"The Dumbest Generation"

Parent Cafe
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<p>This is a review of the book, The Dumbest Generation
How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future, or Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30 Mark Bauerlein</p>

<p>So parents, teachers, professors and such – what do you think? Are our kids part of the dumbest generation? </p>

<p>[‘The</a> Dumbest Generation’ by Mark Bauerlein - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book5-2008jul05,0,3980465.story]'The”>'The Dumbest Generation' by Mark Bauerlein)</p>

<p>Highlights from the article, in case you can’t link to it:</p>

<p>“As of 2008,” the 49-year-old professor of English at Emory University writes in “The Dumbest Generation,” “the intellectual future of the United States looks dim.”</p>

<p>The way Bauerlein sees it, something new and disastrous has happened to America’s youth with the arrival of the instant gratification go-go-go digital age. The result is, essentially, a collective loss of context and history, a neglect of “enduring ideas and conflicts.” Survey after painstakingly recounted survey reveals what most of us already suspect: that America’s youth know virtually nothing about history and politics. And no wonder. They have developed a “brazen disregard of books and reading.”</p>

<p>Things were not supposed to be this way. After all, “never have the opportunities for education, learning, political action, and cultural activity been greater,” writes Bauerlein, a former director of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. But somehow, he contends, the much-ballyhooed advances of this brave new world have not only failed to materialize – they’ve actually made us dumber.</p>

<p>The problem is that instead of using the Web to learn about the wide world, young people instead mostly use it to gossip about each other and follow pop culture, relentlessly keeping up with the ever-shifting lingua franca of being cool in school. The two most popular websites by far among students are Facebook and MySpace. “Social life is a powerful temptation,” Bauerlein explains, “and most teenagers feel the pain of missing out.”</p>

<p>This ceaseless pipeline of peer-to-peer activity is worrisome, he argues, not only because it crowds out the more serious stuff but also because it strengthens what he calls the “pull of immaturity.” Instead of connecting them with parents, teachers and other adult figures, “[t]he web . . . encourages more horizontal modeling, more raillery and mimicry of people the same age.” When Bauerlein tells an audience of college students, “You are six times more likely to know who the latest American Idol is than you are to know who the speaker of the U.S. House is,” a voice in the crowd tells him: " ‘American Idol’ IS more important."</p>

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<p>The book looks interesting. </p>

<p>Personally, I’m not as worried about the kids who spend time on facebook -they seem to be mostly college students who at least know how to read. My concern is for the growing numbers of illiterate in this country. Some studies by literacy advocate organizations show that nearly a quarter of our adult population reads at a less than functional level. These people are not on facebook and are not college students. They don’t get that far.
I also wouldn’t take the latest round of student cynicism about politics too seriously. They have reason to be cynical. I will look for the book, though.</p>

<p>I don’t know about you other parents, but I’m jealous of the way our kids have facebook, cell phones, and so many ways to keep their social contacts.
I think it’s great. They keep all of their friends, and they have social networks that took me four decades to build. It’s not all bad.</p>

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<p>I don’t see how this can be true. Our kids spend just as much time in the classroom as we did 35 years ago, and they come home with more textbooks and reading homework than I did. There is no way to get out of that reading. Maybe some read fewer pleasure books than kids did 50 years ago, but I doubt it is much different from my school years, as we had TV way back then too, which was a powerful diversion from reading.</p>

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<p>Gibber jabbering for hours on cell phones and Myspace does not mean quality interaction. A six hour talk over beers about life has far more depth than the senseless junk communications I hear all the time on cell phones-and I doubt the online stuff is much deeper.</p>

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<p>Every generation seems to think that the generation who comes after it will be the end of Western Civilization as we know it. It never happens.</p>

<p>I personally am not worried…I think most of my peers are pretty intelligent. However, as always, the emphasis gets placed on the less-intelligent ones.</p>

<p>Barrons-some of the best conversations I’ve ever had have been over the phone/IM. It’s nice to be able to talk to people when you can’t necessarily meet up to have an in-depth chat like we’d like.</p>

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<p>Frankly, I think it is we boomers who messed up big time, and I wouldn’t be opposed to placing all white males between the ages of 50 and 60 (I am one) in “protective confinement”, so we don’t do any more damage.</p>

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<p>What a bunch of grumpy ballyhoo. Don’t count these kids out! They are just doing what teens do… "“Social life is a powerful temptation,” Bauerlein explains, “and most teenagers feel the pain of missing out.”</p>

<p>Of course they are using new technology to socialize, that’s what they care about between the ages of 13-21… their peers. But as they mature, these kids will tap into the digital technologies that they are so comfortable with to not only learn about the world, but change it. It’s already happening in politics (i.e. Obama’s campaign) and business (Facebook, google). </p>

<p>It’s not like the kids are going to spend the rest of their lives building myspace pages. They will grow up and any gaps that they have in history or politics or any other area will be easily filled in by tapping their way through cyberspace. Their problem-solving skills and ability to use each other as resources, their connectivity and creativity, blows away anything the earlier generations came to the table with. </p>

