The Dumbest Generation

[chanel]

The technology that was supposed to make young adults more astute, diversify their tastes, and improve their minds had the opposite effect.

According to recent reports from government agencies, foundations, survey firms, and scholarly institutions, most young people in the United States neither read literature (or fully know how), work reliably (just ask employers), visit cultural institutions (of any sort), nor vote (most can’t even understand a simple ballot). They cannot explain basic scientific methods, recount foundations of American history, or name any of their local political representatives. What do they happen to excel at is – each other. They spend unbelievable amounts of time electronically passing stories, pictures, tunes, and texts back and forth, savoring the thrill of peer attention and dwelling in a world of puerile banter and coarse images.

Dumbest Generation Home

Comments?

 

[psikeyhackr]

Let's take computers as a technological example.

I built my first computer in 1978. I had to solder it together. Before that I repaired high fidelity stereo systems for a living. I had to troubleshoot amplifiers and tuners down to the transistor level. I knew more about electronics than most of the people I worked with in computers. They were board swappers.

I have written programs in assembly language, FORTRAN, COBOL, C and BASIC and a few other things.

But what is going on with these fancy Operating Systems in computers these days?

You have to MEMORIZE a sequence of icons to hit. If you read the names under the icons they may have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what you are trying to accomplish. Memorization is not UNDERSTANDING. How can a person exercise any thought when there is no rational pattern to be comprehended?

It is not the fault of the technology or the children. It is the fault of designers that want to maximize market share and assume the buyers are dummies. But the way things are designed you can't understand even when you want to.

I went to Radio Shack a couple of weeks ago. I was just going to buy some ear bud headphones because one side went out on mine. CHEAP SHIT! I expected to spend $5. They must have had at least 30 different kinds in different colors from $15 to $40. But they don't sell electronic components anymore but have huge varieties of stuff that they can't explain the differences in. ROFL

I didn't buy any ear buds. I'll try a drug store. I mostly listen to MP3 audiobooks and stereo doesn't matter.

psik

 

[JBeukema]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xZOrWK6d4g]YouTube - My Generation[/ame]

 

[topspin]

Old people always crack on the younger generation.

 

[JBeukema]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE9CXWV1alg]YouTube - Limp Bizkit - My Generation[/ame]


yeah... definitely not as good

 

[JBeukema]

So basically the OP is complaining about social degeneration in the US?

 

[midcan5]

Each year I ask my wife about her new group of students, and in the past, I'd say eight years or so, she claims they are dumber than the year before. And this is not just her opinion, but the opinion of lots of teachers in public, private, and way too expensive private schools. One college prof who part times today, calls some colleges 'check schools,' write the check and you graduate. Whenever I read that it is the teachers fault, I wonder how that could be given the teachers I know. It ain't the teachers folks, it is the students, their parents, and American culture.

What is a well known American criticism today? You are a pinhead, intellectual elitist. What is praised today (and in the past) you are a common sense kind of rough and tumble guy or gal. No need to give examples. So why? Some guesses. Because we are a nation of individuals and education is a collective endeavor requiring you listen to the other. Rich people dropped out of school, thus school is useless. I gonna be a [pick a sport] star, a singing star, an actor, a politician. Why do I need algebra, sentence structure, reading comprehension, math, or science? I added politician for fun, they still seem a bit educated, but that could change in November.


From 'Notebook, A Quibble,' By Mark Slouka

"I was raised to be ashamed of my ignorance, and to try to do something about it if at all possible. I carry that burden to this day, and have successfully passed it on to my children. I don’t believe I have the right to an opinion about something I know nothing about—constitutional law, for example, or sailing—a notion that puts me sadly out of step with a growing majority of my countrymen, many of whom may be unable to tell you anything at all about Islam, say, or socialism, or climate change, except that they hate it, are against it, don’t believe in it. Worse still (or more amusing, depending on the day) are those who can tell you, and then offer up a stew of New Age blather, right-wing rant, and bloggers’ speculation that’s so divorced from actual, demonstrable fact, that’s so not true, as the kids would say, that the mind goes numb with wonder. “Way I see it is,” a man in the Tulsa Motel 6 swimming pool told me last summer, “if English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good enough for us.”

