It’s important to know the frames of reference of those we are teaching or training. Each year, Beloit College publishes their “Mindset List”, “a compilation of items that indicate the viewpoints and frame of reference of entering students.”
The most recent list, for the Class of 2005, reminds us that these people were born the same year as the PC & the Mac (1983), newspapers have been printed in color for their entire lives, and Oprah has always been a national institution. These might not affect their understanding of curriculum, but we have to keep in mind that they have no real reference to the origins of “cc” in e-mails.
(The most recent list seems to have been announced in August 2000 for the class of 2005, so it’s not certain that they will be continuing this series.)