Digital Kids: Smartest or Dumbest? Interview 2: Neil Howe

[leeroynaggins]

I kind of hope Neil Howe is right...

[blacktigerpaw1]

@leeroynaggins Unfortunately, he is wrong. If you look at feminism and numerous other hateful ideologies, you will find that this generation is plagued with them. It is a confused lot, to say the least. And paranoid.

[davidjradich]

What kids are you talking about? I taught for ten years and the kids seem to be more shallow, less able to think critically and in general both at work now and having taught these people. I just don't see it.

[Sshelly34213]

@davidjradich What is your criteria for "shallowness?" I don't see the excess degradation my generation receives simply for being "young." Do you honestly believe that other generations had more depth? Scientifically a young mind is immature and it has nothing to do with intelligence levels. As Howe has written each generation has its own archetype with pros and cons. My generation is, in my opinion, simply more carefree about the world than previous generations. There has nothing to do with iq

[davidjradich]

@Sshelly34213 I base this on ten years experience teaching history and political science in the high school. Most of my former students, as the years went by were less willing and or able to get into the depth of any specific topic and look into the deeper meanings. They got impatient expecting a soundbite and had the attention span of gnats. That is one major reason I quit teaching.

[davidjradich]

@davidjradich One other thing. The kids need to learn to shut up and do what they are told when they are in a subordinate position. I had to do it, who do these kids think they are. Many simply don't know their god damned place and need to be knocked down a notch or two. One problem is kids in school today are too sheltered from failure because it might hurt their self esteem. Well life is full of losers as well as winners and kids need to understand that.

[davidjradich]

@Sshelly34213 I also base it upon my experience as a Gen X er at 40 working in my current field (Environmental consulting) working with a recently graduated 23 year-old. I and others of my age group had difficulty working with him. He would ask a question, and I would begin explaining (which required detailed information) and the guy couldn't handle anything more than one or two sentences. He was also very over-sensitive and unwilling to accept that he might be wrong on things.

[davidjradich]

@Sshelly34213 As for IQ, I can agree. Yes, there is intelligence, but how that intelligence is applied is what I have a question about. Frankly, I personally find many in the current upcoming generation to be big pains in the ass to deal with because of their mindset and unwillingness to slow down and take in details and see the bigger picture. Kids I worked with completely missed the forest for the trees on many occasions costing my company's ability to function smoothely.

[Sshelly34213]

@davidjradich That's a fine thing to question, but I firmly believe that the boomers and Xers are testing our intelligence in the wrong way. They taught us to understand the bigger picture first and not focus so much on the little details. The Xers and Boomers were literally taught the opposite. I've noticed that a lot of this generation expects us to know these things and yet they did not teach them to us. Did it ever occur to you, that your directions may not make sense?

[davidjradich]

@Sshelly34213 You have some valid points, but honestly. I lost my patience and compassion over the years to deal with those differences and that is one major reason I quit teaching. Another issue is that my generation was neglected and abused for the most part and your generation is one of the most coddled. I know I must sound a little bitter saying this, but I am in a way, just as many in my generation. Interesting discussion. Thanks for the perspective.

[Sshelly34213]

@davidjradich I've noticed a tendency for older generations to explain tiny details and then get frustrated when we can't process the idea in that way. That's just not how we work. For example, if you gave me a set of instructions to follow in the form of tiny details, I would end up forgetting some of those tiny details along the way and get lost. It also doesn't help that Xers specifically berate and degrade us for this flaw. Xers are negatively critical and it comes off as hostile.

[davidjradich]

@Sshelly34213 I can understand your point, but nobody ever tried to accommodate me or my generation's learning style. It was shut up and do what you are told and if you can't hack it you fail. So that is my experience. Maybe it is not right, but we are formed by our experiences.

[Sshelly34213]

@davidjradich Boomers seem to have more patience with this and will be kind and explain it several times. Early Xers and late Boomers (born in the mid 50s-early 60s) vary.

I've noticed that a lot of my generation seems to have a better time by physically getting in there and doing something. If we're taught while we go and taught while we're doing something-as in you show us how-we get it. We're doers, not thinkers-I don't think this quality is relevant to IQ.

[davidjradich]

@Sshelly34213 Same reason grandparents spoil their grand kids. The boomers did a shitty job of parenting my generation and are now trying to make up for their mistakes.

[Sshelly34213]

@davidjradich How you process and absorb information and knowledge varies and just because I don't do it in the same way you do, doesn't mean I'm stupid or have a low IQ. This type of attitude creates an environment that pushes my generation way, this is why you're seeing a lot of kids from my generation leaving college or having a tough time. Your attitude and lack of understanding how my generation learns, pushes my generation away. There's a cruelness to it that we don't like.

[Sshelly34213]

@davidjradich A lot of people have gone about how there's not "generation gap" between the older and younger generations anymore, but there is a gap. I believe that is a communication gap, your generation doesn't understand how to teach us and we don't understand how to learn from you. There's the generation gap, it has nothing to do with silly music tastes and ideology like it did with the hippies and Xers.

[davidjradich]

@Sshelly34213 I do wish that when I began teaching, that there would have been a focus on that, perhaps I would still be teaching instead of having burnt out. As for music taste and ideology...Some of the Ideology, I can understand. Music...Well, I will never get Rap, hip hop or Lady Gaga. Sorry.

[Sshelly34213]

@davidjradich I don't get them either, but I think you can point to any decade and find horrendous music mistakes. Duran Duran certainly comes to my mind when I think of the 80s. I kind of see my generation's identity as fragmented. There really is no major pop cultural icon for my decade. I don't think my generation has one because we're not angry. There's no real older voice telling us not to do something. There's no one saying "hip hop" is the devil, so there's no need to rebel in that manner

[Sshelly34213]

@davidjradich I'm sorry teaching didn't work out for you, by the way have a nice holiday!

[woodpeckerboy1234]

a man was walking his dog in the snow when he came across some carrots , he thought it was a snow man grave yard but it turned out to be a field full of carrots ha ha

[texme]

i am a Millennial, i will break the system, first the legal system, then the banking system, then the political government system, then the energy industry. i am not a "Person" (legal fiction) i am living MAN flesh and blood. You have NO jurisdiction. This matrix will end on my watch. I am a Millennial (Hero)

[paniq303]

I HAS CHORTLES!

[danger0usknowledge]

@texme But you can't take all the credit. You weren't defined as a "Person" yet but your corp persona succeeded in doing what 80 yrs of *Communisses* & *Soshallists* could not do, crash the US economy. The greatest generation, in the person of co-president Cheney, refused Attorney's General from 50 states in 2003 who wanted to stop predatory mortgage lending. In 2004 the FBI reported that predatory lending was going to crash the economy. His response? 30-1 bank credit reserves also in 2004.

[texme]

@danger0usknowledge Legal Tender exists in a Jurisdiction... A Birth Certificate is a Transfer of Title! (into a Jurisdiction) anything you "own" with this title is compromised. Sovereignty was compromised at Berth/Birth... Citizen$HIP