Are Children Expected To Be Stupid?

As someone of the older generation, I see very little of what you see.

I see a generation of young adults who know little about the world except what is directly around them. They know the intricacies of a favorite cell phone, but have no clue how to do simple things around the house, like repairing a leaking faucet, or installing insulation where it might be needed to alleviate energy loss.

I see people who grow up not knowing enough about mathematics to get through their own tax returns without a calculator, without the ability estimate yardage needed for a dress, in the case of girls, or things like having the cognitive skills to figure out why a stopped up sink might be a problem taken care of with a cleaning of a vent hose from a garbage disposer.

I see a generation who is constantly being embarrassed on Jay Leno’s Jaywalking, because they know little of the world in which they live. These are the ones who think that Paris is a country, and can not name five countries in the Middle East, which are featured in the news almost each day. These are the same people who have no idea what makes any of the things they use work, and are more than happy in their nescience.

This is not something I am simply rambling on about, because I am older, it is a known fact that a full 20% of college graduates cannot name the countries of the Middle East, nor can they find them on a globe that includes the countries names. (This little tidbit was featured on Bill Moyer’s Journal on PBS, and was delivered by an educator.)

My own children, as much as I love them, continuously disappoint, as they are not taught certain things, which is not their fault, but they have no sense that they should try to know them. For example, can you tell me, without the use of Google, what a Mercator map is? Can you tell me why, for many things, it is a bad representation of the Earth? I learned this in 5th grade, yet I can’t find anyone under 30 who can, in a casual conversation, speak about this without fighting back the need for a computer.

What I am trying to say is that it is not enough to know how to retrieve information, there is a certain amount that needs to be at the ready, in case of emergency, as it were. Children and young adults today don’t get this.

Simple skills are disappearing, knowledge is something to be acquired, and cherished. Few today get this. There will not always be a computer at the ready.

As for the names you spoke of, I am only familiar with Kevin Rose, and had to Google the other two. While I recognize the money they have made, have they really added anything to the central knowledge bank of the world? I don’t think so. They have made money, which is fine, but it is not as if they have cured cancer, discovered the last part of the Unified Field Theory, or wiped out hunger in Africa.

This is not to belittle them, but look at those from older generations, such as Jonas Salk, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton. All of these were fairly young when making huge contributions to the world. So being young and intelligent, or talented is not new to the generations born after 1980.

As for the lack of manners of the young, that falls squarely on their parents, and in the case of those without parents, a society that has begun to tolerate interaction with the social niceties that most of us wish we still in vogue. It can change, and those younger people without the polish of correct etiquette can learn it, and in doing so, make themselves that much more advantaged in today’s society.

Thanks for bringing this up!
The aspect of creating and maintaining rather than using is an important argument to limitations placed on young people. Who is going to create the technology we use if everyone’s on the internet trying to build a career? Who’s going to provide us with health care, leadership, and new technology?
Yes, knowing how to use technology is important, but if we don’t know how to create or maintain it I’m not sure where we’re headed.

As a younger person, I have seen this happen in the past but if your are around a young person for an extended period of time, adults begin to realize what wonderful minds some children have. Some well known friends of mine now ask me for tech support rather than calling a professional. I love the feeling that some adults honor my knowledge rather than ignore it. However, I have noticed that when an adult first comes across a child, they begin to look down at them. I do not think it is because of there age but because they have not had a lot of time to develop as much knowledge as people with more life experience. That is not the case for all children. Even when I was around ten years old, (when I discovered I was a geek.) my parents asked me computer questions.

I love seeing young geeks. They are our future. Soon, we will be hacking into criminals computers and cracking down on viruses. I do not think some adults realize that when they should.

I was going to post a long list of disagreements with this topic, but ‘the oracle’ has done it for me - Thank you oracle, you saved me a lot of typing

I think generalizing about “kids today” makes about as much sense as stereotyping blacks, mexicans, asians or people with the same 1st syllable in their first and last names.

