Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? (yikes!)

Boston Globe ^ | 9/27/10 | Beth J. Harpaz

[Daisyjane69]

Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame? Or are some of these things simply the result of kids growing up with push-button technology in an era when mechanical devices are gradually being replaced by electronics?

Susan Maushart, a mother of three, says her teenage daughter "literally does not know how to use a can opener. Most cans come with pull-tops these days. I see her reaching for a can that requires a can opener, and her shoulders slump and she goes for something else."

Teenagers are so accustomed to either throwing their clothes on the floor or hanging them on hooks that Maushart says her "kids actually struggle with the mechanics of a clothes hanger."

[Daisyjane69]

This won't make your coffee taste better, I promise.

[Tax-chick]

I see her reaching for a can that requires a can opener, and her shoulders slump and she goes for something else."

And you've never taken two minutes to teach her to open a can, Susan? It looks like you're a big part of the problem. All my kids can use a can opener. I think even the dog can use a can opener.

[caver]

“Are we raising a generation of nincompoops? And do we have only ourselves to blame?”

Yes and yes.

[Quix]

INDEED.

[SF_Redux]

we DID raise a nation of idiots, does that count?

[rlmorel]

Sigh. I live up here in Boston, and last week was listening to Michele McPhee on 96.9...she characterized our grandparents as "The Greatest Generation" and this generation as "The Dumbest Generation". She invited callers to call in with their anecdotes to buttress this claim.

There was one unbelievable call that had the undeniable ring of truth to it. A man called in and said he was a supermarket manager. He said he had to force his cashiers and baggers to place their phones in lockers at work, because they were constantly texting and talking on the phone. He said:

"Many of you just won't believe this, but I had more than one young employee who complained that they wouldn't know what time it was if they didn't have their phone. When I pointed at the clock on the machine for punching in and out, the kids had stared blankly back at me and said they didn't know how to tell time from a clock with hands. When I told them I wanted them back at the register at 'half-past six', they had no clue as to what that meant."

Just unbelievable. This isn't to say there aren't bright kids out there, because there are, but...just...wow.

[rlmorel]

My cat knows how to use a can-opener, but sadly (for him) lacks the opposable thumbs to actually do so.

[spodefly]

It certainly explains “The Obama Phenomenon” ...

The worst part about it is that “progressives” are pathologically certain they are smarter than everyone else, and I would wager that the “kid who can’t tell time” are products of these “super smart” Obama voters ...

[Tax-chick]

Our feline overlords have that one unfortunate (for them) shortcoming.

[rlmorel]

LOL...”Feline Overlords”

[SkyPilot]

Every generation has its worst, and best.

Technology changes in every lifetime. Just because you didn't know how to use every item in a livery stable didn't mean you were a "momcompoop" in 1918.

Is the overall character of the nation less religious, less moral, and less focused on the Almighty today than it was in 1860? Yes.

In some generations, there are heroes, and in some, the dregs. I could argue that the baby boom generation had its share of heroes and dregs.

It is always dangerous to seek group salvation, whether it be in a "generation" or a moral indignation judgment of others via age alone.

There are many young Christians in their 20's who are loved in God's eyes, and a lot of 60-70 year olds of whom He is ashamed and who have not come to Him.

[Stepan12]

Just unbelievable. This isn't to say there aren't bright kids out there, because there are, but...just...wow.

This is painful for me. I didn't learn how to tell time until the fourth grade. At the fourth grade I got someone one to teach me.

Now they have digital.

[rlmorel]

I will say this: whenever I feel particularly discouraged about what I see in young people, I remember that we can still produce men and women of quality, and our military is proof of that.

Of course, I was completely discouraged on that count when I saw that miniseries “Carrier” on PBS a few years back, but I have since come to believe that discouragement was the intent of the producers...

[KingLudd]

...mechanics of a clothes hanger. That’s funny. I just oiled and adjusted all of my pants hangers last weekend. They work so much better now. (I admit that I had to buy one of those store-bought hanger adjusting gauges)

There was a story here about some chick who’s keyless entry battery died and was locked out of her car. Some old guy (probably a freeper) helped her out and unlocked it the old fashioned way....with the key attached to the same ring as the electronic unlocker. Funny. Pathetic.

[rlmorel]

Geez...what was wrong with you? (only kidding!) I think I learned to tell time very well from the first grade when I sat in class and stared out the window and at the clock instead of my work, counting the minutes until the bell would ring...

As they say, “Nothing concentrates the mind like a hangin’...”

[rlmorel]

I don’t care who you are, that’s funny...

And pathetic, too.

[Ezekiel]

they didn't know how to tell time from a clock with hands.

A couple of months ago in a store, a teenager saw that I was wearing a watch so she asked me for the time. The lights were bright and the glare made it hard for me to read the face (I need my reading glasses for that watch, oops), so I turned my wrist toward her so she could read it herself. No use! She turned to her mother who was about ten feet away, lamenting that she couldn't read it because it wasn't a digital watch.

I'd never seen that before, yikes. I gave the watch another look and managed to read it despite the glare.

[NYer]

And you've never taken two minutes to teach her to open a can, Susan?

Tsk, tsk .. these children already "know" how to do everything. Most refuse to accept offers of assistance. They are also the generation of instant food. They lack the patience to cook from scratch.

[Tax-chick]

Most refuse to accept offers of assistance.

You have to teach them basic skills before the Attitude hits. (And I've found that offering high-fiber, vegetarian meals produces miraculous blossoming of culinary skills in teens. "If you don't want what I'm serving, cook something else!")

[Uncle Ike]

” these children already “know” how to do everything. Most refuse to accept offers of assistance. “

It’s actually worse - kids these days have been indoctrinated from, almost, birth - through TV programming, commercials, and our Publik Skools - that grown-ups in general, and parents in particular, are doltish simpletons who, when they don’t need to be ‘taught’ by their children about everything from cigarettes to Global warming, are best ignored...