I don't know if this generation is the dumbest generation but I have to agree that they have some issues. The thing that would erk me the most when I was teaching was students handing in papers filled with text messaging shortcuts like @ instead of at and u instead of you. It's pretty sad to know that students think it is acceptable to turn in a formal paper like that.
I don't know what's up with that college, but at my University most research assignments I've had have required both academic journal articles and books, and you can generally only find journal articles online (that is, you can find journal articles online and off, but not books online). I've also had about 4 different classes which had seminars on how to do research, find books, and so on. I'm not a huge fan of using books simply because their topic is usually much broader than my relatively small paper and it's harder to find the information you need in a larger book than a smaller article, but if I don't find what I'm looking for with journal articles (or a book is required) I will go to books. The other advantage to journal articles is of course that they are often much more recent and up to date, which matters in some fields more than others.Anyways, that was one student out of how many? Presumably most of the rest of them found books with no problem? Anecdotal evidence doesn't really demonstrate an overall trend. I don't think people are much dumber now than they were before. Some of the teaching in the schools has actually improved; where once it was mostly rote learning, now I've found it to be focused more on understanding than pure memorization. Maybe this varies from place to place. For some reason a lot of the older generation who had to do more rote learning think that, for example, not knowing a whole bunch of historical dates off by heart (ones you could easily look up if you ever needed the info) means that kids are dumb or uneducated or something. Literacy isn't the only measure of intelligence, either. I was easily one of the best English students at my high school, but there were tons of kids who could defeat me handily at math or science (part of this was due to less of interest in those subjects on my part, but still). People are intelligent in different ways. I've known people who don't read books, couldn't write a literary essay to save their lives, but are brilliant at physics, biology, etc. and can even write science papers fairly well.I do think philosophy classes should be mandatory in High School, though. That would be the place for the skills and life lessons that some of you feel are missing from other classes. It could be a place for rational, critical thought, for learning about different ethical theories and questions about the nature of knowledge, inquiry, the mind, politics and political theory, the nature and theory of science and social science, the fundamentals of logic, and so on. I think it's good for people to think about these things at least once in their life, and some do on their own, but group learning and discussion makes it infinitely better.
Seeing as Boys Don't Cry is a compilation album with a tracklist that wasn't even chosen by The Cure themselves, I think that unlikely, but I'd be interested to read the article all the same. :)
If you honestly believe that American society today is healthier and more well-grounded than American society of the 1950s, you're either insane or ignorant or both -- and that's even assuming that the verboten beliefs you trotted out indeed typified the mindset of the 1950s (when, in truth, they didn't).Inter-racial acrimony is worse than ever; the educational system is collapsing; suicide and crime are much higher; it's too dangerous for children to play outside unsupervised; government pervades every aspect of daily life; there is no such thing as job security; it's nearly impossible to raise a family on a single wage; illegitimacy is through the roof; STDs are rampant, even among minors; you can't attend a movie or any other public venue without running a gauntlet of thugs and other human debris; courtesy and manners are dead; profanity reigns supreme; women are bitter that feminism didn't make them happy; men are bitter that women can steal their money and their children in divorce court at the drop of a hat; and both political parties field candidates that promise only more of the same.I'd take the 1950s and suffer its supposed sins in a minute rather than tolerate the entropy we're sliding into now.
oh wow we are dumb! like every other rising genoration.?They are encased in more immediate realities that shut out conditions beyond -- friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, FACEBOOK.''The internet is an important part of todays world. Maybe it?s those who cannot use it properly are those who are cut off?They don't read books -- and don't want to, either?Perhaps if schools didn?t assign book kids don?t find interasting so often kids wouldn?t jump to the conclusion that all books are boring.?Lack of capitalization and IM codes dominate online writing. Without spellcheck, folks are toast. ?Well im sorry I didn?t get the memo that our mechanics on IM are included in our GPA?They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing?I wonder why? How often do you have teachers encouraging original thought? No it?s all ?memorize your math facts? ?punctuation is the most important part of your paper?. In 8th grade I wrote a paper, read it out loud and was told by my tutor that that was a college level paper and that my choice of words organization, main idea, and arguments where probably in the top 5% . You know what I got on that? a D, a D because of bad mechanics. Doesn?t matter if the arguments and thoughts are genius, as long as I remember to capitalize locations. ?Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.?Never played it, don?t care?They don't store the information?You know there is this great thing, lets say you find an important website that may help you with your next paper, on the top of the page there is a ?favorites? tab. If you click on that and click ?add to favorites? it will be saved, so then when you need to research for your paper you can click on it! Because you STORED INFORMATION.?Or because their parents don't check their bedrooms at midnight to halt the instant messaging..?I didn?t know staying up late made me stupid, tired maybe, but not stupid. If it does maybe the schools can stop giving kids in AP classes the 6 hours of homework they say they get. I?m not in those though, because of bad mechanics, remember??Because they're young?No comment necessary
glitch8311May 11, 2008
Reason #9 - b/c we believe crap like this.Reason #10 - b/c we are attracted to "top 10" lists.