A response to The Oracle:
I think that you are seeing what the media is delivering you, and believing only that. I’m only sixteen and the world for your information is revolving around computers, phones, and what we young guys like to call technology. To be honest with you I was getting pissed when I read your letter. If i don’t know some type of information you can use a dictionary.(Built into the computer!) (Maybe you might not even know the answer to a question) But the internet and all of google, well its here to stay. I would consider myself a very intelligent man and I wouldn’t use Google. Theirs this thing called the dictionary that is built right in to the computer. NO NEED TO OWN A BOOK EVER AGIAN! Because of computers. I can tell you right now that you do use a calculator to do your taxes if you don’t guess what, There is one built in to my computer and a thing that we call cellphones. I’m not sure how technically inclined you are but hello! Use it!

Just a little note from me to you.

The body of the text seems to somewhat pit the generations against one another in an adversarial manner. In my mind, it’s more of a problem generated by a society in turmoil, rather than us (the younger generation) against them. Communication is the key. As in any ‘dispute’, often both sides would be happier and learn more, if they’d talk less and listen more.

Dont forget, teens think they have all the answers and parents dont know a dam thing..

A small note to Thesmart1 -

if you are half as as intelligent as you imagine yourself to be, you’ll quickly realize how much you don’t know. (I am certain I know a great deal, and also realize there is much to learn, every single day.)

It is clear that you totally missed the point of my message, which was not to criticize the younger generation for what they don’t know, but to ask why they seem to not be interested in knowing it.

by the way, I made a couple of typos - let me clear that up -

“a society that has begun to tolerate interaction without the social niceties that most of us wish were still in vogue”

is how that should read.

As to my seeming lack of information about the young generation - if you read, i have children, and I interact with them and their friends daily. I also have been in sales of technology (high end audio and video, electronics, cell phones, computers), and so I know what most younger people find interesting.

Dictionary built into the computer? What computer would that be? And anyone who professes no need to ever own a book truly shows ignorance.

“No need to ever open a book again”???? - Obviously the mad rantings of a flaming

I don’t think Oracle’s generalizations apply only to the younger folks. I’ve seen plenty of people my age (the half-century mark) that think that water comes from a faucet and food comes from a grocery store. Middle-aged folks who are just as oblivious to life’s bigger picture as they were at “sweet 16″.

I’m not disagreeing about younger people though. I’ve seen how much time and energy is wasted “texting”, playing video games and such, way beyond what could be considered balanced.

Unfortunately I do still hire a tax guy. Not for the math, but the complexity of the ever-changing B.S. that constitutes the US tax code. But I can and do fix my own “stuff” around the house. Thank goodness they still had “shop” classes when I was in school.

You’re all parrots with nothing original. “Stupid want a cracker?”

a note to:
the oracle

I’m 18, yeah, I might not know all these things that you know, but you have to take into account the effect of extensive examination on our education. We have information crammed into our heads all the time, the problem is that the information we are given is tailored to fit the specification for the exam, nothing more. We aren’t taught the same things that you were taught in school because many of those things are no longer relevant to us in the eyes of the Curriculum.

We are not all completely uninterested in learning. I receive emails from the British Psychological Society to keep me updated on the new stuff that’s being discovered. I read science journals, I seek out as much as I can in the way of knowledge. I read books. You would be surprised how many of us do. You are looking at a small number of people who are targeted by the media to give an overall impression. Sure, we don’t know the things you know, but you have to ask, is that information relevant to us? Example: over the space of a year I have to memorise the names, dates, details and scientific issues for roughly 80 psychological studies. I bet you can’t tell me without googling what Lerner investigated in 1966, or what Horselenberg did in 2003. Unless you study psychology, this information is irrelevant to you, does that make you stupid, inadequate and not worthy to be seen as an equal by us? Certainly not.

