The Dumbest Generation? - 8 Reasons Explained

[runner]

i read an article in the boston globe about this being the dumbest generation due to all the amenities of the digital age. the author contends that our great technology, instead of making youth brighter, has had the opposite effect. for example, he says that students use the internet not to gain knowledge but just to copy and pass along information on assignments, without any critical thinking. another influence... on myspace, writing clearly and concisely is frowned upon by your peers. you'll be laughed at and scorned. and, another effect is that they don't read books. there are more examples in the article. i can't provide a link because forum rules do not allow me as a first time poster... not sure why the need for such a restriction, but...

if you are interested in reading the article, do a search on boston.com on '8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation.'

what do you think?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Here is an article I clipped from the Giza Times, 1500 BC.

The dumbest generation.
Students are wasting more and more time passing notes to each other written with ink on pieces of papyrus. As a result, our schools are now graduating students who are not able to chisel even a single hieroglyph into a temple wall. The future of civilization requires that we suppress this new and useless technology that teaches none of the traditional skills needed in this fast paced world.

 

[runner]

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

... looks like I'm cleared to post links now.

 

[maze]

Sounds like more of the same "get off my lawn"/"why when I was a kid we walked uphill to school each way in a snowstorm" stuff we've been hearing about young people every generation.

 

[D H]

i read an article in the boston globe about this being the dumbest generation due to all the amenities of the digital age. the author contends that our great technology, instead of making youth brighter, has had the opposite effect. for example, he says that students use the internet not to gain knowledge but just to copy and pass along information on assignments, without any critical thinking. another influence... on myspace, writing clearly and concisely is frowned upon by your peers. you'll be laughed at and scorned. and, another effect is that they don't read books. there are more examples in the article. i can't provide a link because forum rules do not allow me as a first time poster... not sure why the need for such a restriction, but...

if you are interested in reading the article, do a search on boston.com on '8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation.'

what do you think?

i think maybe u r a member of that generation ...

Your post has no capitalization and ... what in the world are all of those ellipses for?

 

[moe darklight]

Have we already forgotten about the generation that let this happen:



There
is
no
excuse!

 

[lisab]

The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, they show disrespect to their elders... They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their
legs, and are tyrants over their teachers.

Attributed to Socrates (although that's in dispute).

 

[Daniel Y.]

It's an illusion. Ignorant people aren't getting more prevalent - the internet just allows their, albiet palsey-ridden, voices to be heard.

 

[D H]

I have noticed one significant difference between those with well-aged flatulence and those without. The younger employees in our company have very, very clean desks. I would be completely lost without my green engineering pad. My green engineering pads. I kill trees with them. I use them for doing math, architecting programs and systems, developing business plans, coordinating projects, recording telephone conversations, and even useless doodles. I can understand how you young guys can do most of this on a computer, but how in the world do you do math and write useless doodles on a computer? I use LaTeX as well as anyone, but only after doing it on paper first. And nothing beats a pad of paper for useless doodles. Nothing. Powerpoint doodles? Please.

 

[mgb_phys]

lisab - I was lookingforthe similair quote from cicero, you beat me to it.
DH, I don't know how anybody can think without drawing pictures, it beats me how students can just type in lecture notes on a keyboard.

 

[phyzmatix]

And nothing beats a pad of paper for useless doodles. Nothing. Powerpoint doodles? Please.

Hahahahaha!

 

[Cyrus]

lisab - I was lookingforthe similair quote from cicero, you beat me to it.
DH, I don't know how anybody can think without drawing pictures, it beats me how students can just type in lecture notes on a keyboard.

My friend types in his engineering/math lecture notes using microsoft office equation editor in real time.

 

[mgb_phys]

My friend types in his engineering/math lecture notes using microsoft office equation editor in real time.

But you can't draw the little diagrams to show coordinate systems or draw rings around something and write important underlined.

