Crazy to think, but the kids entering college this year are going to be the Class of 2010. (I’ll give you all a few minutes to get sad and think about how old we are all really getting…)

Anyway, each year, Beloit College puts out this list of interesting factoids called the “Mindset List.” It’s a list of 75 cultural landmarks that “define” who the incoming class is and what their views on the world are. Some of the things on there are pretty interesting. For instance..

1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.

2. They have known only two presidents. (The elder Bush was out of office by the time they were 4, thus they don’t remember him as a president)

6. There has always been only one Germany.

15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams.

19. “Google” has always been a verb.

21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.

28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents’ attics.

32. Reality shows have always been on television.

47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.

75. Professional athletes have always competed in the Olympics.

They didn’t have this list around for the “Class of 2001″ (which is what I was), but they do have a “Class of 2002″ list (it was their first one) which had some interesting comparisons…

3. They were prepubescent when the Persian Gulf War was waged.

8. They are too young to remember the Space Shuttle Challenger blowing up. (I disagree–I totally remember it!)

9. Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

21. They have always had an answering machine.

28. “The Tonight Show” has always been with Jay Leno.

33. The Vietnam War is as ancient history to them as WWI and WWII or even the Civil War.

Interesting list, don’t you think? The rest of the lists can be found on Beloit’s website.
Tara