Today is one of my favorite days — the annual release of the Beloit University “Mindset” list. The university issues 60 or so reminders to help faculty communicate with the entering Class of 2012, bestirring them to drop tell-tale idioms and anecdotes that magnify their distance from these 18-year-olds. There are some good ones this year. Just a sampling follows.
For these students (most born around 1990):
Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottes.
Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
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.
There have always been gay rabbis.
There have always been charter schools.
