Wanna Feel Old? Read the Beloit College Mindset List

Agreed. I'm graduating from college in 2012 and if I ever hear Brittany Spears on a classic rock radio station, I'm pulling out my own ear drums with a darning needle.

I heard Nirvana on a classic rock station the other day. I'm 35 and to me, that music, the "Seattle music", is not classic yet. Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, This is still music I listen too! I consider classic rock to be stuff recorded before 1980. The Rolling Sones, The Grateful Dead, Led Zep, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young! Eric Clapton!

Ditto, I was blatantly six years old when the Challenger blew up, saw it right on live TV before going to afternoon kindergarten. Saw my first CD player around 1989, I think, and the remote control didn't come to my household until the mid-'90s. I remember wearing Jordache, Gitano, LA Gear, Esprit, and coveting original Reebok high-tops. I did take notice when McDonald's switched to more sustainable packaging because they were getting flak for all of their styrofoam. Hell, I was born when Jimmy Carter was still president!

They meant high school students going into college . . . It's just a fun way to help college professors connect with their students.

actually, I bought my first CD player in 1985, so it's not all that far off for that, though there are definitely errors in this list, as well as much more exciting differences.

Not that it matters, but for class of 2002, they were referring to the students who graduated college that year, not high school (hence the "class of 2014"). It's fine to make it a fun way for professors to connect with their students, but it seems like smart people could come up with a more accurate list... that isn't so condescending.

I was ten miles away from it when it blew. Saw it with my own eyes.
I was on the team that built the cargo bay pallets. There's a lot lately about people having large college debts & not being able to buy a home. I graduated from college. What I found is I didn't need a degree, what I needed was a job. Any job. I suggest get a job and go to college after work. I did it. The results are much better. Ask Bill Gates.....Al-

Wow what underestimating us much...At age 10 I knew who Lenin was and where Leningrad was, I have also used Card Catalogs, never heard Britney Spears on classic rock stations wtf? and Bethoveen is a composer. I wonder who the writers of this list asked and the article writter should have probably given this article another thought

wow this is totally hitting the nail on the head, very nice job. i would further like to add that the existence of this list is pretty much saying that ignorance is acceptable. im 28 and in my own lifetime i perceived things to "always have existed" but i am smart enough to know they didnt always exist, and i am thankful to have had them. i know my history, and it annoyes me greatly to see many of the younger generations completely complacent about what they have, and how good things are now. and just because they were born with an iPod in their hand doesnt mean its always going to be there. this list needs to be thrown away, and a new list drawn up on what the student need to know so they can understand the teacher, so that when they do hear Bethoven, they know not to think of a dog. furthermore if they understood recent history and older history, they could actually get a lot of the jokes and sayings in the english language. i cant tell you how many times i actually have to explain a joke to some nitwit 19 year old just because he doesnt know a thing about what happened before 2002. its irritating, and the younger generation should be embarassed. maybe they should slow down a bit, download a little less mp3's, watch a little less TV, go to starbucks a little less, and actually lean about the world we live in. (steps off soapbox now), thanks for reading.

This is a yearly inaccurate over-generalization. MY students (K-5 music) ALL hear about Beethoven, Mozart, Bach . . . I could care LESS if they ever hear about EITHER Fergie.

In my MUSIC class, we cover history. WORLD history. Music has always been there. During the Civil War, WWII . . . the songs line up with the time periods.

I was in college when the Challenger blew up. Today's kids MIGHT hear about that when they get to high school. It was so important to us because we remember when it happened. Kennedy was assassinated in the past fifty years. He is still on the History Channel. Lincoln? Yeah, we talk about about it, but it isn't as personal for us because we weren't there. Today's kids are more concerned about when Tupac died than John Lennon.

No Grandma has to be older, at least 72 or 73. To have listened
to the big bands and listened to FDR on the radio with his "fireside
chats" she would be born about 1937 not 1945, I was born in 44 and
I was to young to listen to FDR actually he died in 1945 I believe. I
was only 1 and Grnadma wasn't born yet according to you.

Eugene, that was one of the best things I have read in ages. I love your perspective and it reminded me of my grandfather, a dear man who passed at the age of 99. I remember the first time I showed him a cell phone and his reaction to it. Wow! I have always been grateful to hear his perspective and he told wonderful and amazing stories, with subjects ranging from the stock market crash and what he and his co-workers did that day (figured there was nothing they could do, so they went to a public golf course and played 18 holes) to his experiences during WW I & WW II. So many incredible stories that came from the lifetime of an man who lived an honest and purpuseful life. Thank you for giving me time to reflect on him and his life and all that he shared with me.

Thank you for this beautiful editorial! These are the same principles I was taught, and the same ones I pass on to those around me, both young and old. It seems as though these life lessons went out the window for most of those born in the mid-'60's, such as myself. I am glad when I find I am not alone in my so-called 'outdated' thinking.

While I very much enjoyed your story and the lesson behind it, its not possible that you are 58 yrs old. My father was born in Sept of 1941 and he is turning 69 next month. That would make you 65 or 66 years old.