This month, almost 2 million first-year students will head off to college campuses around the country. Most of them will be about 18 years old, born in 1990 when headlines sounded oddly familiar to those of today: Rising fuel costs were causing airlines to cut staff and flight schedules; Big Three car companies were facing declining sales and profits; and a president named Bush was increasing the number of troops in the Middle East in the hopes of securing peace. However, the mindset of this new generation of college students is quite different from that of the faculty about to prepare them to become the leaders of tomorrow.
Here’s some of the 60:
For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.
Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.
They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.
Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.
Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.
All have had a relative–or known about a friend’s relative–who died comfortably at home with Hospice.
Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.
Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.
We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
There have always been gay rabbis.
IBM has never made typewriters.
McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.
The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.
Authorities have always been building a wall along the Mexican border.
Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.
Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
Personal privacy has always been threatened.
Caller ID has always been available on phones.
Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.
The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.
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 from a show about “nothing.”
The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.
Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.
Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.
I’m 23, and I think that just about all of those apply to me as well.
I nearly had a heart attack when I found out the receptionist at work was born in 1990. This was discovered when she didn’t understand a Sally Jessie Raphael reference. I’m soooo old.