"The Dumbest Generation"?

[The Rabbi]

New book out. Here is the Amazon review:

Product Description

This shocking, lively exposure of the intellectual vacuity of today’s under thirty set reveals the disturbing and, ultimately, incontrovertible truth: cyberculture is turning us into a nation of know-nothings.

Can a nation continue to enjoy political and economic predominance if its citizens refuse to grow up?

For decades, concern has been brewing about the dumbed-down popular culture available to young people and the impact it has on their futures. At the dawn of the digital age, many believed they saw a hopeful answer: The Internet, e-mail, blogs, and interactive and hyper-realistic video games promised to yield a generation of sharper, more aware, and intellectually sophisticated children. The terms “information superhighway†and “knowledge economy†entered the lexicon, and we assumed that teens would use their knowledge and understanding of technology to set themselves apart as the vanguards of this new digital era.

That was the promise. But the enlightenment didn’t happen. The technology that was supposed to make young adults more astute, diversify their tastes, and improve their verbal skills has had the opposite effect. According to recent reports, most young people in the United States do not read literature, visit museums, or vote. They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount basic American history, name their local political representatives, or locate Iraq or Israel on a map. The Dumbest Generation is a startling examination of the intellectual life of young adults and a timely warning of its consequences for American culture and democracy.

Drawing upon exhaustive research, personal anecdotes, and historical and social analysis, Mark Bauerline presents an uncompromisingly realistic portrait of the young American mind at this critical juncture, and lays out a compelling vision of how we might address its deficiencies.

About the Author

Mark Bauerlein is a professor of English at Emory University and has worked as a director of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts, where he oversaw studies about culture and American life.

It's absolutely the case. Seeing on-line discussions, people have no idea how to weigh evidence or make appropriate deductions from statements or facts. Often they can't even read and understand the argument. It is probably more pronounced in people under 30 but by no means limited to them.

[DWARREN123]

Hell some people can't change a light bulb!

[molonlabetn]

That just means we have alot to overcome as we are struggling with the sad state of economic and social affairs which the previous generation is saddling us with...

[memphismason]

Hell some people can't change a light bulb!

You have to change light bulbs?????

[strickj]

I cant change a light bulb but only because I cant reach them

[Guest GT_Rat]

I can't name my local representatives. But I know where to find out who they are if I need to.

[Guest darkstar]

Saw this on the Boston Globe online yesterday checking out Red Sox scores. Here is a link with some more info and examples why the author feels this way.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/gallery/dumbestgeneration/

[molonlabetn]

Some of the dumbest people I know are the ones who were playing video games and watching TV for hours instead of reading. We've turned into a visual society, and the result is a very one-dimensional learning and thinking style.

I'm very thankful that my parents never got cable, or me a game console... instead they took me to the library. I certainly don't feel like I missed out.

[strickj]

Git this in an email couple days ago and thought it would fit in here

THE SPOILEDUNDER-30 CROWD!!!

If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears

with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were

when they were growing up; what with walking

twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways

yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,

there was no way in hell I was going to lay

a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it

and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of

forty, I can't help but look around and notic e the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my

childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you

don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The

Internet . If we wanted to know something,

we had to go to the damn library and

look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write

somebody a letter .with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and

put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to

steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the

beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you

were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either!

When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!

It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer,

a collections agent, you just didn't know!!!

You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!

We had the Atari 2600!

With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square!

You actually had to use your imagination!!

And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win.

The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!

Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating!

All the seats were the same height!

If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you coul dn't s ee,

you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that

was only like 15 channels

and there was no on screen menu and no remote control!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing!

You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the

channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons

on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?!

We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat

something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire .. imagine that!

If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing

and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about!

You kids today have got it too easy.

You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five m i nutes back in 1980!

Regards,

The over 30 Crowd

[Guest slothful1]

It's always been the case that most people are imbeciles. It's nothing new, or specific to this particular generation.

[The Rabbi]

I beg to differ.

It isnt that people are imbeciles. Some of them are, obviously.

