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.

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.

As R. Smith Simpson says, "My initial surprise was to find among the candidates an abysmal ignorance of so elementary a subject as the geography of the United States" (Source 5, R. Smith Simpson). However, this small knowledge of geography is just one example of a young person's intelligence. This lack of knowledge of geography doesn't point to a lesser intelligence of the younger generation, but rather a lesser need of knowledge. In past generations, people couldn't find out information about the works around at an instant via the Internet. They had to learn facts and memorize them if they wanted to be aware of something. The lack of knowledge of geographical information shown in some cases by today's youth points to easier ways of finding out information, instead of young people being dumber than their

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”.

Over the course of time technology has changed society’s views on various topics. In The Dumbest generation, Mark Bauerlein makes the argument that the youth generation is less knowledgeable than the older generation. This is not necessarily the case because the youth generation do not feel the need to know facts such as “who wrote the oratorio “Messiah” (which 35 percent of college seniors knew in 2002, compared with 56 percent in 1955) (Source B). As mentioned previously this is not by any means indicating that the youth generation is less knowledgeable, but instead shows that they have other resources to find out this information rather than just knowing it. Also, not knowing facts that were once very important to the older generations does

In conclusion, to answer the question about our generation being the dumbest, I do but I don’t think that our generation is the dumbest generation because I don’t think that it should apply to everyone based off of these certain people or off of what this group of people did because it could relate to me, but at the same time I know that’s not

In a 2014 article on Psychologytoday.com, Ray Williams informs his audience about the rise of anti-intellectualism in American in an article called: Anti-Intellectualism and the “Dumbing Down” of America. Williams clams that America has suffered in intellectualism because society has dismissed science, the arts, and humanities and have been replaced by media, entertainment, and ignorance. He backs up this claim by citing Susan Jacoby, author of The Age of American Unreason, Pulitzer price winner Richard Hofstadter, author of The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein, a number of studies and statistics done across the country, and as well as many other authors on this subject. Williams makes bold claims by comparing American education to Japanese,

Intelligence is not based on what one already knows. Instead, it is based upon our ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills towards a certain topic. In other words, how one will process and use the information that has been given to them. The learning and thinking capacity today’s generation posses is not only greater than those of previous generations but more effective as well. Researcher Mizuko Ito agrees. In her 3-year study she states, “...young people acquire various forms of technical and media literacy by

There have been many claims that Generation Y, or millennials, are the dumbest generation to have lived. However, millennials, while they don’t hold extensive knowledge, know where to get the information needed and can access the information they need for research quicker than past generations due to search engines. Millennials also can change their tone to match their audience generally better than past generations as well. Does this mean they can be considered the smartest generation? Possibly.

Today’s generation would be considered to be the dumbest generation according to college professor Mark Bauerlein. In Bauerlein’s book “The Dumbest Generation”, he argues that people under the age of 30 are the dumbest generation. However research shows that technology has improved our knowledge over time. Also social media and all things related has played a positive role in today’s generation lives.

Sharon Begley uses intense language to convey the true irony that as the over thirty generation argues Gen Y is “ignorant to facts”, they are ignorant to the facts and studies showing spikes in IQ and cognitive intelligence. As knowledge becomes increasingly more accessible and at our fingertips each day, why memorize them, when instead things privy to your needs can be remembered? Gen Y are not only thinkers, but doers, gaining them major points in experience and comprehension. “By its immediacy and breadth of information, the digital world lowers barriers to self-directed learning”(Source C). Knowledge is limitless, and Mizuko Ito paints a vivid picture of the wall all other generations have built between them and the sweet enlightenment of what they have yet to learn. Gen Y has broken down this wall and opened new doors for themselves and all others around them. As a new generation is born, a new page is turned into a complete new way of thinking, but it is often forget that this doesn't have to be a bad thing. “‘I think we’re in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven’t seen since

Many people nowadays rely very much on technology. Those under the age of thirty are indeed “the dumbest generation”. These people are the dumbest because they were born into the new media world. There is three sources that enhance that the age we now live in, is ignorant however, there is also one source that says so otherwise. The sources are a combination of a excerpts, an article, and a political cartoon.

During this contemporary age, the definitions of “dumb” or “smart” are fairly relative. With the internet and all kinds of information right at our fingertips, it's hard to measure intellectuality. A person who seeks out information on the web, as if the internet is their own personal tool for education, is the contemporary smart today. “Dumb” people are those who choose to look at mindless information, not just some of the time, but most of the time. So, it isn’t clearly the internet that has made us “dumb”, necessarily. The internet has forced us to bring out the parts of ourselves that we wish to identify