The Not So Greatest Generation (The Dumbest Generation: Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)

With his soft voice and unassuming manner, Mark Bauerlein seems an unlikely prospect for penning an ostentatious book like The Dumbest Generation. The title immediately brings to mind the Greatest Generation, the idol of 20th century American history that weathered the Great Depression, beat the Nazis at Normandy, and brought us swing music. But the generation that Bauerlein writes of is very different. Ignorant of politics and government, art and music, prose and poetry, the Dumbest Generation is content to turn up its iPods and tune out the realities of the adult world. It is brash, pampered, young, and dumb -- and content to stay that way.

Or so argues Bauerlein, an Emory University English professor and baby boomer. It would be an easy accusation for my generation (I'm 23) to ignore. After all, the fogies have always railed against the ignorance and excesses of youth. What's the point of reading a book or going to a museum in the age of Wikipedia? Why bother knowing who the Speaker of the House is or voting for president when the only vote that matters is the hit count on my latest YouTube video? Being able to locate Mexico on a world map or name the Axis powers during World War II won't help me score a date on Friday night or get tapped for the high school football team.

But something is different this time. In past generations, the young had fewer opportunities to fritter away their lives. Two-parent households and a generally religious culture made sure of it. Today, half of teens grow up in single-parent households and secularism dominates society. Undergirding that is the digital culture, the 24/7 rush of information and entertainment that young adults thrive on. Bauerlein says it's a rush that's killing their intellectual development.

It seems to me that the author put a lot of effort into this piece to find something wrong with the book. I don't disagree with the author but do accept his analysis of the book as pretty spot on.

Further, I cannot disagree that “voting” Americans (to generalize the populace) are quite possibly the most ignorant group in the world when it comes to politics, national history and economics.

Political apathy is killing this country. More and more folks of all ages and races are developing a more entitled attitude to everything from medicine and health care to homes and jobs. There was a time when ambition and pride drove individuals to succeed regardless of their education or opportunity.

The apathy is so apparent in the simplest of things in our country, taxes. A full 40% of what most people earn goes to pay government(s). There are taxes on everything from fuel to phone bills. There are sales taxes, income taxes, SS, etc. The government wastes much of this, our confiscated earnings, for political expediency. Ignorance is not realizing just how much harder an individual is working at the expense of a government that is increasingly becoming more corrupt and socialistic.

I suspect that if America were just a little less ignorant and a little more informed, there would be a radical conservative political swell and shift to the right.

In my mind, there are two major factors that contribute to the apathetic ignorance. Our media is the first source of information and for most the only source of information that Americans get. And of that they only get the headlines. The second is our social and personal comfort. Most Americans may nod their heads and agree the economy is in bad shape. But it is obviously not affecting enough people dramatically enough to actually investigate what is going on and/or get involved or educated about it.

I am under 30, and I take no offense. Why? Because I see what the author describes on a daily basis. I attended publik schuuls my whole life, yet that was not the sole contributor to my education. If anyone merely relies on a institution for education or to learn a work ethic, you will be an abject failure. Far too many take this attitude in society today. When school stops, learning must also cease. Maybe I am a bit harsh, but I have worked with many of my peers, enough to know this is getting out of hand.

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