For Class of ’09 Computer Viruses Are Nothing New or Unusual

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For Class of ’09 Computer Viruses Are Nothing New or Unusual

8/24/2005

By Terry Calhoun

A far better predictor of which sets of values will triumph in the next 20 years is this fact about our young freshmen: “They have always been comfortable with gay characters on television.”

But how about this? “Cher hasn’t aged a day.” That’s so sad. I can remember being in love with Cher, when it was still ‘Sonny and Cher,’ and how much my first wife actually identified with Cher and did her best to look like her. (It was a pretty good effort.) To those of us who lived through those years, it’s just not possible to think that “Cher hasn’t aged a day.”

“They have suffered through airport security systems since they were in strollers.” Well, that’s certainly a contrast. I can recall flying to New York City with my mother when I was probably around 9 years old. Not only was there no security at the Pittsburgh airport, everyone was dressed up in suits and ties and dresses and people actually smoked on the plane.

Here’s one Beloit College missed, actually: “The entrances to buildings have always stunk like cigarette smoke created by the marmot-like nicotine addicts who pop up and cluster near entrances.” But Beloit did get: “They were never tempted by smokeless cigarettes.”

This year, though, there’s a new Down Under’ Mindset list from Massey University in New Zealand. It offers a slightly different perspective, not to mention the names of several people I’ve never heard of: “The United States has always been fighting terrorists. The Challenger Seven” have always been dead astronauts. Chernobyl has always been a nuclear disaster.”

But, back to the USA: “There have never been any Playboy Clubs.” That’s right, those died out before these kids were born. Of course, we now have Hooters and, even worse, another one that Beloit College missed: “Since we were old enough to care, pretty much any kind of pornography has been available to them, 24x7, via the Internet.”

And. On quite a sad note: “They never saw Roseanne Roseannadanna live on Saturday Night Live.” Sigh.

It’s a fun exercise. I’m grateful to Beloit for putting this together every year. Maybe if we read it a few times and give the Mindset List some thought, we’ll be better able to both understand where these young freshmen are coming from, and also pick up some of their youthfulness to get us through the next month.

About the author: Terry Calhoun is Director of Communications and Publications for the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). You can contact him through CT's IT Trends forum by clicking here. View more articles by Terry Calhoun.

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Terry Calhoun, "For Class of ’09 Computer Viruses Are Nothing New or Unusual," Campus Technology, 8/24/2005, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=40463

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