What Millenials Don't Remember

So, I've been reading this book called "The Millenials Go To College" in order to explore the student mentality I'm working with here. I read quite a bit of this book on the plane ride home from Morocco, and it caused quite a bit of good discussion across the aisles. It's detailed description of previous generations is shockingly accurate. A quick run down for those of you who aren't familiar with the generational divides:

The LOST Generation (born 1883-1900)- those who lived through "sweat shop" child labor, massive immigration and unregulated drug use. Their initial wage-earning years were spent as flappers and, later, surviving the Great Depression.

The G.I. Generation (born 1901-1924) enjoyed the "good kid" reputation. Their generation built suburbs, invented vaccines, launched moon rockets and plugged missle gaps.

The SILENT Generation (born 1925-1942) grew up as the suffocated children of war and depression. They were an early-marrying "lonely crowd" that came of age too late to be war heroes and too early to be youthful free spirits.

The BOOM Generation (born 1943-1960)- these kids were the proud creation of post-war optimism and "Father Knows Best" family order. The boom "awakening" climaxed with Vietnam war protests, the '67 "summer of love" and the first Earth Day.

GENERATION X (born 1961-1981) (THAT'S ME!!)- we survived a hurried childhood of divorce, latchkeys, open classrooms and devil-child movies. From grunge to hip-hop, our culture has revealed a hardened edge, and are widely criticized as "slackers."

The MILLENNIAL Generation (born 1982-now) first arrived when "Baby on Board" signs appeared. Hollywood replaced child devils with child angels, and educational/child-centered legislation became a political powerhouse.

So, the students that I'm currently working with were born in 1988! Here are some of history's events that Millenials (and sometimes late Gen-Xers) have no recollection of:

1. Grace Kelly, Elvis Presley and Karen Carpenter have always been dead.
2. Somebody named George Bush has been on every presidental ticket (except one) since they were born.
3. The Kennedy tragedy was a plane crash, not an assassination.
4. A "45" is a gun, not a record with a large hole in the middle.
5. They never played a two-dimensional Donkey Kong or Mario Brothers.
6. There have always been ATM machines.
7. They have no idea that "presidential scandal" once meant nothing more than Ronald Reagan taking President Carter's briefing book in "Debategate."
8. There has always been a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
9. Three Mile Island is ancient history, and nuclear accidents only happen in other countries, or on "24."
10. They have always been able to afford Calvin Klein.
11. Some were born the same year that Ebony and Ivory lived together in perfect harmony.
12. Woodstock is a bird or a reunion, not a cultural touchstone.
13. They have never heard a phone "ring."
14. They have never dressed up for a plane flight.
15. "Coming Out" parties celebrate more than debutantes.
16. They only know Madonna singing "American Pie."
17. They never thought of Jane Fonda as "Hanoi Jane," nor associated her with any revolution other than the "Fitness Revolution" videotape they may have found in the attic.
18. "Spam" and "Cookies" are not necessarily food.
19. If they vaguely remember the night the Berlin Wall fell, they probably are not sure why it was up in the first place.
20. They feel more danger from having sex and being in school than from possible nuclear war.

Contrary to MY generation, this book is a commentary on how optimistic we should be about what some dub the "Sunshine Generation." And it seems to be true. The era of the worthy, protected, wanted child is here.