<p>Wringing hands over this is like worrying back in the 50s that kids wouldn’t appreciate cinema because they preferred going to drive-ins to talk and make-out rather than actually watch movies. </p>

<p>Just make sure they can read and write, that they can analyze information and understand propaganda… oh, and that they understand what to do when they discover the multitude of gaps in their knowledge. Which they will. When they care.</p>

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<p>If the moniker “The Dumbest Generation” belongs to any, it belongs to my generation; The Baby Boom Generation. I remember the the country we grew up in, and when I gaze upon what we are leaving our children I am ashamed. </p>

<p>We have forgotten and squandered so much.</p>

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<p>Ouch, barrons. You are so dismissive. Most of the cell phone communication of my two is setting up social events on the fly. Since the kids can be reached by cell any time of day, often by texting, spontaneous get-togethers are the norm. The combination of online and cell phone connectivity has enabled both of my kids to remain friends with all of the people they cared about in high school, even though one has been out of college for a year. They know what everyone is doing, they get together when they are home, and they arrange social events more easily and therefore more often than I did at that age. Basically they keep their friends from the past and just keep adding new ones. I’m sure that a lot of it isn’t deep conversation, but the connections are deep and lasting.</p>

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<p>^Absolutely.</p>

<p>Most of the time when one of my best guy friends text messages me, I already know what it’s going to say: “What are you doing right now/tonight/tomorrow?”</p>

<p>And the events that follow have been some of the best events I’ve ever been to.</p>

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<p>[Youth</a> and Authority: Formative Experiences in England 1560-1640](<a href=“Youth and Authority: Formative Experiences in England, 1560-1640 - Paul Griffiths - Google Books”>Youth and Authority: Formative Experiences in England, 1560-1640 - Paul Griffiths - Google Books):</p>

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<p>“I wouldn’t be opposed to placing all white males between the ages of 50 and 60 (I am one) in “protective confinement””</p>

<p>Since it is WHITE only, I don’t have any problem with your proposal.</p>

<p>The other day, I rolled up all the coins in the house and went to Kroger customer service agent. She had hard time figuring out the total. First she tried to do the math and was lost. She then separated rolls of pennies. It was like $3.50 so she put the 50 cent roll aside and started adding nickels, dimes and quarters. That was also too much for her.</p>

<p>She ended up giving us first $3.50 for pennies, then $xx for nickles, then $yy for dimes and $zz for quarters last.</p>

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<p>I’m actually “Mongol-Semitic”, but they should probably take me away too.</p>

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<p>You can come too; we’ll have fun! :)</p>

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<p>mini - can we extend that age group to 65? We gotta be able to fit W in there. If this generation is dumber than him, we’re in BIG trouble. Hard to do I think.</p>

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<p>There is no substantial difference in content or depth between deep conversations over beers and over the internet or phone; there is nothing about modern communications that prevents deep conversation. The only difference is that conversations over the internet or phone aren’t in person. Cell phones provide the added convenience of being able to plan ahead quickly. You haven’t observed meaningful communication over the phone or internet, probably because a lot of people don’t take full advantage of, or maybe refuse to explore the opportunities offered by, the technology (perhaps like those middle schoolers who use myspace for senseless junk).</p>

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<p>“mini - can we extend that age group to 65? We gotta be able to fit W in there. If this generation is dumber than him, we’re in BIG trouble. Hard to do I think.”</p>

<p>We’ll need a bigger camp - we already took over Harvard and Princeton - maybe Yale is next. Oh, and one of those big second-tier state universities out in the boonies where we can help the local economy and not get into too much trouble.</p>

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<p>My son and I have had a number of deep conversations over cell phones since he has been away at college, conversations we never would have had without modern technology or back when long distance phone calls were so expensive. He still spends plenty of time with friends, too, doing things in person. As others have said, cell phones allow him to keep in touch with old friends at home while making new friends at college. And Facebook is another way they keep in touch during their busy lives. Skype phone will allow him to, hopefully, keep a strong relationship with his girlfriend while she spends a semester overseas. I am sure there are some who retreat from live human interaction through their computers and such, but there have always been people like that. Technology can be an obstacle to developing one’s mind and relationships, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. And I don’t think it is for most young people.</p>

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<p>Cultural alarm bells such as those rung by Bauerlein remind me of an old poem:</p>

<p>My grandpa notes the world’s worn cogs
And says we are going to the dogs!
His grandpa in his house of logs
Swore things were going to the dogs.
His dad among the Flemish bogs
Vowed things were going to the dogs.
The cave man in his queer skin togs
Said things were going to the dogs.
But this is what I wish to state
The dogs have had an awful wait.</p>

<p>This poem might be much older than the 1910 Jeanette H. Walworth short story (entitled “A Christmas Story”) in which it is said to have appeared. Regardless of its vintage, the poem makes a lot of sense. Time and technology march on. The sky isn’t falling. I’m not worried.</p>

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<p>I feel proud of our accomplishment. I know we spent money time and effort for these kids. Finally got some authorative validation. I wonder if my kid’s generation can do as much for their kids as we have done for ours. I can’t wait to be a gramps.</p>