Blog #4

I really feel that we are not the dumbest generation. If we have to classify someone as the dumbest generation, it would probably be the generations that follow. Like we briefly discussed in class, I feel that every generation nit picks the generations that follows them, we blame things on the generations that follow, instead of laying the blame on our own generation. However I feel that generations are getting smarter over the years. I feel that although we may look dumb to older adults we really are intelligent. For my quote I picked the sentence from the article written by Sharon Begley. It said "First, IQ scores in every country that measures them, including the United States, have been rising since the 1930's. Since the test measures not knowledge but pure thinking capacity-what cognitive scientists call fluid intelligence, in that it can be applied to problems in any domain-then Gen Y's ignorance of facts (or of facts that older people think are important) reflects not dumbness but choice." This sentence in itself proves with facts that we are not dumb, actually our intellectual capacity is increasing. So why then do people think we are "the dumbest generation?" I feel the reason for this idea came about because we do not know facts that "older people" think we should know, therefore we look "dumb" in their eyes. The article by Begley mentions that "one quarter of 18-to24-year olds in a 2004 survey drew a blank on Dick Cheney, and 28 percent didn't know William Rehnquist." I honestly don't know who these people are and yes it makes me feel somewhat dumb, however I don't feel I should be looked at as being dumb just for the simple fact that I do not know who they are. I don't think it is fair to lay the blame on us for our lack of knowledge; of the facts that older adults think we should know. We can't know if someone doesn't tell us who they are, or no one mentions their names. Maybe its not our generations fault but our parents and their generation. Maybe they have not informed us enough about these people and things they think we should know. I don't think that we should be blamed for the fact that we don't know things that older people haven't told us. We can't know about something we have never heard of. I am not saying that Mark Bauerlein blames us because he doesn’t, in his video he agrees that he and his colleges are to blame. He does admit that it is not all our generations fault that we are considered dumb, however it the simple fact that he is calling us dumb that angered me. Reading through the chat with Mark Bauerlein I have changed my feelings towards the author and his opinions. In one of his chats a guy asked "I am curious as to how you are defining dumb? Is it defined as a lack of voluntary reading?." Bauerlein replied with "Dumb only in the sense of not making use of all the extraordinary opportunities, prosperity, schooling, culture, and, yes, technology, to become more learned, eloquent, and informed than previous , generations." I find myself now agreeing with him that we are dumb. I don't think that we do know as many facts as past generations do. We don't take the opportunity of going out and exploring the vast wealth information that is out there. We don't use technology in productive ways. Personally I think of Google and how many times I use Google in a day, most of the time I am looking up pointless things. I could be using it for so many other great things, but I don't. We don't explore culture like past generations did. I can't tell you whether I am German, French, Italian, because I don't know and it really doesn't matter to me. I bet most kids can't even tell you their great-grand parents names. We could use college as a way to gain knowledge and look at each class as if what you learn really matters, rather than just learning things so you can pass the test. Our great grandmothers and grand fathers would probably try and absorb all the knowledge they could in college. I feel past generations had a drive to learn things and make themselves more rounded and kids now days don't have that drive. We simply don't care. We want to pass classes, graduate and get a good paying job; who cares if we do or don't learn anything from all our classes. I think in Mark Bauerlein's sense of the word yes we are dumb, we don't take the opportunity to make ourselves more informed and more eloquent like he says. We don't know about issues that we probably should know about not simply for the fact that we don't want to appear dumb but in the sense that we want to grab every opportunity to make ourselves informed of what has happened, is happening and will happen in the world around us. I think that our generation needs to find a way to engage kids and young adults in learning things, we need to develop a drive in young people so that when we are 30 we are not still considered the "dumbest generation."