It is that there is a substitute of "factoids" for deeper thinking skills. How many times has someone made an argument only to have someone else rebut it by saying "cite me a reference" and then when it is a news story, it is dismissed as unreliable? So the result is people throw factoids at each other. There is very little actual argument going on.

[Im Neero]

I used to try citing enlightenment philosophers, but that didn't go over too well either.

[Guest dotsun]

Hey I thought this thread was about a new game console.

[Guest darkstar]

I beg to differ.

It isnt that people are imbeciles. Some of them are, obviously.

It is that there is a substitute of "factoids" for deeper thinking skills. How many times has someone made an argument only to have someone else rebut it by saying "cite me a reference" and then when it is a news story, it is dismissed as unreliable? So the result is people throw factoids at each other. There is very little actual argument going on.

This is very true. I'm sure every generation throughout history has moaned and groaned about the generation that comes along after it. Kids today will be going on and on about the kids 25 years from now, but there certainly feels like there is a lack of thinking these days.

Both my parents were (old school!) teachers with advanced degrees so education was a big deal growing up. As Molon said in his post I'm glad my folks got me hooked on reading and critical thinking at a very early age. Sure I love goofing on the internet and I had (and still do) video games, but when I see something that interests me the first thing I do is get a book and learn about it. The 'net is a useful source of info, but in my opinion you get your info from several sources, filter it out, then come to your conclusions. Seems like a lot of people just go to wikipedia or wherever and to them it's straight from the burning bush. The ease of instant communications and information gathering should not be a substitute for thinking.

[Guest Grout]

Git this in an email couple days ago and thought it would fit in here

THE SPOILEDUNDER-30 CROWD!!!

If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears

with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were

when they were growing up; what with walking

twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways

yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,

there was no way in hell I was going to lay

a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it

and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of

forty, I can't help but look around and notic e the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my

childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you

don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The

Internet . If we wanted to know something,

we had to go to the damn library and

look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write

somebody a letter .with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and

put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to

steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the

beginning and @#*% it all up!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you

were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either!

When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!

It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer,

a collections agent, you just didn't know!!!

You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!

We had the Atari 2600!

With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square!

You actually had to use your imagination!!

And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win.

The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!

Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating!

All the seats were the same height!

If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you coul dn't s ee,

you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that

was only like 15 channels

and there was no on screen menu and no remote control!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing!

You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the

channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons

on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?!

We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat

something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire .. imagine that!

If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing

and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about!

You kids today have got it too easy.

You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five m i nutes back in 1980!

Regards,

The over 30 Crowd

If we wanted to see a regular season American League baseball team we had to hope ABC Monday Night Baseball or NBC's Saturday Game of The Week showed one because all cable had was the Braves and the Cubs.And back then the Braves sucked too,except for 82.

[Guest ui_cleirigh]

As a member of possibly the "Dumbest Generation" I see this more then I care to mention. Unfortunately, because of my age, I am subjugated to more scrutiny then I feel is just. I understand that my age group hasn't had quite the real-world experiences that the 30-somethings have but that doesn't lend itself to some being any less analytical. As some of the posts have mentioned, the 20s tend to take certain topics at "face value". I agree 100% with this comment. Aside from my closest of friends, finding a group my age to discuss any current event has become a moot point. Rather then taking advantage of the internet to expand knowledge, it is used for the mundane (MySpace, Facebook, Instant Messaging and YouTube) limiting personal experience. Don't get me wrong, the sites mentioned have their entertainment value but most of my age group will not go beyond those mentioned. This goes the same for aspects of day-to-day other then the internet. Something as simple are preparing for retirement at my age is un-heard of. As a matter of fact, I am the only person my age at work contributing to a 401k. Not to mention, I am the only person I work with that decided to vote or even knows who is still running. I admit, I do not know all the facets of local/state government. I can tell you our Representatives in the Senate and Congress and I know how the government operates in a basic sense. I believe in most cases, my age group will be faced to make a decision in the coming years to become more knowledgeable in current events or suffer some severe consequences. I hold a very strong belief that if you don't take you part in the decision making then you can't complain about it later hence such a passionate involvement of my own.

