Dumbest Generation Thesis

In the article, Our Semi-Literate Youth? Not so Fast written by Andrea A. Lunsford, Lunsford tells about how youth today are perceived to be less intelligent and too dependant upon technology. She goes on to show that she doesn’t agree with that assumption, she states that she has been working with college writes for over thirty years and has conducted studies showing the opposite. Lunsford thinks that with the advances in technology students are actually gaining more of a range of writing technique and greater adaptability to the changing audiences that students encounter. Through the exposure to different social medias and excess to people across the world, students have become more well rounded writers and show no decrease from the writing

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.

People claim that new developments have caused kids to be so dependent on their devices, that they can't think for themselves. This claim can also be turned around by saying that technology has given kids more opportunities and chances to learn, and in particular, more opportunities to write (Source 7, Clive Thompson). An example of this is a study done at Stanford University, where it was discovered that Stanford students did a stunning 38 percent of their writing outside of the classroom (Source 7, Clive Thompson). With the developments of E-mail, texting, and social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, younger people are constantly writing in their every day lives. In the past, people would, for the most part, stop writing once the finishes their education. Now however, people are more comfortable, and more used to, writing. And while the argument that technology has decreased level of the vocabulary and vernacular of young people is true in some cases, the increase in writing shown by young people has led to a greater ability to convey information to other people, and a greater comfort in talking to people they don't know (Source 7, Clive Thompson). As Andrea Lunsford says, "I think we're in the midst of a literacy revolution the likes of which we haven't seen since Greek Civilization" (Source 7, Clive

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

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?

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

Technology is enhancing our knowledge, not making us dumber. In source 2, science columnist Sharon Begley explains how technology does not negatively affect the youths intelligence. Begley addressed that “There is no empirical evidence that being immersed in instant messaging, texting, iPods, video games, and all things online impairs

Are we to busy searching the web to realize how dumb we are becoming? We live in the age of technology, where there is easy access to the Internet. Nicholas Carr, the author of “Does the Internet Make you Dumber?” stated a good question that is relevant to our generation. Since we have easy access to the Internet, it is making us dumber instead of smarter. I believe individuals have taken advantage of the Internet and it is costing them their thinking skills. Sometimes individual don’t realize the impact that the internet has on our brain and education. The author states that the internet comes with distractions, many information, and it models our brains.

When it comes to the topic of technology, most people will readily agree that it has been growing non-stop at a significant pace. About 16 years ago, technologies, such as computers were not a necessity in mainstream life. Since then, technology has progressed and people have become extremely reliable on. In the essay “What’s the Matter with Kids Today?” by Amy Goldwasser, she talks about the positive aspects of the Internet. According to Goldwasser, “Twenty-plus years ago, high school students didn’t have the Internet to store their trivia”(Goldwasser 238). By stating this, Goldwasser explains that over the years the Internet has become a necessity in the lives of the majority of students today. Although the Internet provides sufficient

One reason why those under the age of 30 are “the dumbest generation” is because they lack general knowledge. For instance, in a book written by Mark Bauerlein, he found a survey by Pew that states, “56% of 18- to 29-year-olds possessed low knowledge levels, while only 22 percent of 50- to 60-year-olds did” (Source 1). In this case the lack of general knowledge was measured through a survey taken by Pew, a research company based in Washington D.C. Furthermore, this piece of evidence reveals the truth about the younger generation: they lack knowledge. They have all the answers at their fingertips, with yahoo, google, etcetera. With this they gain information quickly and easily, but the information is not retained. Additionally, Sharon Begley, a science columnists, says that Generation Y cares more about “knowing where to find information” (Source 2), than actually knowing the information. This adds on to the idea that the younger generation lacks general knowledge. They are more concerned about what the quickest way to get the information than taking time to retain the information

However, some would say that within education, the use of technology can influence students to cheat or take the easy way out on their assignments. “Students today can easily access essays, reports, class notes, tests, etc. online, making it that much more difficult for teachers to know if the work their students hand in is original” (Ronan). This dilemma interferes with teenagers processing new information. The Internet is a great tool; however, teens may rely too heavily on it, and worse, believe everything they see. I believe that the internet can be a great source to gain more knowledge, however, one needs to acknowledge how to effectively use this tool to benefit them.