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

Has digital overload made today's generation of students stupid or smart? Two experts debate this question in their respective new books.

Interview with Mark Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University in Atlanta, and author of "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future—Or Dont Trust Anyone Under 30. "

Category:

Education

Tags:

• education
• mark
• Bauerlein
• digital
• week
• American
• Enterprise
• Institute

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 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]

@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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.