Saturday, October 27, 2007

Dumber Than Ever?


My friend often summarizes for me what he sees, firsthand, every day and every month, year in and year out, in his classroom. He speaks not merely of the sad decline in overall intellectual acumen among students over the years, not merely of the astonishing spread of lazy slackerhood, or the fact that cell phones and iPods and excess TV exposure are, absolutely and without reservation, short-circuiting the minds of the upcoming generations. Of this, he says, there is zero doubt.


Nor does he speak merely of the notion that kids these days are overprotected and wussified and don't spend enough time outdoors and don't get any real exercise and therefore can't, say, identify basic plants, or handle a tool, or build, well, anything at all. Again, these things are a given. Widely reported, tragically ignored, nothing new.


No, my friend takes it all a full step — or rather, leap — further. It is not merely a sad slide. It is not just a general dumbing down. It is far uglier than that.







2 comments:

Scott D. McArthur said...

Funny thing is that we have more tools that support learning at our fingertips than ever before. I started blogging in January this year and my learning has increased 3 fold. Perhaps the Y generation don't see the advantages of todays world but us Xs sure do!

Michael Wade said...

Scott,

Good point. It's easier than ever to get large chunks of information and yet many people are not taking advantage of that.