Beloit College - Insights into this generation

H

HardScrabble

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Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change
things. Each year the staff at Beloit College in Wisconsin puts together a
list to try to give the faculty a sense of the mindset of that years
incoming freshmen. Here is last year's list:

-The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born
in 1982
-They have no meaningful recollection of the Reagan Era and probably did not
know he had ever been shot.
-They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.
-Black Monday 1987 is as significant to them as the Great Depression.
-There has been only one Pope.
-They were 11 when the Soviet Union broke apart and do not remember the Cold
War.
-They have never feared a nuclear war.
-They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.
-Tianamen Square means nothing to them.
-Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
-Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
-Atari predates them, as do vinyl albums. The expression you sound like a
broken record means nothing to them. They have never owned a record player.
-They have likely never played Pac Man and have never heard of the Pong
video game.
-They may have never heard of an 8 track. The Compact Disc was introduced
when they were 1 year old.
-As far as they know, stamps have always cost about 33 cents.
-They have always had an answering machine.
-Most have never seen a TV set with only 13 channels, nor have they seen a
black-and-white TV. They have always had cable.
-There has always been VCRs, but they have no idea what BETA is.
-They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
-They were born the year that Walkmen were introduced by Sony.
-Roller-skating has always meant inline for them.
-Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
-They have no idea when or why Jordache jeans were cool.
-Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
-They have never seen Larry Bird play.
-They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
-The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI, WWII and the Civil
War.
-They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran.
-They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
-They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
-They never heard: Where's the beef?, I'd walked a mile for a Camel, or de
plane, de plane
-They do not care who shot J.R. and have no idea who J.R. is.
-The Titanic was found? They thought we always knew where it was.
-Michael Jackson has always been white.
-Kansas, Chicago, Boston, America, and Alabama are places, not groups.
-McDonalds never came in Styrofoam containers.
-There has always been MTV.
-They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.
 
Gee, thanks.

(TN-Ward-Fan now hobbles over to his turntable and puts on an LP) "No, you little whipper-snapper, Rick Derringer is not related to John Dillinger!"
 
HS,
That explains the white in my beard, still don't care a whole lot for Wisconsin.
 
Except for the bratwurst, I ain't much on Wisco......wait a sec. Except for the bratwurst and the cheese, I don't care mu......uh oh. Except for the bratwurst, cheese, and beer, I don't care much for Wiscaaaaaaaaaaansan.

Come to think of it, Wisconsin ain't too bad a place. For a Yankee state. :D
 
Think I'll find my cane and hobble over to my rocking chair.

Thanks for nothing, HS. ROTFL

Wonder if any of those whipper-snappers know what an attic fan is? Or a rotary dial telephone?
 
Hey TRL, I betcha they ain't never put no peanuts in their Coke either. In fact, peanuts in your coke might mean something verrrrry different to them.
 
Was rearranging stuff in the office and came across my old sliderule.

Do they teach anybody how to use one of those anymore??
 
HS, I'm a college graduate. I was on the math team all four years in high school. I took probability classes in order to RAISE my GPA. Until six months ago, I had never seen a slide rule. A retired mathematics professor who volunteers in our office showed me how to use one after I asked about one. Safe to say they don't use them much anymore. In fact, my signif other's rising 4th grader has to have a scientific calculator by 5th grade. I didn't need one of those until 11th grade. Methinks many of the kids today will know how to use a calculator, but not how to add; how to perform minor miracles on a computer, but now how to write. Sad, really.
 
TWF,

Some basic skills seem to pass by in the interest of progress. I no longer use the slide rule, and would likely have to fiddle a while to do it well. Calculators are faster and more accurate, easier to teach, and very affordable today. I still do a lot of basic math in my head, and am astounded that so many of the people find that almost mystical. I deal with executives of corporations who have to go the calculator on even the simplest of operations, and if I give them answer before they finish their keying I fear they will have me burned at the stake.

