The Dumbest Generation

[elizabeth]

http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book5-2008jul05,0,3980465.story I read the book and prefer The Twilight of Amercian Culture by Berman http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-American-Culture-Morris-Berman/dp/039332169X but found the article fascinating in a horrible sort of fashion. Having spent a good part of the year tutoring freshman philosophy students I would say without reservation that things are worse than the author is proposing. I thought others here may wish to read the book and or discuss or not discuss...

[dragons in the flower bed]

I thought others here may wish to read the book and or discuss or not discuss...

Thanks, I'm going to my library's catalogue right now to see if I can put it on hold.

[Mamagistra]

Ooh, my library has it on order. Thanks! :001_smile:

[dragons in the flower bed]

Ooh, my library has it on order. Thanks! :001_smile:

Do you mean The Dumbest Generation or Twilight of American Culture? Which shall we discuss?

[Ashleen]

I read The Dumbest Generation as soon as it came out. I found things I agreed with and things I disagreed with. I'd love to discuss it with people if other people read it too!

[dragons in the flower bed]

This part of the review struck me.

After all, "never have the opportunities for education, learning, political action, and cultural activity been greater," writes Bauerlein, a former director of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. . . .
The problem is that instead of using the Web to learn about the wide world, young people instead mostly use it to gossip about each other and follow pop culture, relentlessly keeping up with the ever-shifting lingua franca of being cool in school.

In other words: This just in! Teens left alone with opportunity waste it!

[transientChris]

My almost 15 yo dd is always telling me examples of this. She is just amazed at the ignorance of her peers. But then she is ignorant of who is the latest flame of Brittany or Lindsay or what Miley Cyrus thinks of her boyfriend.

She really has a hard time understanding why anyone is interested in all that when there are scores of great movies to watch and good books to read.

[Margaret in GA]

Great article. Just as my parents were, I am forever worried about "kids these days". Life is so peer oriented for kids and these seem lost in a perpetual youth that extends from age 13 to 25.

Love what he has to say of the internet. That people "seek out what they already hope to find, and they want it fast and free, with a minimum of effort." So true. You could argue that that has its advantages, too.

Margaret

[laylamcb]

My almost 15 yo dd is always telling me examples of this. She is just amazed at the ignorance of her peers. But then she is ignorant of who is the latest flame of Brittany or Lindsay or what Miley Cyrus thinks of her boyfriend.

She really has a hard time understanding why anyone is interested in all that when there are scores of great movies to watch and good books to read.

And it starts younger than that. I've got a 5.5yo and a 3.5yo, and adults they meet around town (at the bank, at Costco, etc.) are forever attempting to "connect" with them by asking them about their favorite TV characters (I'd give some examples, but the names aren't familiar to me!). Apparently my kids aren't culturally literate enough--but isn't it sad that television is the only way that some adults are able to communicate with children? :001_huh:

I haven't read either book, but the argument reminds me of Amusing Ourselves to Death, one of my all-time faves.

Layla McB

[Plaid Dad]

Thanks for both recommendations; interlibrary loan, here I come!

[Karenciavo]

In other words: This just in! Teens left alone with opportunity waste it!

LOL, yes http://www.smileygenerator.us/community/searchsmiley/g/LOL-giggle.gif

[Mamagistra]

Do you mean The Dumbest Generation or Twilight of American Culture? Which shall we discuss?

The former. ;) I loved Berman's book, so maybe I'll reread it, too. :D :lurk5:

[JWSJ]

are forever attempting to "connect" with them by asking them about their favorite TV characters

Same here, we don't have a TV, so my children don't know a lot of the popular garbage on the set.

When they or I explain we don't have a TV, the person asking them about their favorite show just look dumbfounded. Like we're depriving our children of something.

[Annie N]

When they or I explain we don't have a TV, the person asking them about their favorite show just look dumbfounded. Like we're depriving our children of something.
My mother can't believe how much we are depriving our children: first homeschooling, then no cable!!!!!

