Earth Walker
August 23rd, 2001, 10:49 AM
First-year students -- formerly known as freshmen -- are
descending on campuses loaded with cell phones, Palm Pilots,
CD burners and other essential items hardly ever imagined a short time ago.
This year's first-year students, members of the class of 2004,
were generally born in 1982, the year AIDS was designated a
top priority after it killed 164 people and the Weather Channel
went on cable.
For several years, Beloit College has prepared a list of some of
the things that differentiate the frame of reference of entering
students from that of their teachers.
After all, 18-year-old students, for whom the fall of the Berlin
Wall was a topic of their parents' conversation, know little of the
Cold War and nuclear annihilation.
For their younger teachers, Watergate is a distant memory;
for their distinguished senior professors -- the ones with a pile
of vinyl LP's in the closet -- the depression probably shaped
their lives.
For the class of '04, this is the truth:
Highlights of the 50-item "Mindset of First-Year Students in the
Class of 2004" list shared with faculty and staff at Beloit College
in Wisconsin.
*Grace Kelly and Elvis Presley have always been dead.
* Kurt Cobain's death was the "day the music died."
* Somebody named George Bush has been on every U.S.
presidential ticket, except one, since they were born.
* A 45 is a gun, not a record with a large hole in the centre.
* They have no clue what the Beach Boys were talking about
when they sang about a 409, and the Little Deuce Coupe.
* They have 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.
* We have always been able to reproduce DNA in the lab.
* Wars begin and end quickly; peace-keeping missions go on
forever.
* There have always been ATM machines.
* We have always been able to receive television signals by
satellite.
* They have never referred to Russia and China as "the Reds."
* The year they were born, the New York Times announced that
the "boom in video games," a fad, had come to an end.
* The year they were born, Dustin Hoffman wore a dress and
Julie Andrews wore a tuxedo.
* Elton Jihn is only heard on easy listening stations.
* Woodstock is a bird or a reunion, not a cultural touchstone.
* They have never heard a phone "ring."
* They have never dressed up for a plane flight.
* Hurricanes have always had women's and men's names.
* Lawn darts have always been illegal.
* Coming-out parties celebrate more than debutantes.
* 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.
* Spam and cookies are not necessarily foods.
* They feel more danger from having sex and being in school,
than from possible nuclear war.
descending on campuses loaded with cell phones, Palm Pilots,
CD burners and other essential items hardly ever imagined a short time ago.
This year's first-year students, members of the class of 2004,
were generally born in 1982, the year AIDS was designated a
top priority after it killed 164 people and the Weather Channel
went on cable.
For several years, Beloit College has prepared a list of some of
the things that differentiate the frame of reference of entering
students from that of their teachers.
After all, 18-year-old students, for whom the fall of the Berlin
Wall was a topic of their parents' conversation, know little of the
Cold War and nuclear annihilation.
For their younger teachers, Watergate is a distant memory;
for their distinguished senior professors -- the ones with a pile
of vinyl LP's in the closet -- the depression probably shaped
their lives.
For the class of '04, this is the truth:
Highlights of the 50-item "Mindset of First-Year Students in the
Class of 2004" list shared with faculty and staff at Beloit College
in Wisconsin.
*Grace Kelly and Elvis Presley have always been dead.
* Kurt Cobain's death was the "day the music died."
* Somebody named George Bush has been on every U.S.
presidential ticket, except one, since they were born.
* A 45 is a gun, not a record with a large hole in the centre.
* They have no clue what the Beach Boys were talking about
when they sang about a 409, and the Little Deuce Coupe.
* They have 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.
* We have always been able to reproduce DNA in the lab.
* Wars begin and end quickly; peace-keeping missions go on
forever.
* There have always been ATM machines.
* We have always been able to receive television signals by
satellite.
* They have never referred to Russia and China as "the Reds."
* The year they were born, the New York Times announced that
the "boom in video games," a fad, had come to an end.
* The year they were born, Dustin Hoffman wore a dress and
Julie Andrews wore a tuxedo.
* Elton Jihn is only heard on easy listening stations.
* Woodstock is a bird or a reunion, not a cultural touchstone.
* They have never heard a phone "ring."
* They have never dressed up for a plane flight.
* Hurricanes have always had women's and men's names.
* Lawn darts have always been illegal.
* Coming-out parties celebrate more than debutantes.
* 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.
* Spam and cookies are not necessarily foods.
* They feel more danger from having sex and being in school,
than from possible nuclear war.