Mindset of Class of 2015

For those of you who care about such stuff, or find it quaint, charming, interesting, the new mindset list is out.  The list has been published now for a number of years at Beloit College.  You can read the entire list for the class of 2015 here, and also check past lists.

I am always semi perplexed by this list.  If the point of the list is to show how out-of-touch with modernity we geezers are then the list fails.  If the point is to poke fun at the kids because they have been faced with a different set of circumstances then the list also fails.  As I see it, and you can see my comments below on some of the list, the list really does not accomplish much other than giving Billy Joel fodder for another version of "We Didn't Start the Fire" focusing on the post-baby boomer generations.  Of course, my reference to this song is not a possible item for this list because it was produced before the class of 2015 was born.

So, on to some items from the 75 item list and my comments:

1. Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents. (really?  do you think she actually would stay with Ferris, remember the pool scene with Cameron and Sloane discussing their future with Ferris?)
2. They “swipe” cards, not merchandise. (only if they are honest and law-abiding, and whose card are they swiping?)
3. As they’ve grown up on websites and cell phones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration. (not about empathy and concentration, we worry about their being ghettoized in juvenile-ville because of lack of contact with elders)
4. Their school’s “blackboards” have always been getting smarter. (only at wealthy schools)
5. Amazon has never been just a river in South America. (Many of them just found out that the river is in South America--judging by geography scores).
6. All their lives, Whitney Houston has always been declaring “I Will Always Love You.” (most of them have never heard Whitney sing period.)
7. Life has always been like a box of chocolates. (Did anyone under the age of 30 actually watch Forrest Gump?)
8. They’ve always gone to school with Mohammed and Jesus. (yeah, and this makes life better?)
9. There has never been an official Communist Party in Russia. (uh, what..read about the life of the Communist Party from its first formation to its current existense here.)
10. Jimmy Carter has always been a smiling elderly man who shows up on TV to promote fair elections and disaster relief. (has been since 1984--so is this something new to the class of 2015)
11. Their older siblings have told them about the days when Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera were Mouseketeers. (has anyone watched the Mouseketeers since 1965?)
12. The bloody conflict between the government and a religious cult has always made Waco sound a little whacko. (How many of them knew DavidKoresh by name until I just wrote it down?)
13. Unlike their older siblings, they spent bedtime on their backs until they learned to roll over.
14. Electric cars have always been humming in relative silence on the road. (Well, really?  I have yet to see one humming along the road, and with the volume turned up on the stereos in their cars, they have never known the sounds of the road anyway).
15. No longer known for just gambling and quickie divorces, Nevada has always been one of the fastest growing states in the Union.  (Another geography/demography question, refer to comments about Amazon)
16. Some of them have been inspired to actually cook by watching the Food Channel. (And no other generation can say this?)
17. New kids have always been known as NKOTB. (has anyone listened to these guys since the 1980s?)
18. Kim Jong-il has always been bluffing, but the West has always had to take him seriously. (Bluffing?  threats about nuclear weapons use are not bluffing, they are threats!)
19. Major League Baseball has never had fewer than three divisions and never lacked a wild card entry in the playoffs. (oh the inhumanity of it all, this one really stinks and has made baseball worse)
20. Refugees and prisoners have always been housed by the U.S. government at Guantanamo. (wow, this one is semi-relevant and semi-important)
21. “PC” has come to mean Personal Computer, not Political Correctness. (um, no, PC is still used to talk about moronic liberalism as well as computer equipment)
22. The New York Times and the Boston Globe have never been rival newspapers. (newspapers--ok, we mean electronic based papers, right?)

Ok, so I could have gone on and on with all 75, and 22 is a weird number to use, but hey, its my blog.  Go read the list for yourself and come up with something to say about it.