aquireworthMay 12, 2008
I don't know if this generation is the dumbest generation but I have to agree that they have some issues. The thing that would erk me the most when I was teaching was students handing in papers filled with text messaging shortcuts like @ instead of at and u instead of you. It's pretty sad to know that students think it is acceptable to turn in a formal paper like that.
kerrigoreMay 15, 2008
I don't know what's up with that college, but at my University most research assignments I've had have required both academic journal articles and books, and you can generally only find journal articles online (that is, you can find journal articles online and off, but not books online). I've also had about 4 different classes which had seminars on how to do research, find books, and so on. I'm not a huge fan of using books simply because their topic is usually much broader than my relatively small paper and it's harder to find the information you need in a larger book than a smaller article, but if I don't find what I'm looking for with journal articles (or a book is required) I will go to books. The other advantage to journal articles is of course that they are often much more recent and up to date, which matters in some fields more than others.Anyways, that was one student out of how many? Presumably most of the rest of them found books with no problem? Anecdotal evidence doesn't really demonstrate an overall trend. I don't think people are much dumber now than they were before. Some of the teaching in the schools has actually improved; where once it was mostly rote learning, now I've found it to be focused more on understanding than pure memorization. Maybe this varies from place to place. For some reason a lot of the older generation who had to do more rote learning think that, for example, not knowing a whole bunch of historical dates off by heart (ones you could easily look up if you ever needed the info) means that kids are dumb or uneducated or something. Literacy isn't the only measure of intelligence, either. I was easily one of the best English students at my high school, but there were tons of kids who could defeat me handily at math or science (part of this was due to less of interest in those subjects on my part, but still). People are intelligent in different ways. I've known people who don't read books, couldn't write a literary essay to save their lives, but are brilliant at physics, biology, etc. and can even write science papers fairly well.I do think philosophy classes should be mandatory in High School, though. That would be the place for the skills and life lessons that some of you feel are missing from other classes. It could be a place for rational, critical thought, for learning about different ethical theories and questions about the nature of knowledge, inquiry, the mind, politics and political theory, the nature and theory of science and social science, the fundamentals of logic, and so on. I think it's good for people to think about these things at least once in their life, and some do on their own, but group learning and discussion makes it infinitely better.
sephereniaMay 18, 2008
Seeing as Boys Don't Cry is a compilation album with a tracklist that wasn't even chosen by The Cure themselves, I think that unlikely, but I'd be interested to read the article all the same. :)
logosx1Jun 3, 2008
If you honestly believe that American society today is healthier and more well-grounded than American society of the 1950s, you're either insane or ignorant or both -- and that's even assuming that the verboten beliefs you trotted out indeed typified the mindset of the 1950s (when, in truth, they didn't).Inter-racial acrimony is worse than ever; the educational system is collapsing; suicide and crime are much higher; it's too dangerous for children to play outside unsupervised; government pervades every aspect of daily life; there is no such thing as job security; it's nearly impossible to raise a family on a single wage; illegitimacy is through the roof; STDs are rampant, even among minors; you can't attend a movie or any other public venue without running a gauntlet of thugs and other human debris; courtesy and manners are dead; profanity reigns supreme; women are bitter that feminism didn't make them happy; men are bitter that women can steal their money and their children in divorce court at the drop of a hat; and both political parties field candidates that promise only more of the same.I'd take the 1950s and suffer its supposed sins in a minute rather than tolerate the entropy we're sliding into now.
polexiaOct 14, 2008
oh wow we are dumb! like every other rising genoration.?They are encased in more immediate realities that shut out conditions beyond -- friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, FACEBOOK.''The internet is an important part of todays world. Maybe it?s those who cannot use it properly are those who are cut off?They don't read books -- and don't want to, either?Perhaps if schools didn?t assign book kids don?t find interasting so often kids wouldn?t jump to the conclusion that all books are boring.?Lack of capitalization and IM codes dominate online writing. Without spellcheck, folks are toast. ?Well im sorry I didn?t get the memo that our mechanics on IM are included in our GPA?They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing?I wonder why? How often do you have teachers encouraging original thought? No it?s all ?memorize your math facts? ?punctuation is the most important part of your paper?. In 8th grade I wrote a paper, read it out loud and was told by my tutor that that was a college level paper and that my choice of words organization, main idea, and arguments where probably in the top 5% . You know what I got on that? a D, a D because of bad mechanics. Doesn?t matter if the arguments and thoughts are genius, as long as I remember to capitalize locations. ?Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.?Never played it, don?t care?They don't store the information?You know there is this great thing, lets say you find an important website that may help you with your next paper, on the top of the page there is a ?favorites? tab. If you click on that and click ?add to favorites? it will be saved, so then when you need to research for your paper you can click on it! Because you STORED INFORMATION.?Or because their parents don't check their bedrooms at midnight to halt the instant messaging..?I didn?t know staying up late made me stupid, tired maybe, but not stupid. If it does maybe the schools can stop giving kids in AP classes the 6 hours of homework they say they get. I?m not in those though, because of bad mechanics, remember??Because they're young?No comment necessary
nitrokartFeb 28, 2009
....it's called an alternate spelling, like grey/gray, etc.