Quite possibly, this belief in our own opinion, regardless of the facts, may be what separates us from the nations of the world, what makes us unique in God’s eyes. The average German or Czech, though possibly no less ignorant than his American counterpart, will probably consider the possibility that someone who has spent his life studying something may have an opinion worth considering. Not the American. Although perfectly willing to recognize expertise in basketball, for example, or refrigerator repair, when it comes to the realm of ideas, all folks (and their opinions) are suddenly equal. Thus evolution is a damned lie, global warming a liberal hoax, and Republicans care about people like you."

Article appeared in Notesbook. Harper's Magazine


Anti-Intellectualism in American Life [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Intellectualism-American-Life-Richard-Hofstadter/dp/0394703170/ref=pd_sim_b_4]Amazon.com: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (9780394703176): Richard Hofstadter: Books[/ame]


[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Dumbest-Generation-Stupefies-Americans-Jeopardizes/dp/1585426393/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) (9781585426393): Mark Bauerlein: Books[/ame]


[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X/ref=pd_sim_b_2]Amazon.com: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (9780143036531): Neil Postman, Andrew Postman: Books[/ame]



old debates on site.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/education-and-history/108215-education-then-and-now.html
http://www.usmessageboard.com/education-and-history/108215-education-then-and-now-2.html#post207

 

[Baruch Menachem]

I don't know about this. My boy is doing higher level math and english than I had in senior year in his sophomore year. He is learning a foreign language.

For those who are willing to do the work, they are learning more than was available. My high school library was pretty big, but it always seemed that the book you needed was not there. If he needs to research something the world is at his fingertips.


Few students took advantage of what was available 35 years ago. There is so much more available now. I think the differences in attainment between the top workers and the bottom is going to get ever wider.

 

[uscitizen]

All started by the TV.

Where our Idols present themselves to us.

Actually the misuse of the TV.
It gave us what we wanted instead of what we needed.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

No TV here.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I agree that we are the dumbest generation. Just look at the President we elected. That says it all about our intelligence.

 

[uscitizen]

I agree that we are the dumbest generation. Just look at the President we elected. That says it all about our intelligence.

'
'
True we did elect the last president a couple of times as well.

 

[Luissa]

That generation is dying for all of us, in two Wars.
They also program you DVD, DVR, and fix your computer when you can't figure it out.

I wouldn't call them the dumbest generation, they are just different. Their manners and work ethic needs help, but you can blame those problems on their parents and Dr. Phil. Rewarding good behavior and doing nothing about bad behavior is the number one reason these kids think they ccan get away with anything.
My friend actually lets her eleven year old pick what he will eat for dinner now, because he complained about not liking anything he picked. I would have told him, he has no choice, and he WILL eat it. My mother would have made us sit at the table until it was finished.

 

[uscitizen]

Child worship has high penalties.

 

[rdean]

The most dumb are the current generation of white haired right wingers.
The don't believe in science.
They believe everything from Fox news.
They depend on Social Security and Medicare yet want to vote for people who want to end Social Security and Medicare.

Dumb, dee dumb dumb.

Dumb.

 

[uscitizen]

The most dumb are the current generation of white haired right wingers.
The don't believe in science.
They believe everything from Fox news.
They depend on Social Security and Medicare yet want to vote for people who want to end Social Security and Medicare.

Dumb, dee dumb dumb.

Dumb.

they are also the easiest group to influence thru fear tactics.

Well almost as easy as the gun nuts to manipulate.

 

[Flopper]

The young people I have been around are pretty sharp. My granddaughter is in the 4th grade and is reading at a 10 grade level. My grandson is in the 3rd grade and he beat me at chess today. They do a lot more homework than when I was a kid. They also have a lot more activities.

 

[uscitizen]

My grandkids are very sharp as well.
However My granddaughter who gets very nearly straight A's all their school is plainly addicted to texting.
It is not the intelligence it is behaviour and such.

Intelligent people can be very stupid.

 

[blu]

its the parents fault plain and simple.

 

[uscitizen]

its the parents fault plain and simple.

Yep but it is hard to isolate them from the world being pushed in their face for monetary gain.

too much of their sense of self worth depends on posessions.

Amish? They have problems as well.