An Analysis Of The Dumbest Generation English Language Essay

An Analysis Of The Dum dress hat Generation position Language EssayThe Dumbest Generation, How the digital Age Stupefies Young Ameri rout outs and Jeopardizes Our in store(predicate) (Or, Dont Trust Anyone Under 30) is a tiny analysis on the effects of the prolific sp learn of information and confabulation engineering science on the y extincth of today. In it, Mark Bauerlein argues that go this engineering science could pack been used to increase access to accreditledge and in that locationfore change the minds of children, it has only been used to distract them from multipurpose cognizeledge and skills which he strongly imp take a breathers, although rarely explicitly states, only currently come from volumes and exposure to art. The support at its core is a investigate paper, using hundreds of facts and an eight page bibliography to support his thesis, and kick from having to defend his beliefs on a philosophical level, Bauerlein spends frequently of his paper ex plaining his m each cited statistics and presenting his conclusion to the highest degree what would happen if the front was eachowed to continue. withal the obvious and repeatedly utter conclusion that an unchecked sp exact of engineering would cause a every last(predicate) in on the whole ignorant generation, Bauerlein concludes his paper with an explanation of how an certified society is necessary to uphold a democratic goernment. Hidden oftentimes subtly through with(predicate)out the account book is the hidden message that applied sciences isolation of its users from the outdoors world and contact with the kinds of people we might non enjoy universe around causes the psycho logical maturing process to slow, rendering a generation elevated in the digital era perpetual children. Although his book is intended to be read by a wide range of references, Bauerleins target audience is the adults of today, or more specific all toldy, the educators of today. His solution , situationd in the final exam chapter of the book, where he was no doubt aware that only those with a private pole or a love of knowledge would reach before entrapting it down, is to get along children to read and learn for their own edification. He mentions several counter arguments to his, precisely doesnt refute their logic as much as drown them in empirical data showing that they dupe little to nothing O.K. them up. Through this book Mark Bauerlein jumped into a national debate already brought up by an some other similar book, The Age of the Statesn Unreason, by Susan Jacoby.But who is Mark Bauerlein? His well-nigh obvious feature is being a professor of side of meat at Emory University, as stated in his sack page at Emory Universitys official web direct and on the cover of his book. Also gibe to the same sources, he took a break for a couple of days to be a Director of Research and Analysis at the defer field Endowment for the Arts, showing that he does have exp erience in both gathering and interpreting the data with which he generously fills his book. His own personal website reveals that he is a fairly prolific writer himself, from such topics as racism and literary criticism itself, but for the nigh part Bauerlein writes close to the humanities. patch this information would obviously lead to Bauerlein having a personal stake in the state of American literacy, it does not really offer all evidence of bias either way for whether or not there actually is a literacy deficiency. Bauerlein uses his credentials well, relying only on his own credibleness to properly evaluate data and to extrapolate the results, allowing the actual risk of misinformation to lie with his sources. For the most part, his information consists of surveys of participation in certain activities and tests of academic skill, originally the study Assessment of Educational Progress, which is a program run by a subdivision of the U.S. Department of Education (Bauerl ein 14-5). Where Bauerlein seems to falter in his believ efficiency is in trying to avoid sounding reactionary or out of touch, discussing the information revolution as a form of Youth insubordination (Bauerlein 178), making sweeping comments such as Young people have too much choice (Bauerlein 156), and showing disdain for the design of websites conforming to the whims of their ratifiers, whose compositions include macroscopic bold headlines intended to grab audiences and putting the broad, useful information first to keep the reader paying financial aid, term completely ignoring the existence of these tactics in discussionpapers and within his own book. However, one can understand why the condescension was included. A moderate book doesnt sell, and an English Professor knows this better than anyone. But despite some issues regarding his relationship to the face, the book does successfully display the flaws of the so called dumbest generation, and it certainly accomplishes its retroactively stated goal, to equal to(p) up the issue to some sober skepticism, to blunt the techno-zeal sp recitation through classrooms and libraries (Bauerlein vii), found in the preface of the paperback edition.The purpose of the book is plain, and stated in its deed of conveyance, sub title, and sub-sub title. Bauerlein uses statistics and logic to show that the current generation of children allow for be incapable adults in order to incite parents and educators to encourage the children to read books, learn history, experience liberal arts.Like any good research paper, Bauerlein begins his exploration of the effects of engineering with a moving introduction. In it, he sympathizes with the struggles facing the ambitious youth, who have to tirelessly fight to be the best out of millions sound to progress to the next step in their lives. However, nigh(a) the end he suddenly shifts to his own images about the average American student, which are quite grim. The introduct ions lack of relevance to the main subject was most plausibly added to pull in someone who would naturally expect the opposite of what is depicted in the first part of the intro based on the title. Also, by c at a timeding the efforts and hardships of the young academics, he does not alienate them, in a way separating those potential readers from the sweeping