Arken

For the past six years, Beloit college has produced an annual 'mindset list' which shows the generation gap between students and professors. here is the entire list. Here are some of the highlights for me, things which made me sort of astounded to realize that would be in the mindset of current 18 and 19-year-olds...

1. Ricky Nelson, Richard Burton, Samantha Smith, Laura Ashley, Orson Welles, Karen Ann Quinlin, Benigno Aquino, and the U.S. Football League have always been dead.

3. Iraq has always been a problem.

5. Paul Newman has always made salad dressing.

6. Pete Rose has always been a gambler

8. An automatic is a weapon, not a transmission.

9. Russian leaders have always looked like leaders everyplace else.

11. There has always been a screening test for AIDS.

12. Gas has always been unleaded.

19. They have never been able to find the "return" key.

20. Computers have always fit in their backpacks.

21. Datsuns have never been made.

22. They have never gotten excited over a telegram, a long distance call, or a fax.

23. The Osmonds are just talk show hosts.

27. Test tube babies are now having their own babies.

28. Stores have always had scanners at the checkout.

30. Adam and PC Junior computers had vanished from the market before this generation went online.

31. The Statue of Liberty has always had a gleaming torch.

32. They have always had a pin number.

33. Banana Republic has always been a store, not a puppet government in Latin America.

41. They have always been able to make photocopies at home.

43. They have always been able to make phone calls from planes.

47. Rock and Roll has always been a force for social good.

And some of the things which will separate them from other generations in terms of things they know and others are less familiar with-

1. For many of them today, it's all about the "bling, bling."

2. They know who the "Heroes in a half shell" are.

3. Peeps are not a candy, they are your friends.

4. They have been "dissing" and "burning" things all their lives.

5. They can expect to get a ticket for "ricing out their wheels."

6. They knew how to pop a Popple and trade a Pog.

7. They can still sing the rap chorus to the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and the theme song from "Duck Tales."

PopeInTheWoods

And pretty soon we're going to hear, "You mean Germany used to be split into two different countries?"

simian

I visited the "evil empire" that a number of them may only be vaugely aware existed.

I am only in my 30s, and I feel ancient to have visited a superpower that no longer exists.

Simian

Ab_Normal

Hmmm, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles date back to the mid-1980's - I bought the black-and-white "underground" comics when I was in college, long before Eastman and Laird made their big bucks (at least, I hope they made big bucks). I suppose I could be a cool old fart, though.

Early Turtles

Gothic_J

every one of those were true of me =^_^=

Monkeybot

Now, what's so weird about anything on that list?

Sakpo

While some of the items would fit in PD if we were to discuss them in detail, I think this is better suited to MD, since it's actually about how age and experience determine our perception of the world, and how the world has changed so much so rapidly that a real gap in perception has been created between generations.

Sakpo

Now, on a sidenote, I can make photocopies at home? How? Are there affordable copy machines that can be used in the home?

Chicken Girl

I still have my Popple!

Sakpo

What the hell is a popple? Was it a fad I missed? I'm 19 too, damnit! Why am I so out of it? Also, what's the deal with not being able to find the "return" key? Just go to a mac and look for where the "enter" key is on a PC keyboard.