A Whole Different Experience.

Here are some highlights from the Beloit College Mindset list of kids graduating in 2013. Each August they publish a similar list to highlight the differing experiences differing generations face. To see the whole list, zip on over to here. To see some highlights, read on.

Most students entering college for the first time this fall were born in 1991.

1. For these students, Martha Graham, Pan American Airways, Michael Landon, Dr. Seuss, Miles Davis, The Dallas Times Herald, Gene Roddenberry, and Freddie Mercury have always been dead.
2. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.
3. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
4. Margaret Thatcher has always been a former prime minister.
5. Salsa has always outsold ketchup.
6. Earvin "Magic" Johnson has always been HIV-positive.
7. Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
8. They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
9. Rap music has always been main stream.
10. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
11. Someone has always been building something taller than the Willis (née Sears) Tower in Chicago.
12. The KGB has never officially existed.
13. Babies have always had a Social Security Number.
14. Bungee jumping has always been socially acceptable.
15. They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.
16. American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
17. Except for the present incumbent, the President has never inhaled.
18. State abbreviations in addresses have never had periods.
19. The European Union has always existed.
20. Cable television systems have always offered telephone service and vice versa.
21. Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.
22. The American health care system has always been in critical condition.
23. There has always been a Cartoon Network.
24. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.
25. Women have always outnumbered men in college.
26. We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
27. Amateur radio operators have never needed to know Morse code.
28. Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, and Estonia have always been independent nations.
29. Kevin Costner has always been Dancing with Wolves, especially on cable.
30. There have always been flat screen televisions.
31. They have always eaten Berry Berry Kix.
32. Disney’s Fantasia has always been available on video, and It’s a Wonderful Life has always been on Moscow television.
33. Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the Evening News came on.
34. Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.
35. They have never been Saved by the Bell
36. Most communities have always had a mega-church.
37. Natalie Cole has always been singing with her father.
38. The status of gays in the military has always been a topic of political debate.
39. There has always been a Planet Hollywood.
40. For one reason or another, California’s future has always been in doubt.
41. There has always been a computer in the Oval Office.
42. CDs have never been sold in cardboard packaging.
43. NATO has always been looking for a role.
44. Two Koreas have always been members of the UN.
45. Official racial classifications in South Africa have always been outlawed.
46. Conflict in Northern Ireland has always been slowly winding down.
47. Migration of once independent media like radio, TV, videos and compact discs to the computer has never amazed them.
48. Nobody has ever responded to “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
49. Congress could never give itself a mid-term raise.
50. There has always been blue Jell-O.