I had occassion to be working on a project recently with a crew of 14 union machinists. A precise measurement was required to install a particular phase of the project and I was stunned that not one of them had a micrometer in their toolbox. When I produced mine from my briefcase, I was further dismayed to learn that only one of the 14 could read it because it was not digital.
 
It amazes me still when you go shopping and most of the cashiers can't give you back change without the registor telling them what to give you. While I was employed at Home Dept and ran the front end, I would get so frustrated with them they all carried their calculators to figure simple things like what is half of 65.

I also get sick when it is time to go school shopping for my 9 1/2 year old, explain to me what happened to the simple list of paper, pencils and a few folders. Now it's a certain type of mechanical pencil, certain type of graph paper, a plastic 5 subject folder, and NO where on this list did it ask for notebook paper.
My 9 1/2 year old uses her fingers to do everything in math and will be in the 4th grade this year doesn't know her multiplaction tables by heart. And still gets A's and B's. I had to know them by the end of 2nd grade or did not move on and if I used my fingers I got them slapped with a ruler.
 
Paul, I would really like that answer too. To me it sounds kinda gross but then who am I to say anything about what TWF does. I will ask him tonight and see if we can get an answer.
 
I remember spending time after school one day to work out the painful mechanics of long division. Lots of crying and hairpulling was involved and, by the time I left, I understood it as well as anyone. I was a pretty stellar math student after that.

Back then, we weren't allowed to use calculators of any kind. Not until calculus, that is, when basic math calculators were permissible. When you're talking differential equations and the volume of parabolas flying around the y-axis, adding and subtracting isn't the issue.

It's a shame, but standards seem to get lower and lower the more time passes. Today's kids are worse off than I was, just as I was worse off than my parents. My father -- who graduated from Brooklyn Tech high school around 1949 -- learned stuff at age 15 that I never had to learn in college. I've leafed through some of his old schoolbooks and was shocked at what I saw. Today's kids wouldn't have a prayer. :(
 
BTW, I believe peanuts in Coke is another bizarre southern delicacy -- like Pear Salad. I believe that one involves canned pear halves, sour cream, and cheddar cheese.

Blecch! :bleh:
 
i knew region was shot......and most of my tvs as a kid was black and white. i doid not have a clour tv tell i was like 10 or 11. i have heard this stuff Where's the beef?, I'd walked a mile for a Camel, or de plane, de plane... and more or that stuff so i fell old now...and i was born in 1985.....
 
(Direct from TWF's mouth) Here is the recipe for peanuts in your coke: 1. Purchase an ice cold BOTTLE, preferably 10 oz. of Coca-Cola. 2. Open this BOTTLE. 3. Take no more than 2 swallows of the Coke. 4. Into the BOTTLE add salted peanuts (any brand he says) straight from the bag. 5. DO NOT SHAKE THE BOTTLE, rather gently swirl in roughly circular motion. 6. Drink and or chew.

(straight from my mouth to my fingers to your eyes) I still think this sounds gross.
 
Originally posted by abooja
BTW, I believe peanuts in Coke is another bizarre southern delicacy -- like Pear Salad. I believe that one involves canned pear halves, sour cream, and cheddar cheese.

Blecch! :bleh:
Click to expand...

LMAO,

Bizarre Southern Delicacy indeed!!!

It is southern and it is a delicacy so I guess two out of three ain't bad.

Pear Salad is southern?? What do ya'll eat?
 
HS, I never heard of Pear Salad until I dated my ex-boyfriend, who was from Baton Rouge. He couldn't get me to touch that stuff with a ten-foot pole! He also said that the pears could easily be replaced with canned pineapple. Again, :bleh:

It reminds me a bit of ambrosia, which might be even worse. You southern folks have so much great food, but I think I can do without your salads!!!

Except, maybe, the Wop Salad. He said they actually called it that at a local establishment back home, but were eventually forced to switch to a more PC name. Amazing!
 
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