Digital Kids: Smartest or Dumbest? Interview 1: Mark Bauerlein

[Antiworld23]

Further more, this guy is wondering why 15 year olds care about what happened in the lunch room more than what happened 2000 years ago? Well gee wiz, the sky is falling! I'm sure you baby boomers back in 1962 were all sitting around your tables in the lunch room discussing the finer points of Augustus Caesar's Roman Empire, and the lessons we learn form it. Kids reguardless of what generation they come from do not have perspective, only experience and age garner that.

[blacktigerpaw1]

@Antiworld23 Well this certainly proves that everyone blames everyone else rather than accepting their own troubles. The old blame the young, the young the old. It's a never ending cycle.

[Antiworld23]

As a 28 year old, I will say the Baby Boomers sure have a lot of gall. They are probably the most self absorbed spoiled brats in American history. They think they're entitled to freebies like social security, medicare, on our dime. They also tend to think they have the right to pay less than everyone else for goods and services because they "worked all their lives" and are on a "fixed income." If the following generation is stupid, it can only be blamed on their self absorbed parents.

[dynamicmaxwell120]

There's no such thing as a dumb and smart generation or a good and bad generation. The older generation will always look down on the younger generation. Today's generation of students are not stupid. If they were, I don't know how a record number of them are entering college. A student 2008 has achieved more in his life than a student in 1998.

[blacktigerpaw1]

@dynamicmaxwell120 To answer your question: It's because the education system has been made easier. Just because kids are entering college does not mean they have the skills to enter the workforce. Today's As are yesterday's Bs and Cs. The standards have been lowered, therefore, the students are not given the tools they need for society. So yes, they are stupid. You'd be surprised.

[dynamicmaxwell120]

@blacktigerpaw1 Today's As are not yesterday's Bs. We also have to understand that today's As are not yesterday's As either. Someone who was admitted to a university 40 years ago will find it hard to be admitted to the same university today. The standards have not lowered, but they've been raised and broaden. The top 1/3 of Millennials do better than the top 1/3 Boomers did. The middle 1/3 of Millennials are doing slightly better than the 1/3 Boomers did. It's only the bottom 1/3 that's not.

[blacktigerpaw1]

@dynamicmaxwell120 Wrong. What about biased education systems? The standards have been lowered, as a matter of fact; take a look at "gender studies" and other pseudo-sciences. When the interest in hardcore subjects such as the maths and sciences have been declining, is that a higher standard? I think not. Feeling is put over reason.

[dynamicmaxwell120]

@blacktigerpaw1 By the way, no generation puts feelings over reason more than Boomers do. It wasn't the Millennials that put America in the worst recession since the Great Depression and it isn't them that's in the stalemate congress. The youth hasn't become dumber. It's that older generations are jealous of what they can do. No generation likes demoralizing others more then Baby Boomers. Those babies should grow up and learn a thing or two from Millennials.

[blacktigerpaw1]

@dynamicmaxwell120 And what about teachers in Britain and the United States who cannot spell or construct grammatically correct sentences, ironically being English teachers? While you may think the standards have been lowered, the facts suggest otherwise. It is not difficult to get A's if you follow the system. Therefore, the standards have been lowered.

[dynamicmaxwell120]

@blacktigerpaw1 Ironically those teachers you're talking about are Boomers and not Millennials. The facts are actually against you. Three separate research done by Neil Howe, Pew Research Center, and Don Tapscott all say Millennials are better educated than Boomers. Test scores plummeted with Boomers. Ask any licensed professional whether that's engineers or lawyers to retake their license exam and they'll tell you the standards have risen.

[davidjradich]

As a former high school teacher, who taught from 1998 to 2008, I can say that the kids in 2008 were "dumber" than those in 1998. Critical thinking and writing skills just went down the tubes! Also the attitude got more disrespectful and insubordinate as well.

[xinianlai]

Oh you Baby Boomer... you would criticize this generation....

If you think that Tweeting, Facebook, etc make this the dumbest generation, why don't you try and use all the digital tools that are out there! It really takes the smartest generation to be able to handle and process all the information that is blasted through the internet constantly.

[trayci576]

@xinianlai Just because this notion offends you, doesn't mean what he is saying isn't true.

[kraken138]

@Xinianlai You think that aptidute on Facebook and Twitter it is a mark of intelligence? So, the fact that Einstein probably wouldn't know how to create a Facebook account, when a typical 2011 ten-year-old does, means, to you, that the youth is smarter than Einstein? Also, the correct way would have been, "Try TO use all the digital tools..." Not, "Try AND use all the digital tools. . ." You can try And fail, but only after you "try To use."

[blacktigerpaw1]

@xinianlai No, not really. Using the Internet takes a quick press of a button and the information processed is temporary. We are exposed to so much of it we cannot filter it properly. I see many such as yourself criticise the Baby Boomer generation, despite the numerous inventions that have been created from it. It is an endless cycle of blame, no? Then where is a solution, if you have one?

[weBjammin625]

and here this dumbass is using YouTube (technology) to try and sell his shitty book... Prove this douche wrong and then give him no credit.

[cheachea90]

Hmmm, let's get something straight please. 18-29 year old's are ADULTS not kids. We can fight in a war, drink and vote. Same thing you can do. Your whole comment is a joke. We know nothing about spelling yet you know nothing about grammer. " Math but they certainly don't know nothing about History or Spelling" you just said that we do NOT know NOTHING... therefore we DO know ALOT. Two negatives make a positive. If you have nothing SMART to say, Please shut up!

[blacktigerpaw1]

@cheachea90 *Grammar. You contradict yourself. I do believe you think you are immune to a thing called "criticism", which you are not. Just because you're getting up in arms over this, it doesn't mean it isn't true. There is evidence; you need to look for it.

[X7393]

I agree the 30's Generation with the BabbyBoomers are smarter and have more Knowledge then the 18-29 year old Generation-Young after all they voted for this idiot Obama not me! Adults are not stupid versus kids they might know a lot about Math but they certainly don't know nothing about History or Spelling and the rest is history they are horrible!..They are also rude to people who are older then they are. KIDS learn from your mistakes or please shut up if you have nothing nice to say!.

[Antiworld23]

@X7393 Here here! Obama was elected due to socailist baby boombers. The same ones who threw urine on our troops returning from Vietnam, the same ones who bitched about not trusting anyone OVER 30 now bitch about not trusting anyone UNDER 30? Sorry the decline of this nation is due to the morally relative baby boomers.