Or draw doodles because the lecturer is very boring or lost you 30mins ago

 

[lisab]

Green engineering pads :!) ! I use them for everything, too! Set a green pad in front of me and I get a jolt to the pleasure center of my brain.

OK that's maybe too much information .

 

[runner]

i think maybe u r a member of that generation ...

hahahaha. if i said that i wished i were, that would be a lie. once around was enough for me.

 

[maverick_starstrider]

There's also the IQ paradox where IQ's have gone steadly up for the last century. Although this is most likely a function of the increase minimum education level. I think there's also links to immigration and drop in IQ scores (not in any way because immigrants have lower IQ but simply because IQ tests often (whether they mean to or not) gauge english literacy as much as anything).

As for my personally experience I find that old people who complain the most about young people are rarely the most shining and intellegent examples of their own generation. In fact this goes for a lot of things (those who, for example, feel the greatest superiority from their nationality/social group/religion etc, (i'm a (nationality) and (nation) is the greatest) tend to be the least note worthy examples of that nationality/social group/religion.)

 

[D H]

But you can't draw the little diagrams to show coordinate systems or draw rings around something and write important underlined.

Or cross out an entire page with a few expletives added in proclaiming the utter stupidity of the entire problem. The physical act of writing is hard to surpass electronically.

 

[runner]

There's also the IQ paradox where IQ's have gone steadly up for the last century. Although this is most likely a function of the increase minimum education level. I think there's also links to immigration and drop in IQ scores (not in any way because immigrants have lower IQ but simply because IQ tests often (whether they mean to or not) gauge english literacy as much as anything).

As for my personally experience I find that old people who complain the most about young people are rarely the most shining and intellegent examples of their own generation. In fact this goes for a lot of things (those who, for example, feel the greatest superiority from their nationality/social group/religion etc, (i'm a (nationality) and (nation) is the greatest) tend to be the least note worthy examples of that nationality/social group/religion.)

i wonder how much of this is just a convenient controversy to boost the sales of the professor's book, "The Dumbest Generation?"

http://www.dumbestgeneration.com/home.html

 

[apstu2]

this generation. and sadly i have to say i am part of it -_-

 

[pantaz]

This is just sad...

English too hard for students, principal says
By Justine Ferrari
June 10, 2008

FTA:The head of one of the nation's elite private schools has questioned whether English should be compulsory for the senior years, saying the courses being taught are beyond the intellectual ability of most students.

Continued here...
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23838302-421,00.html

 

[rootX]

this generation. and sadly i have to say i am part of it -_-

don't be sad.
We are much better than those older generations whom I see as racists, trouble-creators and narrow-minded people.

They started wars, created non-logical cultures and religions, and committed genocides, ...

I am hoping for better future which cannot expected from older generations.

 

[Chi Meson]

hahahaha. if i said that i wished i were, that would be a lie. once around was enough for me.

Can we show you where the "shift" key is?

 

[Moonbear]

I have noticed one significant difference between those with well-aged flatulence and those without. The younger employees in our company have very, very clean desks. I would be completely lost without my green engineering pad. My green engineering pads. I kill trees with them. I use them for doing math, architecting programs and systems, developing business plans, coordinating projects, recording telephone conversations, and even useless doodles. I can understand how you young guys can do most of this on a computer, but how in the world do you do math and write useless doodles on a computer? I use LaTeX as well as anyone, but only after doing it on paper first. And nothing beats a pad of paper for useless doodles. Nothing. Powerpoint doodles? Please.

I'm not sure I can think without a pen in my hand. I'm somewhat on the fence whether current students do well without paper and pencil or not. Sometimes I see problems in their comprehension of lecture material that leads me to think they are not taking good notes on their computers (it's a little slow to sketch diagrams on powerpoint). On the other hand, I think some of the difference is that we're all creatures of habit. Those of us who went to school with paper and pencils (or stone tablets and chisels) are more comfortable using those tools, while those who have always had computers for their note-taking are more comfortable with those tools and have adapted their approaches to note-taking to match the technology. I think other differences compensate too. Student's don't have to scribble down as much of what we give them in lecture, because we're not lecturing off a chalkboard that gets erased 10 times during lecture. Instead, we're lecturing from powerpoint slides that we can put online for them or provide as handouts, so they can spend more time listening to the lecture rather than furiously scribbling everything written on the board or drawn on transparencies.

