Analysis: The Dumbest Generation

Mark Bauerlein seems to believe that is the dumbest generation because research has shown that knowledge skills and intellectual habits have gone down, and although some people agree with him, others don’t. I believe this generation isn’t the dumbest because there are other things that need to be considered when calling someone, a group of people, or even an entire generation stupid or dumb, rather than just knowledge skills and intellectual habits.

The general intelligence of humanity is dropping. It may not be obvious to most, but the people who are smart or bright now, would have been average fifty years ago. Everything is being made easier and being pushed back, so that it is less apparent that things are understood less and to a lower degree. One has to finish college now, to get the equivalent of a high school education.

Is Generation Y the dumbest generation yet? In Sharon Begley’s essay “The Dumbest Generation? Don’t be Dumb” she brings up an author by the name if Mark Bauerlein. Bauerlein has wrote a book describing how he believes Generation Y is the “dumbest generation” and is blaming it on their ignorance with use of the internet. He uses very basic evidence, such as that there has been a decline in adult literacy from 40 percent of high school grads in 1992 to 31 percent in 2003. (Begley 90) Begley brings up a very good point as the definition of “Dumbest”. (91) She proposed two separate definitions, the first being “holding the least knowledge” and the second being “lacking such fundamental cognitive capacities as the ability to think critically and

In chapter one of The Dumbest Generation, Mike Bauerlein makes several statements about our generation and comes to a conclusion that helps set the groundwork for the entire book. His analysis of today’s youth states that the current generation is lacking when it comes to intellectual knowledge. He provides evidence that states that today’s under-thirty population in the United States does not have adequate knowledge, and their lack of knowledge with affect them greatly in their adulthood years.

It is a natural tendency for people to assume that they are smarter than people that are younger than they are. It is widely thought that with age, comes more knowledge, and a better understanding of the world. However, this thinking can't be used as a broad statement for entire generations of people. While there certainly are older people that are much wiser than younger people, this fact doesn't mean that younger generations as a whole are dumb. With the knowledge and discoveries made by previous generations at the disposal of younger generation's, the young people of today are smarter than ever.

Along with the progression of society, major advances have been made in hundreds of different fields — particularly technology. Controversy has risen, and debates ensued over whether today's young Americans are really “the dumbest generation,” due to their “money, media, e-gadgets, and career plans” [Source A]. While advances have been made, they have brought with them resources to benefit off of, and ultimately assist in the overall intellect and intelligence of the human race.

Social critic and professor Mark Bauerlein’s definition of “dumber” isn’t the what it actually seems like. He truly means that this generation has just simply gotten extremely lazy, there is no ambition and with our reading habits slipping, so has our general knowledge.

Ignorance is a choice. Mark Bauerlain explains that "Young Americans have much more access than their parents did" yet, if there is so much information available does one just have the same knowledge as everyone else? Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project states that, "youth turn to specialized groups with the goal of improving their craft," Does that consider one person more or less dumb than another? No. What if one person's specific was significantly great, but the subject is what most consider useless?

The claim that the 30 and under generation is the dumbest is untrue for many reasons. To begin with, to the surprise of many, social media and tech encourages comprehension and writing in the younger generation (Source G). In addition, through technology, the younger generation are being given endless opportunities to create and learn whatever is needed by themselves (Source C). Last of all, IQ scores have been on the rise, making us smarter than any generation before with the help of technology. (Source B) In the following essay will expand on each of these reasons.

According to multiple studies, adults and teens spend more hours using technology than they do asleep. On average, adults spend 8 hours and 40 minutes per day using laptops, phones, and other electronics. On the other hand, teens spend about 9 hours using various forms of media. Mark Bauerlein, a social critic, professor, and author of The Dumbest Generation claims the under thirty generation is the “dumbest” generation in modern history due to technology. He says there are two differences between past generations and the under thirty generation, general knowledge has gone down and reading habits have vanished. The under-thirty generation is the dumbest because people squander the opportunities technology provides, which proves having an abundance of resources doesn’t assure success.

If you don't believe me, I suggest you ctually go to a college campus and talk to some students. A lot of them won't be able to identify the decade in which the Berlin Wall came down. Many of them will have very firm opinions on politics, but won't know the difference between the debt and the deficit. A lot of them will thinks the Civil War happened in the 18th century, and a lot will think the Revolution happened in the 1800s. They won't be able to summarize five amendments in the Bill of Rights, name five presidents between Lincoln and Truman, or name 15 elements on the periodic table. It's not their fault; their schools (and parents) have failed them. Education in this country has gone to hell. Some colleges will do some remedial blank-filling, some won't, and some kids won't go to

I personally believe that the argument my generation (commonly labelled “the millennials”) is the dumbest one thus far is lacking evidWith the regards to being labelled the “dumbest generation”, my thoughts are that we are not any less intelligent than the generations that have gone before, but, instead, that our intelligence lies in a different area than our parents, grandparents, and distant ancestors. I believe that since the millennial generation has grown up in the presence of technology, it is only conceivable that we would utilize our resources to our advantage. Generations before had to learn certain processes in the absence of technology such as simple mathematic operations or how to properly spell words. In this respect since technology

There has been a world-wide debate that has been going on for some time as to whether or not people are actually getting dumber. There are five authors, Jackson, Flynn, Gottfredson, Pinker, and Duncan, that have debated on this very topic found on nytimes.com. Each author is very credible, Flynn is an author and a professor, Jackson is a stand-up comedian, Pinker is an author and a professor, Gottfredson is a sociologist, and Duncan is a staff writer. Just as most of the nation is with this topic, the debaters didn’t all come up with the same answer and each had a different reasoning for it. While the debaters are able to agree on the fact that this is a topic that needs to be talked about, however none of the debaters are able to come to an agreement if we are becoming dumber and if

Almost every American has heard of the American Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, but what about the revolution taking place in America that is occurring right under American citizens’ noses? The current generation of youth and adolescents has been referred to by the adult generation, as dumbest and stupidest generation. This generation of adults makes the argument that the young generation has demonstrated a higher level of stupidity and low knowledge levels. They show that 56 percent of Americans ages 18-29 year olds demonstrate low knowledge levels while Americans ages 50-64 only show 22 percent (Bauerlein). Although these statistics may be of fact, the human mind is constantly growing and learning.

In the Avid Weekly article, “Are Millennials really more informed ?” by Darcy Palmer Jones and Syeda Sameeha, which is a topic of debate about whether or not Millennials are more informed. People say that we have become consumed to the wrong news, which i believe is false. I believe that Millennials are more informed. I think that Millennials are more informed based on their age and what they like or what they are interested in. Many younger Millennials have chosen what kind of news to be informed about.