Mark Bauerlein wrote a book on my generation or in his words “the dumbest generation”. I disagree with many of his points. He claims that we are “recklessly distracted” and constantly filled with “impatience”. What about all the other teen generations? What did flappers parents say about them? What about the teens at Woodstock? My generation isn’t the only or the first to be labeled under these terms. Even I am looking at the kids in middle school saying I never acted that way when I was their age!
“America’s youth know virtually nothing about history and politics.” Bauerlein said. As if everyone his age knows all about history. Plus, they have had more time on this earth to hear and learn about these events. On top of that he needs to take into consideration that different people learn differently. We see this more today than when our great grandparents were in school. Three generations back they didn’t have the opportunities we have today. Some didn’t stay in school long enough to graduate high school and very few of those who did went on to college. If they weren’t on the top they didn’t keep going. Their families needed them to help. How much did they have to learn compared to what we learn? How advanced are we in science today? History is only slim pickings in comparison to what other things we have to learn. We have Science, Math, English, History, Geography, Art, and Music. The same sorts of genre of classes but get into today’s high school classes. You can take Biology 2 or 3. There is physics, agriculture, chemistry, English, French, German, Latin, Chinese, Shakespeare, Literature, World History, American History, European History, and so many more. I didn’t even get into the new technology classes. Did our great grandparents have these classes? I don’t think so. Our brain capacity is just as much as theirs was. Yet the expectations for us just keep rising and it’s hard to keep up. Yes, we should be pushed. The world needs to remember that even though we have so much new technology it doesn’t mean that our brains are just as large as a motherboard.
That is only the tip of the iceberg. Bauerlein claims that “social life is a powerful temptation.” As if he didn’t have a social life when he was a teen?! Ok, maybe he didn’t, but we have more access to each other through the web and all the new technology. Since when did having friends become looked down upon? He also pointed out during a lecture to a body of students that “You are six times more likely to know who the latest American Idol is than you are to know who the Speaker of the House is.” Personally, I know neither the Speaker nor the latest American Idol. I can shoot out a fair number of politician’s names, but not their official position or party. I can name even fewer American Idols. Does this mean I’m a failure?! I believe my talents and ideas lie elsewhere.
I believe that Mark Bauerlein is over exaggerating his point. I don’t think that he’s completely wrong. I’m pretty confident that some of my generations are that dumb. Yet when he points his finger at the entire generation, I get offended. I can’t sit around and let him mar our names. I do not fit the description he paints nor do any of my friends. I won’t stand for someone who doesn’t know me to label me.
"Some people you can never please
You might as well just let them be
They mock everything not their own
From their imaginary throne
But I won't bow down,
even if the whole world thinks I'm crazy" ~Superchick
He is exaggerating his point! I feel like he is oblivious to the fact the we are so much farther in sciences and have learned so much more about history. He doesn't take a look at his own generation to see what they did in school. How many of them graduated? How many of them went to college? We as students get to learn about things in and out of the classroom with our websites. We can read articles our professors put online. We can look things up we are interested about in Politics. I think he is just one to point a finger and that is all.
ReplyDeleteRight! We are using the internet to learn more all the time, but it's what we want to learn on top of our schoolwork. Just because he doesn't think learning how to build a mousetrap car is exciting doesn't make it dumb. (The mousetrap car was a school project but a really fun one!)
ReplyDeleteI had to make a mousetrap car in one of my highschool classes. We watched a video on how to build a few different types but I never really understood how they worked until I actually put it together. My point is that you can find an unlimited amount of information on the internet but it will never be as good as actully doing it.
ReplyDeleteWow. I can really hear your voice and passion in this blog. Thanks for that! However, to play "devil's advocate," I'd like to pose this question to you: although we have more opportunities, do we TAKE them? True, we have the opportunity to go to college. Heck, it is almost expected that we go. However, what defines the typical college experience -- I'd say social life ranks higher than academia.
ReplyDeleteI think that our generation is exposed to so much material that we are constantly experiencing information overload. We have to pick and choose what to retain, and our current culture has a lot to do with that.
ReplyDelete@Olivia, I agree that the social life is probably the most important thing that students would list in their college experience. But is it really all our fault? Popular movies and even our parents tell us that college is a place to have "the best time of our life".
Many people in his generation didn't go to college because they had to get a job for money. Now most people in our generation go to college to try and better our futures and he labels us as dumb?.
ReplyDeleteHe definitely over-exaggerates everything, and i hope he's only doing it to make a point. Our history now and the way we learn it is completely different from 30 years ago. We have the resources now to comprehend and understand the past rather than just remember dates and facts. If we don't remember a date, we can simply check it on the net and keep on with our work.
ReplyDeleteOliva: Your question hits the mark. I was thinking about it today during the test. No, I don't think we take as much advantage of the Web as we could. Think about what we daily do on the internet. For me, it's FB and email. I don't take advantage of it, and I'm going to bet that most are in the same boat. I do think about looking things up, but my attention is always drawn away and I forget. Yet I do still believe he is over-exaggerating, but that does come with writing and trying to publish your book.
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