After watching the video by Mark Bauerlein I was offended by his remarks, but later realized that I do agree with some of his remarks. Bauerlein talks about how we are the generation that watches 2.41 hours of television a day and how we do not even know whom we allied with during WWII. This is the part that bothers me. It bothers me most because I fall within the group of people he talks about. I constantly confuse dates and names and I cannot even tell you the dates WWII was fought during. Though our generation may not know our entire history there are some explanations.
Our generation is forced to know more knowledge than the previous generations. My dad still types with his two pointer fingers, where as I learned that in school. Our curriculum is packed with more in depth stuff and we are forced to learn it at a much faster rate. I just wonder what Mark Bauerlein defense against that would be? Does he take that into consideration when he blatantly bashes our generation?
When in our groups, one of my group members brought up the fact that is it really our faults for being the dumbest generation? Think about the things that distract us from our studies or the thing that fill our minds instead of our alliances in WWII; they are all things that were created by people in the generation prior to us. Yes, we should take the initiative to learn our countries history, but why would we want to do that when the newest episode of Family Guy is on?
The world that we grow up in now is completely different than the one that Mark and his generation grew up in. We deal with so many more things and balance so much more on our plates. The part that really interests me is what would the previous generations be like if they were in our shoes now? If Mark could somehow obtain that information and compare it to our generation now, maybe I would go online a start educating myself more. However, I do not completely agree that we should be called the dumbest generation because the information that we know now is far beyond the information that previous generations needed to know. Maybe we can be considered the more diverse generation who lives in a far more complex environment.
Though I believe that everyone should get an 'A' when asked who were the axis and allied powers in World War II, you made some good points. I get distracted sooo much when I am studying in front of my computer. I can play video games, go on youtube, facebook, check email, ext. Then I pick up my phone and see who I can text. Oh wait, lets play some music this will help me concentrate....NOT. In my opinion, our generation is living it up. We aren't worried about the past and we aren't really worried about the future. We are living in the moment. Our laziness leads to efficiency and this is aided by the technology we are presented with.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you. Our generation is required to know much more than previous generations. And like your father, my father types with his two pointer fingers and when he is in a hurry he asked me or one of my siblings to type for him. The whole point about knowing dates and names in history I am the same way.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that we are the more diverse generation. I don't think Mark looks at everything when he is calling us the dumbest generation. There are a lot more things that our generation needs to know about. It only piles up more in every subject. From WWII, to Moby Dick, to technology there is so much for us to learn. Not every person in our generation will be able to grasp the fact of everyone. Each person in our generation may lack intelligance somewhere, but that doesn't make us dumb as a whole.
ReplyDeleteJust because we have to know more does not mean we are excused from learning basics. I may not be able to answer a history question but I have read and studied many literary classics. I do however agree that after a certain age one must make a choice to seek out culture over popular culture.
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