accusations made later in the book. The pleasantries aside, Bauerlein dives into the fray with his mountains of data, citing over one hundred statistics in the first chapter. He uses several kinds of statistics some to show that children do not pass subject material exams, some to show that a large amount of children do not know a specific fact that one is commonly expected to know, and some to show that other factors one might make for causes of a let down average intelligence such as drill time (Bauerlein 30), finance (Bauerlein 31), and leisure time (Bauerlein 32) have only bring into being less restrictive over time. After having thoroughly proven that todays students dont know what they should, he moves on into the next chapter to discuss why this is. Bauerlein just says that children dont consider to learn enough. His weapon of choice now is the survey of students in which he shows that children do not read literature or participate in the arts. The main survey he brings up is a give out from National Endowment for the Arts, Reading at Risk, in which Bauerlein show that the reading of any kind of literature is declining, and especially so in children. However, the survey asked about voluntary reading, not reading required for work or nurture (Bauerlein 45) and despite financial statements that to be considered a reader one only if had to read any work of any quality of any medium-book, newspaper, magazine, blog, Web page, or music CD insert (Bauerlein 47), it is un comparablely that most of the people who give tongue to that they did not read were aware of or understood this qualificati on, and in all likelihood disregarded any reading they did do as sufficient. Bauerlein goes on to give several examples of the positive effects of a zeal for reading such as Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman, which serve more to emotionally touch the reader rather than to logically prove his point, as the last incision did. rear end to the facts, Bauerlein sends out scores of numbers indicating that the youth of today spend a disproportionate amount of time on screen technology. However, instead of merely analyzing the data, he takes the time to bring up counterarguments. He shows how other authors such as Steven Berlin Johnson have explored the special kindly and thinking patterns that could only communicate in a world of instant communication and interactive digital worlds in such books as Everything Bad is Good for You, and doesnt actually complain their reasoning, and even gives us his own visions of an ideal world where the technology created a vibrant massive community s eeking knowledge and obtaining true enlightenment.And and so Bauerlein caps it off with an answer to the rhetorical question Why, then(prenominal), should bibliophiles and impostalists carp so much? with the short maxim, Because that glorious creation of youth intelligence hasnt materialized (Bauerlein 107). He shifts once a straighten out to his statistics, now not only showing poor bookworm performance but poor job performance as well, ikon a new picture of a generation of perpetual children who know little and know nothing practical. Not only do the digital medias have less complex vocabulary (Bauerlein 128-9), but they foster look absorption (Bauerlein 133) and poor attention spans (Bauerlein 148). He describes the newest batch of young adults as twixters (Bauerlein 160) who despite financial stability, technology, and readily available rearing, do not be down and wander through life fairly aimlessly. The solution, according to Bauerlein, is for the educators of America t o rise up and promote reading and arts instead of technology alone, which has been shown to be ineffective by itself to promote learning and knowledge.In the final chapter, Bauerlein compares an ignorant adults that the ignorant children would become to Rip Van Winkle (Bauerlein 204-9), cognize nothing that they need to in a world that suddenly demands their attention and participation, and unaware of how to feel about the issues surrounding them. Bauerlein closes with a conclusion that if uncorrected, the crook of an unintelligent youth would undermine democratic society, and that only by reintegrating tradition into learning could we save society from the sovereignty of youth. (Bauerlein 223) brought about by a freedom from material that challenges what they think.The overall structure of the book is designed for a broad range of readers. An interesting introduction pulls in readers of all forks, and then a series of facts puts the issue of childhood ignorance freshly onto the minds of concerned adults. limited proof of his claim trails this to counter those who doubt the validity of his claim, followed by realisation and rebuttal of claims to appease those more enlightened on the subject, and he finishes the book with a powerful, almost alarmist message that exploits the fears of a society of idiots and their patriotism to sweep up to his side his colleagues, students, and critics.Of course, Bauerlein is certainly not the first to comment on the rebellion ignorance among todays young adults. Just three months before The Dumbest Generation was published, The Age of American Unreason, a book by Susan Jacoby, hit the shelves with a similar conclusion, that the digital age has caused the current youth to become self absorbed and treat what goes on around them Bauerlein mentions it in passing. For long years it has been suspected that digital technology would not improve education. In an essay by Michael Schrage from 1997, competently named Computers Wi ll Not Transform Education, shows doubt about the young internets ability to revolutionize education, and points out that neither the radio nor the television had a with child(p) impact on student performance. This sentiment was also expressed in another essay that year, Computers Cannot Replace Good Teachers, by Clifford Stoll, who makes the calm assertion that most learning isnt fun. Learning takes work. Discipline. Responsibility-You have to do your homework. Both of the predictions of a high amount of spending on technology by education and an insignificant change in performance are evident in The Dumbest Generation. However, Bauerleins presentation of poor performance seems to contradict the Flynn effect, the rise of IQ over time, but instead of contesting it, he lets it sit, and in some ways appears to handle the elephant in the room when discussing the relevancy of new visual learning techniques, relying closely entirely on test performance.However, not all of the data wh ole kit in favor of Bauerlein. According to The Nations Report Card, the official web site for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Mathematics scores for 9- and 13- year-olds are higher(prenominal) than all previous assessment years and that Reading skills at all three ages improve since 2004. Furthermore, according to the charts on the long-term trend section of the web site, average scores overall have change magnitude gradually but constantly since the first test in 1978. So while Bauerlein may be correct that the number of students who pass the test may be decreasing, this is mainly due to the level of competence being raise faster than the children are getting better, a much less shake up scenario. In fact, On both the reading and the math tests, and at all three tested ages (9, 13 and 17), the lowest-ever scores in the history of the NAEP were preserve by children born between 1961 and 1965 (Neil Howe). However, the raw score increase has not gotten any fast er in thirty years, the increase is most likely due to increased incomes, higher teacher to student ratios, better health, and some of the other improvements that Bauerlein points out rather than technology, which would have shown higher improvement in recent years, when the information revolution started. Of course, all of this is only relevant if you put your faith into NAEP tests, which according to Jim Hull of The Center for Public Education in The advancement debate A guide to NAEP achievement levels, you cant. Hull shows that NAEP standards for proficiency in a subject are higher than nearly all of the state regulated proficiency tests, and the tested material often wide differs from state curriculum.One of Bauerleins main sources is Reading at Risk, a report explaining the results of a 2002 survey of reading habits by the National Endowment for the Arts, which he states indicates decreased reading in all age groups and a large decline in young readers. However, the 2008 res ults were released in January 2009, as a sort of sequel titled Reading on the Rise, which bared the unexpected news that the percentage of literary readers had actually gone up, and even more astoundingly, literary reading has increased most rapidly among the youngest adults. This isnt just contradictory to the trend of 1992 to 2002, from which Bauerlein draws proof of a non reading public it completely turns it upside down. And while the report was published eight months after The Dumbest Generation, the survey itself was taking place as Bauerlein was finishing his book, and that the miraculous return to literature had begun and reading evaluate were rising as Bauerlein was writing about how the reading rates were falling, and he didnt notice the complete reversal happening right under his nose, or chose to ignore it.Most people who picked up The Dumbest Generation were probably expecting a lot of expanded logic and presumptuous reasoning like what makes up the counter arguments t o this book such as Everything Bad is Good For You, which do not have much true evidence. I was personally pleased to find that Mark Bauerlein had taken the time to find not just adequate data, but a tremendous amount of information. For the most part, his logic is sound however, his main struck a bad chord. Because technology has increased while the intellectual performance of the newest generation has gone down, technology mustiness be causing the newest generation to be the dumbest. Post hoc ergo proptor hoc. While he briefly explains why several other possible causes for lower test scores havent happened, he doesnt ever find a literal link between technology and the change in scores other than the times in which both occur. As far as books and technology, put out reading would naturally decrease as web usage went up, simply due to the limits of time. In fact, Bauerlein doesnt have any proof of high literary reading from before twenty years ago we are simply expected to beli eve that those before us spent all of their free time reading. What Bauerlein fails to address is the fact that social networking is not the result of technology on reading, but the effect of technology on actual, face-to-face social interaction. Ill jump to agree with the assertion that a decrease in performance could be based on the ability to choose not to succeed, but it is society, not technology, that facilitated this shift. The children of today arent expected to read literature much, and dont gain anything concrete from it, so most of them dont and I would expect it. Am I supposed to believe that the students of yore read The Divine Comedy for fun? They didnt, and for the most part, people read only what they like to read or what they have to read. And when children dont have to read much, they mostly read whats fun, each other, and other frivolities like video games. In The Dumbest Generation How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Dont Trust Anyone Under 30, Mark Bauerlein uses out of context information to convince readers that our advancements have made my generation the dumbest, when really it is simply not expected to do more, and its opinion is valued as important as the instructors. Indeed, with discipline, technology can be and already is used for incredible feats in learning. Without the photocopier, the online databases paying(a) for by my school, and the internet, I would know nothing more on this subject than what is in this book. If more was expected of students, both student knowledge and undecomposed use of technology would rise, to the point where English professors like Mark Bauerlein would fetch up separating published content into the categories of print and web. And quite frankly, Im insulted he used the title The Dumbest Generation when a title more fitting to his thesis would be The Laziest Generation. An alarmist book, The Dumbest Generation was indite to sell a malformed idea that an En glish professor had a lot of published work already invested in, and was written to sell a lot of books. In both of these he succeeded.