had "walked off".  One classmate finally gave up on the dull scaple, and produced a switchblade. Teacher thought his knife was so cool, she showed us her Puma and her Case knife she carried.  We gave up on lab. We mourned Hendrix's death by listening to good tunes and checking out everyone else's knives...well one girl had a really cool straight razor.

Bobarino

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The Mindset of the class of 2009
« Reply #24 on: August 27, 2005, 09:37:17 AM »
just want to clarify something.  RU486 and the "morning after pill" are NOT the same thing.  they are two totally different drugs that do not do the same thing.   RU486 is the "abortion pill" that will end a pregnancy.  the "morning after pill" is simply a mega dose of birth control and prevents ovulation from happening.   common non-truth spouted by the anti-abortion crowd.  

Bobby