I’m constantly reminded how little I know, my teachers repeatedly complain about how little they get to teach us because of the time limits that they have. As you say, not our fault, but you can’t blame us for not knowing about these things that you were taught so that we can google them, wiki them, look them up in a book or whatever to find out about them. If you’ve never heard of something, it doesn’t occur to you to search for information on something you’ve never heard of.

ummm…yea what he said *points to oracle*

Sak Sun is absolutely right; the entire American educational system is currently based on standardized tests. Is it any wonder that we’re not very enthusiastic about school when all we’re given is lists of facts to memorize? Teachers don’t have the time or resources, thanks to No Child Left Behind, to make learning interesting, because all the system cares about are test results.

I also don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that very few people, of any age, are naturally curious about the world. Most people learn the things around them, and then operate on autopilot in their own comfortable little spheres. That’s not a generational issue.

However, with the current focus on standardized tests in our schools, those of us who ARE naturally curious are routinely chastised (for asking “too many” questions, being “defiant” for wanting to go outside the set lesson plan, and “wasting time”), ignored, or otherwise made to feel that we are on our own for making our own education bearable.

I figured out at a very early age that school isn’t about learning at all; it’s about shutting up, turning in the inane busywork (whether or not doing it actually helps you learn the material), and regurgitating factoids on tests. As a result, I went from being an intelligent, bright-eyed child—who loved learning and loved school—to a miserable, resentful adolescent (sound familiar?), who eventually couldn’t stand jumping through bureaucratic hoops anymore and dropped out of high school.

Am I at fault for feeling abandoned by the very system which was meant to help me? Should I feel guilty for dropping out, even though I wasn’t learning anything even remotely useful? Should I simply be dismissed as an example of “what’s wrong with kids today”? I have yet to meet a single person who isn’t surprised when I tell them I dropped out. Talking to me, you would have no idea. That’s because I didn’t actually miss anything; there is no great knowledge that high school graduates possess and I don’t. I’m now in college, studying Neuroscience, with a 3.3 GPA. Having been a miserable, “uninterested” slacker in middle and high school has no bearing whatsoever on my intelligence. If you want to blame anyone, blame the schools. Better yet, blame school funding.

Also, what grates me about the oracle’s post is that he or she assumes that kids were significantly more self-motivated “back in the day”. Please, go back and watch teen movies from the 50s and 60s. Read your old diaries. I believe this is a case of severe Rose-colored Glasses Syndrome.

And no wonder you learned how to do math without a calculator. Depending on the era you grew up in, you probably didn’t HAVE a calculator. Why should you begrudge us simply because we have tools you didn’t? With the ubiquity of cellphones now, I very much doubt that anyone is in danger of being without one when trouble strikes. So what exactly is the problem with relying on calculators and other useful programs?

Do you believe that the ability to do math mentally is the sole measure of intelligence? And that, by us being a generation that doesn’t do math mentally, we are then less intelligent? I could understand why you’re distressed if that’s really your mode of thinking. However, I also think you need to reevaluate your stance.

For example, you probably don’t know how to build shelter, find clean drinking water, and kill your own food. You probably don’t know how to weave cloth and distinguish edible from inedible plants. Therefore, you are screwed if you someday find yourself in the post-apocalyptic wilderness. Should you be looked down on for this?

You don’t currently need to know how to do all of those things, because you have tools and resources that make those skills unnecessary and redundant. It is unlikely that you will ever find yourself in a situation where you need them. So, should you learn them anyway? No. And children today shouldn’t really need to learn how to do complex math in their heads, either. Because they have tools and resources that make those skills unnecessary and redundant.

Well!

Hector Brown is totally correct! Why generalize? The oracle and others like him LOVE to lump everyone into a box and shove it down the river!

Listen! As a 28-year old, I can still recite the total number of pi & understand its meaning to the process of life, but at the same time I can wing my way around a Nokia N96 within 5 minutes!

Am I not intelligent?