Class of 2006: The year they were born, 'Star Wars' was a falling star

By Jayne Spencer

Interestingly, it was just 18 years ago, when the traditionally aged college students of the Class of 2006 were making their entrance into the world, that futurists were predicting that Star Wars was a dying phenomenon. Apparently, they were wrong.

Futurists also were suggesting that videotape technology was killing the film industry and slowing cable network development as well. So much for the futurists who were also saying in 1984 that there was no market for briefcase-sized computers. What would George Orwell, who wrote the classic 1984, have to say about those actually born in the year 1984, a generation more likely to think that “Big Brother” was a reference to a popular reality game show than to his novel?

The Beloit College Class of 2006 Mindset List, released on Wednesday (Aug. 27), won’t answer that question, but is does name some of the touchstones and benchmarks that define this new generation of college students; the list is meant to remind faculty and staff on American campuses what cultural and historical references have informed both the birth year and formative years of the Class of 2006. The list is lightweight, for the most part, but teachers may do well to remember that the word “apartheid,” for one, may be an unfamiliar reference, and 1984 is merely the year this current crop of 18 year olds were born.

What else do we know about these students from their points of popular reference? They have grown up in a country where the presidents have all been from the South. General Motors’ Saturns have always been on the street, Fox has always been a television network and prom dresses have always come in basic black.

Other Beloit College Class of 2006 Mindset List reference points:

1. Richard Burton, Ricky Nelson and Truman Capote have always been dead.
2. South Africa’s official policy of apartheid has not existed during their lifetime.
3. Cars have always had eye-level rear stop lights, CD player and air bags.
4. We have always been able to choose our long-distance carriers.
5. Weather reports have always been available 24 hours a day on television.
6. The “evil empire” has moved from Moscow to a setting in some distant galaxy.
7. Cyberspace has always existed.
8. Bruce Springstein’s new hit Born in the USAcould have been played to celebrate their birth.
9. Barbie has always had a job.
10. Telephone bills have always been totally incomprehensible.
11. Prom dresses have always come in basic black.
12. A Hair Band is some sort of fashion accessory.
13. George Foreman has always been a barbecue grill salesman
14. Afghanistan has always been a front-page story.
15. There has always been an heir to the heir to the British throne.
16. Peter Jennings, Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw have always anchored the evening news.
17. China has always been a market-based reforming regime.
18. The United States has always been trying to put nuclear waste in Nevada.
19. The U.S. and the Soviets have always been partners in space.
20. Nicholas Cage, Daryll Hannah, Eddie Murphy and John Malkovich made their first major film impressions the year they were born.
21. The “Fab Four” are not a male rock group, but four women on HBO’s Sex and the City.”
22. Ozzy’s lifestyle has nothing to do with the Nelson family.
23. Women have always had tattoos.
24. Vanessa Williams and Madonna are aging singers.
25. Perrier has always come in flavors.
26. Cherry Coke has always come in cans.
27. A “hotline” is a consumer service rather than a phone used to avoid accidental nuclear war.
28. Genetic testing and DNA screening have always been available.
29. Electronic filing of federal income taxes has always been an option.
30. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has always been available to doctors.
31. Trivial Pursuit may have been played by their parents the night before they were born.
32. The drinking age has always been 21 throughout the country.
33. Women have always been members of the Jaycees.
34. The center of chic has shifted from Studio 54 to “Liza’s living room, live!”
35. Julian Lennon had his only hit the year they were born.
36. Hip hop and rap have always been popular musical forms.
37. They grew up in minivans.
38. Scientists have always recognized the impact of acid rain.