These lists are kinda silly, since they assume no knowledge whatsoever of history, even pop culture history. They also assume that people in their late teens to early twenties don’t remember anything that happened before they were about ten.
In any case, I checked the Beloit page to see what I’m not supposed to know about (class of 2001; born 1979), but the closest I could find was the list for 2002, as the practice started in 1998. Apparently people my age don’t remember the Reagan years at all, although they ended in 1998, don’t know what an LP is, think Star Wars is cheesy, haven’t seen Larry Bird play, consider the Vietnam War as ancient as WWII, and think Michael Jackson has always been white. Sheesh.
I could respond to every one of the points and explain why it was wrong, but I won’t. I will simply do this:
25 of the points are mere facts, some that were true at least 3-4 years prior to the class in question. That’s half.
The other 25, like Katisha said, assume absolutely no knowledge of history. I like to consider myself both schooled and educated [their is a difference].
The only ones I’m going to mention are Elton John, ringing telephones, and 45s.
There is a classic rock station in town [used to be two] that plays damn near everything from 65 to 83. They play everything from Ozzy to Clapton to Led Zepplin to Elton John, perhaps not in the same set. You can NOT call this an easy listing station.
I HAVE a phone that rings. Has a big metal bell in it that rings so loudly it wakes my parents across and down the hall.
Okay, so the list assumes that no one’s parents bought music, or at least chucked it all out when they had kids?? My parents have all their LPs and 45s from when they were my age adn beyond, and several they bought after my siblings and before me. The turntable has never been in storage. I had my own turntable when I was 6. A real one that played real LPs. Not some Fischer-Price piece-o-crap. I have 45s for people my parents have never heard of.
People need to start giving people my age a little credit. We get to pick what nursing home you go to.
Aw,c’mon Katisha and Palmyra. We’re not really picking on you guys. We’re just lamenting the fact we’re not young anymore, 'cause we always thought we’d never get old. Well, older. And it happened. So, we’re reminiscing about them old days and just tweaking kids today a bit, just a bit, that’s all.
And if I say, just wait till you’re my age, well, trust me. You will be. Can’t wait to hear that conversation in twenty years. I’m sure it’ll be the same. "When I was young…
Oh, no! There was a case, a crusade, and a law. I don’t know the specifics, but a young girl was killed by a lawn dart while her parents watched. It came straight down on her head and pierced her skull, at which point she apparently took off running, ran straight into a wall, and fell over, dead. Her parents began a crusade to outlaw lawn darts that lasted several years and was ultimately successful. I don’t think they’re illegal to own, but they’re certainly illegal to sell. Of course, that doesn’t seem to stop people from selling them on eBay, but a box of lawn darts sells for over $50 there last I checked (right now I only see two sets for sale, and one isn’t “real” anyway).
Don’t you just hate people who have such slight nit-picks as the one I’m about to give. I wouldn’t do it except some kid from 2018 might get ahold of this thread and be shocked when he gets it wrong on a history test.
Reagen left office in 1989.
Plus how can kids not know this stuff? I’m sure their parents and grandparents are ALWAYS talking about the way things used to be. It’s second nature to them. I find myself doing it all the time, can’t help myself. Although it so happens I have a bad memory, one of those absentminder professor kind of things, so I really can’t recall a world before I did so much stuff on-line.
