The Lust Generation : The Lack Of The Dumbest Generation

The world we live in today depends on technology to run. We have phones that can practically do anything. That is where the older generations say we are lazy, it is not that we are lazy, instead we are intuitive and resourceful. These words are viewed differently by Generation Y as we are trying to simplify everything, allowing work to be done faster. For example, in “A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much” it states, “College students also spend fewer hours studying then their counterparts in 1961…” (Rampell 389). We no longer need to go to the library because we can access the wealth of information on the internet, which is always at our fingertips.

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.

We are provided with a larger starting knowledge base then most, which lends its self to our generation being very skeptical. We are ones that don’t tend to take many things at face value. Since we have grown up in a time where our world around us is changing so rapidly we are forced to take a step back and understand our situation first and react/ form our opinions second. But with this way of approaching the world we fall short a lot of the time to see the small steps that make up the whole picture. Since we are trying so hard to wade through the mass amount information we are bombarded with on a regular basis we have all these over simplified opinions on a lot of subjects without truly understanding them. Take the most recent election for example. You have thousands of adolescents ages 13-20 voicing their opinions on social media without truly knowing what they are talking about. They are going off the small knowledge of the election that they have heard from their parents or the skewed media coverage that pops up on their social media feed. They never spend the time to do any research themselves. This is why, I think we are sometimes labeled as the lazy generation. Our elders see us being slightly educated on a lot of topics but never spending the time to go beyond the

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

The current generation in particular, cares “less about knowing information than knowing where to find information,” [Source B] and according to Bauerlein, today’s youth have “much more access and education” than their predecessors [Source A]. This is another example of humans taking their own advances for their personal advantage. The new tools and devices that come along with the technological advances have such a great assistance to every generation willing to use them. In fact, a study from the U.S. governments Foreign Service Journal in 1962 states the candidates had an ignorance to “elementary a subject as geography” and that few of them could “even place accurately the principal rivers” or even discuss other subjects that could be argued to simply be common knowledge [Source E]. This is proof; America is growing and changing in positive lights, not negative, and using recourses that have been made for the purpose of helping our generations. Although newer generations don’t generally learn knowledge in the same way as their elders, they have ways to do so with an improved efficiency and

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

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?

It is believed by many that younger generations, those under the age of thirty are the “dumbest”. Apparently, technology has now influenced and molded people into less-intelligent individuals who lack the knowledge and skills that people of the same age once acquired. Though if we look at more aspects of their learning capabilities, millennials do have the potential to be bright beings, now seen through more creative, non-traditional ways. And because of this, younger generations cannot be undermined as they have high levels of cognitive abilities, the help from technology, and how technology makes them write more and be more involved with their interests. Younger generations are not limited in their cognitive abilities, rather these abilities are expanding as time progresses.

Mark Bauerlain in his book The Dumbest Generation, makes the claim that the current under 30 generation is the “dumbest” in modern history, citing the fact that they “don’t know anything” (Bauerlain). This claim obviously comes from a place of ‘you youngins don’t know nothin’ syndrome, as the current under thirty generation is just as or possibly more competent (how?) than their predecessors.

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.

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.