When I took my five-year-old granddaughter to visit New Yorks American Girl store she had a question. We were looking at the display that surrounded the doll who was supposed to represent a little girl living in the beginning of the twentieth century. What are those? she asked, pointing at a pile of round dark objects. Phonograph records, I told her. But what do they do? she asked. I explained. She seemed a bit mystified and ultimately much more interested in the dolls frilly outfit.
Maybe thats why this list just produced by Wisconsins Beloit College of what entering freshmen know and dont know interested and amused me. It reflects the world todays eighteen-year-old has grown up in --- and both their innocence and their experience.
For example, to them .The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union. Also They have known only two presidents. Whats more They have never heard anyone actually ring it up on a cash register.
What else?
- In their experience,, a coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.
- Google has always been a verb.
- They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television
- They have always been searching for Waldo
- Television stations have never concluded the broadcast day with the national anthem
- Disposable contact lenses have always been available.
- And, Oh, The Places Youll Go by Dr. Seuss has always been the perfect graduation gift.
And they probably can identify but have never, ever played their grandparents phonograph records.
