Mark Bauerlein: The Dumbest Generation

The Saturday Night Live writers and actors, in the sketch, “Millennials,” explains that the older generation thinks millennials are immature and are too self-absorbed in themselves and their phones.

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.

Technology has advanced a lot more in the past century than it has over a million years. There is millions of new advancements found every day, however, this is making the younger generation a lot less knowledgeable. In the book The Dumbest Generation by Mark Bauerkein, it states that the teens today are the dumbest generation to live on the planet. It is commonly believed that the young generation is the least knowledgeable generation because of their great reliability on technology, constant distraction by technology, and negative media influences. Although technology helps to make one’s everyday life a lot easier, it is taking away one’s intelligence.

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.

A few years ago, I decided to learn sign language. It was not a project for a class, a requirement to graduate, or a fact that everyone knew. I just wanted to learn sign language, so I did what many twenty-first century millennials do and downloaded an app. The app showed me diagrams to learn basic phrases, videos to perfect the movements, and lessons to learn more efficiently. The technology of the app made learning sign language easy, and I could use it wherever I went. I thought that I was smart for using technology to learn specific things, but Mark Bauerlein, the author of a 2008 book called The Dumbest Generation, would disagree. According to Bauerlein, twenty-first century teenagers possess “low knowledge levels” when compared to past generations because of the increased use of technology. However, Bauerlein is mistaken. This generation is not “the dumbest generation” because we focus on different topics, we write more often, and we know that every generation has been called “the dumbest”.

Which generation really takes the title of the dumbest generation? Is it people under the age of 30? How does age have a part in this statement? And why is there even a dumbest generation?

The Dumbest Generation There is so much information and technology available to the under 30 generation, however this comes with a cost. In The Dumbest Generation, authors share their opinions on if the under 30 generation is the dumbest and why. This generation has proved itself to be the dumbest because of an over reliance on the abundance of new technology surrounding them, instead of using their knowledge to think on their own. Technology has given the under 30 generation an easy way out, which has resulted in the loss of vital skills that are crucial in everyday life. The under 30 generation is significantly dumber than previous generations, making it the dumbest generation.

Throughout history generations have judged those of a newer generation with the belief that they are worsening, specifically in their intelligence levels and work ethic. But is this necessarily the case? According to professor Mark Bauerlein, a social critic and author of The Dumbest Generation, it is. He believes that the generation of today is in fact what he considers “dumb”. As controversial as this might seem though, it is truly not surprising to hear due to the chain of criticism towards one another that has been around for centuries. So why exactly is this important to take into consideration? The answer itself lies within the generation of today. The actions Millennials take will not only influence them, but future generations as well. The way Millennials have chosen to portray themselves has just been slightly modified to adapt to this present day. Therefore they are not as “dumb” as previous generations have thought them to be. So why should you?

An author by the name of Mark Bauerlein claims in his book The Dumbest Generation that the generation of people younger than 30 are the dumbest yet. The generation of people younger than 30 are not the dumbest generation because video games teach them valuable lessons in life and also because the internet has changed how they think.

Americans today look back and realize how much technology has advanced. The big question is whether this technology is affecting our way of thinking. Or like some authors politicians and older generations say “ dumb.” So why is it that we are considered the dumbest generation, won’t we just grow up and call the next generation dumb? Older generations (over 30) believe that people under 30 are the dumbest generation, but if you think about it that’s what each generation has said about the previous, making it a pointless and incorrect statement said by the elderly.

Through the provocative title, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don 't Trust Anyone Under 30), Emory University professor, Mark Bauerlein, asserts his thesis. Using statistical information, Bauerlein presents the case that the millennial generation suffers from “Knowledge Deficits” in almost every important subject (11-38). Bauerlein argues bibliophobia (39-69) and distractions caused by technology (71-111) as reasons for the millennial generation’s lack of intellect. Bauerlein further implicates educators, or the mentors (163-203). When educators try to justify the knowledge deficits in millennials by pointing to individualism, Bauerlein ridicules their statements (185).

In his best-selling book The Dumbest Generation, professor and social critic Mark Bauerlein makes the statement that “those under thirty comprise the dumbest generation in modern history.” Which is a wildly distorted statement, surely the millennials don’t remember as much facts as there parental generations did but to call them the dumbest generation is completely absurd. In fact the under 30 generations perform better than the previous generations in many areas of intellect. Perhaps making them one of the smartest generations ever, with the highest IQ levels, there focus on accessing information and how there leading a literacy revolution.