As I was reading the article, "The Dumbest Generation," I got the feeling the author truely felt we were the dumbest generation. Because we have cellphones, TV's, computers, and etc, if they would have had these they would have used them all the time too. As we discussed in our group, we all had the feeling of how the older generation thinks the younger generation has it easier. You could compare it to high school, the upperclassmen pick on the freshman. This is just a tradition that always happens. Older people might say that younger kids don't go outside as much and that they would play outside all day. Well, when they were growing up there was really wasn't much to do inside.
Going along with that point, Bauerlein attacks students that don't know about ancient Venician history, take a poll, I bet more than half never even heard of the Venicians. Some people no a lot about certain things and less about others, depending on what they take up in college. I'm not saying learning about diverse things isn't good for us. Learning a wide range of things makes us more intelligent. All in all, I think Bauerlein has somewhat of a point but I think he's being way too harsh.
You have a point that back in the older generations there was not much to do for them, so they went outside. It is not our fault that technology has become advanced during our era. Also, it probably would be very true that if you took a poll about the Venetian’s most people would know nothing about it. Mark maybe a little harsh about the dumbest generation, but he does make some valid points.
ReplyDeleteI agree that he does make some valid points about us being lazy but he is definitely being too harsh. Like you said, its like upperclassmen picking on freshmen.
ReplyDeleteI agree that he is being too harsh. If he was our age he would be the same way and in the video (don't quote me on this) he said something along the lines of if he was a kid he would be like how we are today. So it's really confusing, he's with us one time and against us the majority.
ReplyDeleteYeah man I think that dude was harsh!
ReplyDeleteI think that because we are in a global economy now its important for college kids to be specialized. If we all come out of college knowing a little bit aoubt a lot of stuff, we are not marketable. Nobody but wal mart wants to hire somebody that person. I worked as a Mining Engineer (and geologist) this past summer and I can tell you in the scientific community your skill set has to be narrowed down to a fine point to get a job. My dad owns a commercial real estate apprasing company that hires smart, specialized real estate appraisers, not somebody with a "general studies" degree. I think that 40 years ago, you could have gotten a job with some kind of degree like that. So in a way, you can't blame us for not knowing a bunch of stuff. That being said, I think its important to know the basics - but the in's and out's should be left for the specialists. just my 2 cents.
I think you have a good point when you talk about the diverseness of higher education today and that its more broad then specific so that the curriculum can cover more. I also agree with the older picking on the younger comment, things have deffinatly changed since our grandparents, and even some of our parents, were children. The focus is definatly more on indoor activities, although should we be trying to get our children to spend more time outdoors?
ReplyDeleteSpecialization is important...but so are the Venetians. Sure, maybe the Venetians aren't going to put food on the table, but their "history" helped to comprise who we are...
ReplyDeleteDon't knock the Venetians :) Learn. Grow. Practice curiosity before it's too late...and you're stuck with your "specialized" degrees in a cubicle somewhere.