New Mindset List for the Class of 2008

Once again, Beloit College has released its annual Mindset List for its incoming freshmen, who for the most part were born in 1987. Their youth gives them an interesting perspective on life, especially when stack up against us oldsters.

Some of the more notable observations of the Class of 2009 are:

• They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved scissors.
• Heart-lung transplants have always been possible.
• With little need to practice, most of them do not know how to tie a tie.
• They never had the fun of being thrown into the back of a station wagon with six others.
• Voice mail has always been available.
• Condoms have always been advertised on television.
• For daily caffeine emergencies, Starbucks has always been around the corner.
• They have grown up in a single superpower world.
• Digital cameras have always existed.
• Lyme Disease has always been a ticking concern in the woods.

And the one thing that makes me glad I was born before 1987...

• They never saw a Howard Johnson's with 28 ice cream flavors.