Nya ha ha... I'll have to get her this book...

[kalanamak]

Love what he has to say of the internet. That people "seek out what they already hope to find, and they want it fast and free, with a minimum of effort." So true. You could argue that that has its advantages, too.

Margaret

"Seek out what they already hope to find"? This is a very odd sentence. I'm not sure why the "already" is there, and who doesn't seek out what they'd like to find? Adventures to find out completely new things are not common. (Ahhh, I know nothing of Utah....lets go there on vacation and drive around and find out good things to find out.)

My father used the GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) idea of the internet (and he probably spent about 40 minutes of his life on it), just generalizing what this latest thing is...another human construct, filled with illusion or enlightenment, depending on how one approaches it.

I personally, really like being able to ask a group of strangers the best place and time of year to go star gazing in my state, and anything that encourages people of different stripes and ilks to communicate in a way that isn't filtered through the media or government, but on an actual person to person level is good, especially in the age of "the Bomb", as we said as a kid.

As for ill-educated generations, I am shocked and appalled by the language used by middle-aged college grads where I work. Yesterday a person who just finished her master's degree spelled "Syracuse" as "Serocruz". I see this every ding-dang day. :(

[dragons in the flower bed]

"Seek out what they already hope to find"? This is a very odd sentence. I'm not sure why the "already" is there, and who doesn't seek out what they'd like to find? Adventures to find out completely new things are not common. (Ahhh, I know nothing of Utah....lets go there on vacation and drive around and find out good things to find out.)

I think the "already" is the point. In traditional and classical education, a person is learning that they don't know so much, learning what questions to ask. A useful education gives you a broad map with vague paths, plus the skills to determine which paths to take to better lands. The internet, used this way, just gives you lots of information about where you currently are.

If you already know you don't know it, the major job of the medium isn't enlightening you, but informing you. If you don't know you don't know it, the medium expands your horizons.

(BTW, "I know of nothing of Utah, let's go find out good things to find out": that's exactly how I like to plan my vacations. Not that I ever get to take any.)

[Mamagistra]

Yesterday a person who just finished her master's degree spelled "Syracuse" as "Serocruz". I see this every ding-dang day. :(

That's Newspell, don'tcha know! ;) Or is it Fuzzy Spell? :D

[Margaret in GA]

"Seek out what they already hope to find"? This is a very odd sentence. I'm not sure why the "already" is there, and who doesn't seek out what they'd like to find? Adventures to find out completely new things are not common. (Ahhh, I know nothing of Utah....lets go there on vacation and drive around and find out good things to find out.)

My father used the GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) idea of the internet (and he probably spent about 40 minutes of his life on it), just generalizing what this latest thing is...another human construct, filled with illusion or enlightenment, depending on how one approaches it.

I personally, really like being able to ask a group of strangers the best place and time of year to go star gazing in my state, and anything that encourages people of different stripes and ilks to communicate in a way that isn't filtered through the media or government, but on an actual person to person level is good, especially in the age of "the Bomb", as we said as a kid.

As for ill-educated generations, I am shocked and appalled by the language used by middle-aged college grads where I work. Yesterday a person who just finished her master's degree spelled "Syracuse" as "Serocruz". I see this every ding-dang day. :(


Yes, well as you can see from my post that I think this is also the benefit of the internet. I mean, we are all *here* communicating about things based on a common interest (homeschooling). I don't post on a board with truck drivers do I? However, his point is that surfing the net for "information" is way different than reading a newspaper where we must be subjected to facts without opinion and stories of importance, not necessarily interest (well, one hopes anyway).

Margaret

[kalanamak]

I

(BTW, "I know of nothing of Utah, let's go find out good things to find out": that's exactly how I like to plan my vacations. Not that I ever get to take any.)

Then you are seeking out what you already hope to find...the unknown or adventure or some such thing. Even if it is simply rising in the middle of the night to empty one's bladder, we humans spend the majority of our time "seeking out what we already hope to find".

In a book, I'd be seeking more clarity in the writing.