In his book, "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future", Mark Bauerlein ridicules "Generation Y" for being the dumbest generation yet. He states that we are ignorant, and unapologetic for our ignorance, and that we can't spell or retain information. He harps on the idea that we spend way too much time playing video games, IMing, texting, and facebooking and not enough time on reading and writing. He says that our parents are way too easy on us, and that should we actually think and write intelligently we are ridiculed.
Bauerlein's arguments are nothing new, as the authors of the Newsweek article, "The Dumbest Generation? Don't be Dumb." pointed out. Despair of a generation's ignorance is nothing new. Bauerlein seems to forget that the members of Generation Y did not raise themselves. They were raised by their parents who allowed them to get away with the things he today calls "ignorance" and "stupidity". So why should all the blame fall on the children? Bauerlein notes that Grand Theft Auto sales were at a total of 500 million for the first week, and says that some of that money should have been spent on books and other educational tools. Is it a crime for children to want to play a game in their off time? Did his generation not go outside and play a roudy game of football or baseball in their free time? What's the difference?
Bauerliein pointed out that, "It's the era of child-centered classrooms and self-esteem grading.'' I'd like to come upon a teacher who grades to boost a child's self esteem, it would be a nice break from the hours spent studying and doing homework to meet the teacher's expectations. Bauerlein complains about how Generation Y can't spell and how without spell check we would be doomed. While that may be somewhat true, there were also many people in his generation that would be unsuccesful without spell check in their offices today as well.
To me, Bauerlein is being extremely redundant and hypocritical. He is judging our generation off of the members who reside at the bottom of their class, and simply dont care. He isn't looking at the members of Generation Y who are excelling and have a promising future ahead of them. In 20 years, I'm sure he will look back and note how wrong he is when he sees that our generation is just like his.
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3 comments:
I agree with your question, where it says that why the children, our generation, should get all the blame? i also liked how you ended your thoughts on how he will look back and re-think about how we are not the dumbest generation.
Good thoughts. Its true that today ignorance seems to be linked to stupidity, which I think is why Generation Y is called "the dumbest generation". I do agree with what you said about how we didn't raise ourselves, because its true. But parents don't necessarily "teach" us all of lifes lessons. I think some of the blame should fall on peers in school. It seems like with all of the technology now reading a book is really just checking on Sparknotes, and thats what mose people do. Its not really that common to see people reading a lot and its not that uncommon to see other students ridiculing peers by saying that reading is "dumb" or a "waste of time". I like how you ended that some people of Generation Y are excelling, becuase thats really hard to ignore. Technology really isn't all its worth without human ingenuity behind it, and thats what those members of Generation Y are trying to build for the future.
Hey Chelsea. You made really good points about the book written by Bauerlein. I like how you compared videogames to football it was a nice touch. I also thought that it was very interesting how you pointed out how hypocritical he was being. It made his case even worse and it made your point more valid. I agree with you in the fact that our parents raised us, and they are part of what we became.
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