Tsk—kids today
THE DUMBEST GENERATION:
How the Digital Age Stupefies Young
Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future
(or do not trust anyone under 30)
By Mark Bauerlein
272 pp. Tarcher/Penguin $24.95
Reviewed by Ruth Douillette
My children are members of the Dumbest Generation, according to Mark Bauerlein.
Bauerlein writes that people under 30 who cut their teeth on a computer keyboard comprise a cohort that, while bright enough, is seriously lacking in knowledge. They are more likely to be found browsing the Internet than reading a book, and their test scores suggest that the enthusiastic prediction that technology would boost knowledge levels isn’t panning out. Worse, they’re not interested in culture—art, plays, classical music—they don’t read newspapers or books, and are entirely self-absorbed.
He’s quick to point out that he doesn’t challenge their native intelligence, but rather their intellectual habits. The young have the “opportunity to be smarter and run farther” with the technology at their fingertips, he says, but they have not capitalized on this, choosing instead to spend time socializing with the very tools that could enrich their minds.
The paradox, as Bauerlein sees it, is that “We have entered the Information Age, traveled the Information Superhighway, spawned a Knowledge Economy, undergone a Digital Revolution . . . . And yet, while teens and young adults have absorbed digital tools into their daily lives like no other age group, . . . young Americans today are no more learned or skillful than their predecessors, no more knowledgeable, fluent, up-to-date, or inquisitive, except in the materials of youth culture.” (Notice he doesn’t say they are any less so, either.)
Using data from current studies and surveys, Bauerlein spends four of the six chapters— 150 pages—showing that, among other things, technological use is up and reading for pleasure is down. He concludes a cause and effect relationship—and goes one step farther to say that not only is technology trumping books, but the use of technology is frivolous—social networking rather than serious research and reading.
“[T]he more they attend to themselves, the less they remember the past and envision a future,” Bauerlein writes. “They have all the advantages of modernity and democracy, but when the gifts of life lead to social joys, not intellectual labor, the minds of the young plateau at 18.”
Social joys? Bah humbug, he seems to say, and goes on to describe the “rising generation” as an intellectually shallow group that ignores their “cultural and civic inheritance” for the pleasure of “passing stories, pictures, tunes and texts back and forth, living off the thrill off peer attention.”
There are lies, damned lies and statistics, and while statistics in and of themselves are statements of fact, they may be spun in any number of ways. Bauerlein has compiled and organized his data well, but there are other ways the data could be interpreted, other questions that could be asked, before accepting his contention unequivocally.
For example, he never questions the validity of the tests. He never mentions that it’s no longer just the top students who go to college, which might adversely affect test scores. He never questions which facts out of the ever-growing pool of information are relevant enough to be included on a test, or if schools have produced a lack interest in students by creating a culture where interest in test scores strangles education. Or the fact that in many cases the test score bar is raised each year, making test results harder to compare.
And it would be interesting to see how the “greatest generation” and “boomers” would have measured up in their youth, or now.
I’m sitting in a wi-fi coffee shop as I write this. It’s clear that the others in the shop are from the dumbest generation. But this time they are sans technology; I’ve used my cell phone, and I’m on my laptop, having just checked my email. The kids are discussing movies and clothes, the price of gold, and the bailout.
I took the book and squatted in their midst and explained that Bauerlein called them the dumbest generation.
After looking at the title one said, “I bet he says it’s because we’re into social networking sites, and because of that he thinks we don’t pay attention to what’s going on.”
Can’t fault this young man for his astuteness. That’s exactly what Bauerlein proposes.
“I read all the time,” a girl says as the group nods confirmation. “I never watch TV.”
“What’s his point?” someone asks.
I explain that Bauerlein says the foundations of our country are at stake. Not knowing—and appreciating—the history behind the country, the young will be less politically involved, less able to keep the roots of democracy strong. And they don’t know enough, because they don’t read.
Several told me they read the paper every day, others said they read the news online. Another pointed out the social and political strife of the 60s and 70s, and said today’s youth is involved, just not hostile.
A coffee shop chat doesn’t a survey make, but I like to think there are similar groups in similar places all across the country.
Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University, interacts with the young, and is qualified to speak to the issue. But like so many books that sound a warning, his solution is not apparent. It’s not entirely clear whether Bauerlein blames the technology itself, or the shallow nature of callow youth, or fellow educators who he says have let down the young by allowing them to act . . . well, young.
Like any author who lays blame, and points a finger, Bauerlein offers a premise that will be fodder for criticism. Some will dismiss this as just another dumbing down of America book and label him a curmudgeon. Bemoaning the wasted promise of youth is an ancient lament. Others will read his carefully compiled statistics and agree with his interpretation. Readers will have to make up their own minds.
Ruth Douillette retired after 35 years as a middle school teacher, and now freelances as a writer and photographer.
Her essays have been published in the Christian Science Monitor, Cup of Comfort, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and
Under Our Skin, an anthology about breast cancer. Her photography has been featured in flashquake's gallery of art. Ruth
is a member of the Internet Writing Workshop where she’s an administrator for the Practice group. For a sample of her writing
and photography, visit Upstream and Down~.
Mail this page