Beloit College needlessly reminds me of my age

I have a summer birthday, and I am creeping ever closer to 40. Curiously, I seem to be the oldest member of my peer group, and so all of my friends take great delight in saying “Dude, you’re old.” at the appropriate moment. In that spirit, it seems fitting to link to the Beloit College Mindset List for this year:

It is the creation of Beloit?s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Director of Public Affairs Ron Nief. 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 Beloit releases the Mindset List, it is the birth year of the entering students that is the most disturbing fact for most readers. [Most students entering college this fall were born in 1987–DD] This year will come as no exception and, once again, the faculty will remain the same age as the students get younger.?

My highlights from this year’s list:

They don’t remember when “cut and paste” involved scissors. Boston has been working on “The Big Dig” all their lives. Iran and Iraq have never been at war with each other. The federal budget has always been more than a trillion dollars. Condoms have always been advertised on television. Money put in their savings account the year they were born earned almost 7% interest. Southern fried chicken, prepared with a blend of 11 herbs and spices, has always been available in China. Tom Landry never coached the Cowboys. Entertainment Weekly has always been on the newsstand. They never saw a Howard Johnson’s with 28 ice cream flavors. They have grown up in a single superpower world.

And, in conclusion:

They have always been challenged to distinguish between news and entertainment on cable TV.