The Class of 2011

We found this on Scott Crocker's blog. Each year Beloit College distributes their Mindset List and this year's was just released. The Mindset List gives a glimpse into the worldview of the nation's 18-year-olds and the world they grew up in. This is true of today's college freshmen, most of whom were born in 1989 (note: Adam was a high school junior in 1989, and Anne was a sophomore).

Here are a few highlights...

- What Berlin Wall?
- They never "rolled down" a car window.
- They have grown up with bottled water.
- Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
- Pete Rose has never played baseball.
- Rap music has always been mainstream.
- "Off the hook" has never had anything to do with a telephone.
- Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
- Al Gore has always been running for president or thinking about it.
- They grew up in Wayne's World.
- U2 has always been more than a spy plane.
- They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as "The Joker."
- Fox has always been a major network.
- Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.
- They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.
- Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre.
- MTV has never featured music videos.
- They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper.

- They're always texting 1 n other.
- They never saw Johnny Carson live on television.
- The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.
- Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.
- Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
- Being 'lame' has to do w/ being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled.