The article on the dumbest generation was pretty shocking. I could not believe that are generation was thought of in that way. A quote that really made me think about are generation being considered the dumbest was "we suspect that if young people don't know the Bill of Rights or the import of old "colored entrance" signs - and they absolutely should - it reflects not stupidity but a failure of the school system and of society to require them to know it." This quote seems completely true. I know what both of these are and it shocks me that there are people that are my age and have no clue. I feel there are people being lumped into a category that do not need to be, not all of are generation doesn't know what those things are, so it seems unfair that a generation is lumped into one category. Is it the school system that is doing a bad job? or is it just us as a generation being blind to the importance of these things? I personally believe that it is both. The school system may not be doing the best job but I believe there are also people in are generation that do not believe these things are importance. It is sad to think that there are people that don't care about these things and that because of them we as a generation are being called "the dumbest generation." Another quote that made me think was when he said "Gen Y will turn out to be not just the dumbest but also the most self-absorbed and selfish." This quote is again lumping all gen y's in this category. I see people every day that are self-absorbed and selfish, for example, facebook makes us self-absorbed, thinking we don't need certain history makes us selfish. I believe people just don't think that they are that way.
I believe every generation at one time or another has been self-absorbed and selfish. It is a pattern and stage of life that you go through till you grow up and out of that stage, although I know some people will always be self-absorbed and selfish, I believe that this doesn't last forever for some. Just because we may be self-absorbed and selfish now does not mean we are the dumbest, and it makes me feel sad to be seen this way.
I agree it does make me feel stupid when people look at us in such a cruel and downgrading way. There is no way to judge a generation while they are in their adolescence years and just learning how to live and think on their own. The truth about our generations "smarts" will be seen once we hit between 30 and 50 in my opinion. Hopefully in 20 years from now we can say that we officially were not the dumbest generation.
ReplyDeleteFacebook and twitter have definitely paved the road for us being self absorbed. Personally, I think knowing what everyone is doing at a given time is ridiculous. Sure, it's good way of keeping in touch. But I'm pretty sure everyone knows today is the super bowl. A status is not needed for such an event. I agree that this is mostly a phase and hopefully when we get older we won't we as big of narcissist as we are now.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me as well to be lumped into this "dumb" category. I'm not arguing that there are some people our age who don't know this information, but I think the majority of us know the facts presented in the article.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that Facebook and Twitter have definitely helped us become all that more self absorbed. I also agree with Jon, I hope this is just a phase and that our generation will grow out of it.
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