Class of 2012

You don't have to travel overseas to experience a culture gap. The Beloit College Mindset List is published every year to make people feel old - I mean, to help professors understand that some of their references may not be understood by the incoming freshmen. Here are some highlights from this year's list:

Most students entering college for the first time this fall were born in 1990. For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

• GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
• Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
• Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
• Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
• Students have always been "Rocking the Vote.”
• Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
• College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
• IBM has never made typewriters.
• There has always been Pearl Jam.
• Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
• They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.
• Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.
• Caller ID has always been available on phones.
• They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”
• Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
• Soft drink refills have always been free.
• They have never known life without Seinfeld references.
• Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
• The Hubble Space Telescope has always been in space.
• There have always been charter schools.

If you want to see the whole list, you can find it at http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php.