Getting to know Class of 2009

BELOIT, Wis. — In coming weeks, millions of students will be entering college for the first time. On average, members of the Class of 2009 are 18 years old, which means they were born in 1987. Starbucks, souped-up car stereos, telephone voice-mail systems, and Bill Gates have always been a part of their lives. They've grown up with CNN, home computers, AIDS awareness, digital cameras and the Bush political dynasty.

Each August, as students arrive here, we compile the Beloit College Mindset List, a worldview of today's entering freshmen. The list is distributed to faculty as an important reminder of the touchstones and benchmarks of a generation. It's not serious in-depth research, nor is it a chronology. But it's accurate as an event horizon of this generation's experience, and is meant to be thought-provoking fun.

• Andy Warhol, Liberace and Jackie Gleason have always been dead.

• They don't remember when "cut and paste" involved scissors.

• Al-Qaida has always existed with Osama bin Laden at its head.

• Wayne Gretzky never played for Edmonton.

• Boston has been working on the Big Dig all their lives.

• With little need to practice, most of them do not know how to tie a necktie.

• Pay-per-view has always been an option.

• They never had the fun of being thrown into the back of a station wagon with six others.

• They learned to count with Lotus 1-2-3.

• Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker have never preached on TV.

• "Whatever" isn't part of a question but an expression of sullen rebuke.

• The federal budget has always been more than a trillion dollars.

• Condoms have always been advertised on television.

• They've always had the right to burn the flag.

• Money put in their savings account the year they were born earned almost 7 percent interest.

• Southern fried chicken, prepared with a blend of 11 herbs and spices, has always been available in China.