I did see a very rough patch in student learning when the initial transition from paper and pencil to laptop computers happened, as students who had honed their learning skills with paper and pencil did find themselves struggling outside of their element trying to keep up notetaking on computers (and most compensated by printing out the handouts...I still do that when I sit in on someone else's lectures). But now we're getting students who have done much of their learning with computers available, so things are getting a bit smoother. It's us educators who sometimes still struggle to adapt our lectures to this generation.

But you can't draw the little diagrams to show coordinate systems or draw rings around something and write important underlined.

Or draw doodles because the lecturer is very boring or lost you 30mins ago

Maybe all the lecturers are just so much better now that they don't need to draw doodles to stay awake. Actually, those laptops they use for notes still come with solitaire and minesweeper installed, and the classrooms with internet access let them pass notes via IM instead of on slips of paper. Some things never change (just slip into the back of a lecture hall and observe to see what students really do in the classroom). On the other hand, they deprive their lecturers of one of those small pleasures in life...intercepting the passed notes.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

i read an article in the boston globe about this being the dumbest generation

The generation that brought us the information age and many of the wonders of modern technology, my generation, was also once called the lost generation.

Anyone remember that one? I don't hear that much anymore.

Nevermind the grumpy old men. On to the future!

 

[binzing]

Ha ha, I like what jimmy posted.

Let's see. On myspace, I type correctly, and no one bothers me about it, and if they did I would give a sh** anyways. I use Yahoo answers to try and give people answers to questions that I have experience in. Umm, can't think of much else. Definitely there are outstanding people in this "Dumbest generation". Personally, I think it's always been going on, and isn't actually caused by a decrease in intelligence, just the way it has and is changing.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

There are smart and dumb people in every generation. By and large, I think our generation is pretty damn smart, and hopefully, will surpass the previous generation in our achievements.

 

[apstu2]

"don't be sad.
We are much better than those older generations whom I see as racists, trouble-creators and narrow-minded people. "

well said. it gives me hope :]

 

[AzonicZeniths]

don't be sad.
We are much better than those older generations whom I see as racists, trouble-creators and narrow-minded people.

They started wars, created non-logical cultures and religions, and committed genocides, ...

What, do you think people today are good and humanly? If that is your idea, you seriously need to widen the perspective of information you take in. Basically exactly everything you stated in your post is being done today.

I am also part of the 'dumbest' generation. But I, for one, do not think that this is the 'dumbest' generation. Surely my parents' generation is dumber...

 

[RocketSurgery]

What, do you think people today are good and humanly? If that is your idea, you seriously need to widen the perspective of information you take in. Basically exactly everything you stated in your post is being done today.

I am also part of the 'dumbest' generation. But I, for one, do not think that this is the 'dumbest' generation. Surely my parents' generation is dumber...

True but the illogical religions/cultures that were created yesteryear still haunt society today. The future will be better once people learn to keep their fairy tales and beliefs to themselves. Hopefully 2000 years from now people won't be wearing minibrooms around their necks , worshiping Harry Potter and killing Frodotians and Smeaglisms in Dumbledore's name.

 

[AzonicZeniths]

...wearing minibrooms around their necks , worshiping Harry Potter and killing Frodotians and Smeaglisms in Dumbledore's name.

Livin' the dream.


But, seriously, that is true. A lot of beliefs (I can't say mumbo jumbo, I was raised Christian, it just doesn't feel right. :\ ) that infiltrate modern society were made several years (centuries) ago. But I am thinking stuff that has arisen in the last few years, the Darfur genocide comes to mind, pointless (my own view) war in Iraq, etc.