Friday, September 23, 2011
Dumb Generation
I can not say that the author of this book is completely incorrect with the things that he says about our generation but I do believe it is a bit far to call our generation the "dumbest". As most people would agree there is information that everyone in our society should know like historical facts but not knowing that information does not keep you from functioning as a citizen. Clearly our society now is much more technology based so it is not necessary to know specific information off hand because it is so easily accessed on the web. I don't think by us taking advange of that makes our generation dumb. The world is based on our technological advances now so the fact that our generation is so tech savy is a good thing. I would be more worried about our future if we didn't understand how to use the technology we have. By no means do I think having a well rounded knowledge about general information is not important, it is but everyone has their strengths and weakness and their own interests. Chosing to not care about general knowledge depends on the individual person and our generation should not be generalized as being the dumbest because of it.
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I agree that the access to Google makes learning as many facts as possibly unnecessary. Why learn who was the 3rd dynasty in China when one could clearly go on Google and find the answers in the matter of seconds. Learning one gains from general education courses is very vital to living in society but to say because we do not know every little fact is a tad bit ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though we should be well rounded in terms of education. I think that being a well rounded student is one that works hard in school, and has a basic knowledege of basic and general educational principles. As matt suggested, we have the technology to be able to search certain things we don't know or want to know. Bauerlein never took into consideration the technology that is at our feet in our generation.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is only going to get bigger and better and we shouldn't be criticized for that, that's evolution. We're supposed to adapt and overcome. Bauerlein can't fathom how far technology is going to come, and that our generation is going to be the ones to do it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Blake I also feel that if you have a well rounded education to have a better understanding of the world around us. Although it is important to know some common knowledge we are not encyclopedias and do not need to know everything.
ReplyDeleteWe are a technology based society and I agree that even though we need to understand things that are taught in general education there is more of a demand for us to know how to work technology. I also agree that we seem to know less because we can access the information on computers when we need it. That, I believe, is part of us using the internet like it was intended to be used. Now, we shouldn't abuse it and choose to learn nothing because we can just look it up. I think that it's unfair that he calls us a dumb generation just because there are a few kids that slack and completely blow off education. We have accomplished many things so far and as we get older there will be many more things we will do to prove that we are truly an intelligent bunch of people.
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