That may be a bit long-winded but just my .02

[molonlabetn]

Younger generations are always criticized by the previous generation(s), who have forgotten how they were perceived at the same age. Society changes, rarely for the better, but older generations are seldom willing to admit the responsibility rests upon themselves for the decomposition we now witness... and the current generation is responsible for continuing it after they are gone, or making an effort to reverse the process and leave society in a better condition than when we were brought into it.

[Guest mikedwood]

Some and perhaps most of the under 30 crowd is scary and seems to have no chance at a clue. But! I have met some exceptional, extremely impressive, smart, very responsible and driven people under 30. They are easy to spot because they usually wear pants that fit. I have no clue if there is a connection to be made.

[Guest nraforlife]

The issue as I see it is this, and I taught for awhile. Teachers have no support from administration when dealing with children and their parents. It is truly becoming a case where the lunatics are running the asylum. The good students, those who want to learn but not the Advanced or College Prep kids, are put into classrooms where the teacher ends up actually teaching for maybe 15% of the class time and the other 85% trying to maintain disciple and order. You have three classes of students - Advanced classes generally no trouble as they want to learn, College Prep - same as advanced but but as high on the totem pole and then the rest. Unfortunately there are a great deal of students in the 'rest' that want to learn but are stuck with the riff raff that could care less. We would be better off teaching them, the riff raff, bling bling, whore wantabees, how to make license plates as that will be a good skill for prison positions.

Edited May 15, 2008 by nraforlife

[Marswolf]

Younger people have different priorities than older generations. But technology has changed what we need to learn and remember. Google works wondrously to find specific facts. I was passing through the living room the other day and someone on a game show won Encyclopedia Britannica. I'm amazed there is enough market to publish it. Just Google what you want to know about.

But you do need good research and reasoning skills to filter out the facts and logical conclusions from the nonsense and opinions. You need to learn how to separate the wisdom from the garbage. And you need to learn stuff you might need when you don't have a computer handy, like survival skills.

I find older people to be just as mindless as the younger ones. The emphasis is just placed in different areas.

Here's an exercise I like. In all age groups, imagine a person of average intelligence and ability. Now think that half of the people are dumber than that. Now that's scary.

It seems to me that each generation loses some valuable perspectives and knowledge in some areas but gains in other areas. How many older people do you know who won't touch a computer? How many younger people do you know who don't play sports? But there are individuals in all generations who do both. Those folks generally end up as leaders.

[Mike.357]

How many times has someone made an argument only to have someone else rebut it by saying "cite me a reference" and then when it is a news story, it is dismissed as unreliable? So the result is people throw factoids at each other. There is very little actual argument going on.

cite a source or some fact for this

[Mike.357]

ps

kids 25 years from now,

there will not be kids 25 years from now, the world ends in 2012. Look it up. The Aztecs or Incas(can't ever keep them two straight) predicted this. I saw it on the History Channel.

[The Rabbi]

cite a source or some fact for this

www.thehighroad.org

www.getoffthex.com

[Guest atomemphis]

I would conjecture that the the division between the two groups (Intelligent and Neanderthal) is growing.

The youth of today, in order make any progress in the world, must not only learn all the elements taught to their parents in the classroom, but learn the 'new stuff' as well.

I have had college professors proclaim that they are glad they are not students now, having to learn everything they had to in 4 years was quite a chore, and now we must add in everything that has developed in the sciences since then. New college graduates must do this to be marketable upon graduation, and he felt it was a little ridiculous (if you want to keep it to 4 years rather than 5 - engineering degree).

[Paletiger13]

Some of the dumbest people I know are the ones who were playing video games and watching TV for hours instead of reading. We've turned into a visual society, and the result is a very one-dimensional learning and thinking style.

I'm very thankful that my parents never got cable, or me a game console... instead they took me to the library. I certainly don't feel like I missed out.

I play video games and enjoy them. That doesnt make me stupid or ignorant does it? Urghhh