I can understand why we may be referred to as the dumbest generation ever but I do not agree with it. I think our generation may lack on the basic knowledge of important events in the past or other general knowledge but I think we excel in other areas. Today our generation has more pressure to learn more advanced things about technology and the medical field. Also our generation is forced to choose one major field and focus our education on that specific area. I really think that dumb is an opinion because really what determines whether you are dumb or not. If one person can solve outrageous math problems but can't change oil in their car or vice versa which person would be considered dumb?
I don't know what makes this author feel like he has the power to say we are the dumbest generation ever. Is he really that intelligent to decide who in the world is dumb and who isn't? I think each generation has its strengths and weaknesses but that doesn't mean that they are dumb. It is also a difficult thing to gerneralize people as a entire generation. It seems a little close minded to form an opinion about an entire generation. An entire generation is including a whole lot of people and forming an opinion of them as one group seems silly. I think technology may have had some disadvantages such as decrease in physical activity and obesity. However, it has also had some advantages like cures to diseases, availability to new resources, and much more. More so than not I think people in our society focus on all the bad things and forget about the good things.
I am not saying our generation is flawless, there are definately a lot of things that not only our generation should be aware of but everyone who lives in our country should be aware of. One of these things would be where the United States is located on a map and what our first amendment rights are. These are just two examples of basic knowledge that everyone in our country should be aware of because it benefits us as well as shows pride in our country.
You're right even though we don't know all of the facts about our past, we're learning new things that will help our country in the future. You bring up a good point with that, the people who know tons about cars would call those people dumb because they can't do a simple thing like change the oil in their car. But the same thing with the math genius'...you could kind of say each person is "dumb" in every field. You would have to know how to do everything in every field ever made up to not be considered dumb, and who really has all that much time?
ReplyDeleteThey can't really base their judgment on one generation, there are so many different kinds of people in each generation that it's hard to pinpoint the "dumb" ones, not saying there are any...
I do agree with you about the fact that "dumb" can be applied to everyone depending on what facet of knowledge you are talking about. I do not feel that all technology is inherently good for society, however. Whenever something changes there is a cost. A key example of this would be the chemical pesticide DDT that used to be used heavily on farm lands to kill pests. This was great in the fact that it increased crop yields and profits for farmer, but there was a cost. The chemical DDT didn't just effect the bugs, it weakened bird egg shells and caused a lot of birds to die. This could be potentially devastating to the ecosystem, but because of Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring", DDT is no longer allowed to be used in the United States. It turns out this pesticide is also a carcinogen and millions of Americans ate it in their food at one point in time. The true lesson in this is that we are quick to use technology because we see the short term benefits (ie higher crop yields). Since we are so quick to use technology, we tend to overlook shortfalls or damages caused by the technology (ie bird kill offs and cancer). Technology is useful, if not anything else, but it can be inherently dangerous if used often enough and without care. Just cause technology is "new" and "revolutionary", does not make it safe and good, I guess is the point I am trying to make here.
ReplyDeleteYou have it exactly correct Tessa! Now-a-days we are forced to learn about one such field or major. But at the same time that's what is happening now. That may not have been what happened before but that is what's happening now. We are forced to know a lot more now because of how advanced our technology is and how much more information there is about certain things. I know in the medical field there are so much more things to know than what there were before. So it doesn't make it right to call us the dumbest generation. I'm sure the people before us are as caught up as we are in what is happening now. So to say we are the dumbest generation, that would be incorrectly stated.
ReplyDeleteTessa you have a lot of great thoughts. I agree with you on all of them. There is a ton of pressure on us as a generation to improve technology and learn more about it. We need to do this to help to find new medicines and to cure cancer and many other different things. Because of this pressure on us we focus more on technology then the important details of the past. We are a generation seeking to better our future. It is a completely false thing to say that we are a dumb generation, because in fact we do know a great deal, but most of it is about technology.
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