Try reading this book for some balance if you dare.
Posted on 08/24/2009 6:24:19 PM PDT by Coleus
Every time they send a text message, watch a YouTube video, log on to Facebook and plug in their iPods, today's kids are getting stupider.
At least, that's what Mark Bauerlein argues in his provocative book "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future."
Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University in Atlanta, has spent the last few years touring the country evangelizing about the dangers of exposing the young to technology.
His love-it-or-despise it book, newly released in paperback, has spawned heated arguments among parents, teachers and students who are spending more and more time plugged in.
A survey released last month by the state Department of Education found 57 percent of New Jersey high school students spend three hours or more surfing the internet, playing video games or watching TV on an average school day. That includes the 31 percent who said they are devoting five hours or more of their day to sitting in front of some kind of screen.
Should we be worried?
We spoke with Bauerlein about teens, technology and the dangers of plugging in and tuning out.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.nj.com ...
We will one day be like the movie Idiocracy or Wall-i.
it’s making everyone dumber. and some arguably crazier.
They are less smart than previous generations which is why they can be so easily manipulated by their leftist teachers.
Personally, I’d say schools are making our kids dumber. If they did the job as they’re supposed to, the technology wouldn’t matter - they’d be a tool rather than a crutch.
Like the new math? It doesn’t matter if you get it right or wrong, as long as you know how you got your answer? Rote learning may be boring, but it is the only way to learn basic math, reading, and science terms and concepts which will be needed for the rest of your life.
Ding, ding, ding...We have a winner!
I’d, say that it just makes them lazier.
Are multiplication tables really something you need to have memorized? (Wouldn’t the procedure/process be better to memorize, as you could then build your table instead of memorizing it.)
[If they are: Are logarithm tables something that needs to be memorized? If not, why?]
What’s “the procedure” for figuring out 9x9? I know the answer is 81 — because I know the answer is 81. It’s memorization. Now, I don’t see why anyone should memorize the answer to 93x26 — for that, I recommend a procedure. But the basics of single digit multiplication ought to be memorized and available at a moment’s notice.
My son only started to use a calculator this last year in Algebra II in 9th grade.
My kids, including my special needs daughter, are better writers than I am.
Two of my kids are extremely gifted at math, and much better than I was at their age. My special needs daughter is about like me. She’s 1 grade ahead in math.
Two of my kids are better readers than I was. I was a better reader than my special needs daughter, but she reads for pleasure more than I did. My son doesn’t read much for pleasure, but he’s a very good reader. My other daughter is a great reader, and she reads a ton (way more than I ever did).
I have a BS in Computer Science from Texas A&M, and I think academically my kids are better than I was. I did know more American history and geography than they do. That’s the main area that I think has been sorely lacking in their education.
My kids are currently in a very good private Christian school.
In 3rd grade, my daughters were in public school and their teacher made them learn their times tables.
My kids are on the computer a lot. We’re a tech savvy family. I don’t have a problem with the computer. Growing up, the TV was constantly on at my house. Now, our TV isn’t on much. The kids just like the computer.
Multiplication tables do need to be memorized so that you can do math in your head quickly. You need that to do higher order math.
Grant it, you should know the mechanics of multiplication, but also have up to 12x12 memorized.
Try reading this book for some balance if you dare.
Yeah, my generation where many, many kids sat in front of the purely passive boob tube for hours on end was so much better. At least modern digital devices are interactive and require inputs and some thought - not solely an output like TVs of old, which used to be the ONLY form of electronic entertainment. I’m not worried. This guy sounds like your standard luddite.
The procedure would be to add nine “9”s together and produce the sum.
Yes, it’s silly to question the need. Memorizing it makes everyday calculations go much faster. And log tables are different because rarely does one have to use it unless they work in a special field. Just like Chemists have the element table memorized.
On the other hand, I'm concerned that they wouldn't know what to do with themselves during a power outtage and once the batteries wore out. Do they have the ability to create and innovate like my grandparents did?
They may not be able to do math or even spell, but they can COOMUNICATE like no generation before them. Ask a kid to assemble a PowerPoint, BAM! Twitter, Facebook, texting - when the time comes for instant communication against the forces of tyranny, they WILL find a way around whatever obstacles get placed before them.
My brother is a public school teacher. He went to Japan last summer to observe the public schools. Not one school had computers in the classroom.
And....There are government schools in this nation that are so violent, so depraved, and so degenerate that it would be better for a child to get no government schooling whatsoever than ever step foot in one.
Yes, I seriously mean it.
I think you are on to something.
We moved to a neighborhood near a creek a few years ago. Growing up, I would have been all over that creek, playing in it, creating dams, etc.
My kids have barely been down there. Even when I say it’s okay to go by themselves. This year, my daughters finally went down and picked berries all by themselves.
Because we can’t let our kids run around like we used to, they aren’t used to be out on their own and doing their own thing. I think they are book smart, but lack something.
Parts of our country are already scarily close to Idiocracy.
I’ve been in at least one of those schools.
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