Comments on: How to Manage the Dumbest Generation

By: Tasha

Tasha — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:26:38 +0000

I am a 22-year-old bibliophile and I’m afraid I am going to have to agree with Bauerlein. The most appalling workers I deal with are the ones who come to work with with their laptops so that they can check their MySpace or Facebook pages, and text on their cellphones while they are supposed to be working. They are not opening themselves up to a world of fascinating and useful information provided by some well-designed sites on the web, all I ever see them doing is gawking at YouTube videos and engaging in YouTube arguments (at the library!) Their tastes are NOT more diversified, if the tunes cranked out on the radio stations they listen to are any indication. They do NOT have basic knowledge of simple historical, geographical or even current affairs facts, and they are an excellent bit of proof that people who possess no interest in the world around or before them are undoubtedly CLOSE-MINDED. I should also
mention that many of our Founding Fathers from centuries ago possessed incredibly well-informed minds and a genuine thirst for knowledge that is severely lacking in
these crummy days of self-absorption and redundance.

By: Somewhere Between Gen X and Y

Somewhere Between Gen X and Y — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:50:41 +0000

“I read the first few lines of this post and then skipped to the conclusion. Seems like the author is just insulting millenials. We r smart d00d, u will see!!!!!11! We will be ur boss in a few years!!!!1″

^^ I hope that’s a joke. Because basically that is my impression of kids 16 to 22. I haven’t seen any empirical evidence to suggest otherwise.

By: SB

SB — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 15:38:57 +0000

As with any generation, there is a distribution of intelligence. I teach a very select group of graduate students and I think they are way smarter, better prepared and more worldly than my generation was. They have unlimited access to information and know how to get it. Where they fall down a bit is historical context but that will come as they mature. Of course, this is a select group, not the generation as a whole. You can’t have leaders without followers.

By: Millenial

Millenial — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:06:26 +0000

I read the first few lines of this post and then skipped to the conclusion. Seems like the author is just insulting millenials. We r smart d00d, u will see!!!!!11! We will be ur boss in a few years!!!!1

By: Gen X Ken

Gen X Ken — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:58:59 +0000

Every time a new generation rolls around and starts entering the work force ARROGANT and IGNORANT members of the older generations start spewing their dreck about how the new generation is bad.

Some even write articles, books, etc. trying to capitalize on the generational hatred.

It must be better than facing up to the fact that they’re OLD and getting older.

But wallowing in stupidity and irrelevance is no solution for the old folks.

By: schencka

schencka — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:59:27 +0000

People need good teachers. This is true for every generation. If we suppose the absence of educators or parents who help create good habits for some Millennials, then “F reading” and the like show they’re doing their best with what they have.

Born just before the so-called Millennials, I teach them as a college instructor, and think the pejorative “Dumbest Generation” very unfair, and another in a long line of crotchety “oh those kids!” complaints that will always be with us.

By: Zoe B

Zoe B — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:42:39 +0000

Anyone here old enough to remember the joke “Hey Mom, did you know that Paul McCartney was in a group before Wings?”?. Today my children and their peers have no particular acquaintance with Wings, but can name a Beatles song in 2 notes. As with any era, trivial knowledge will fade and at least some of the important stuff will endure.

By: TomB

TomB — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:05:18 +0000

As someone who born five years short of this generation, I have to disagree with them being called the dumbest.

First, they are young. They don’t have the experience the rest of us have. They’re not bitter and jaded yet.

Second, look at what they went through to get an education. At every step, their education budgets were SLASHED. Think back to your classroom. Now, look at today’s integrated classrooms, without TA’s, with far fewer field trips, and almost no supplies (and that’s a small list of differences). Yet, they can imagine, time manage and people manage better than any generation before.

Third, look at their families. The divorce rate went how high? Extra curricular programs and parental involvement (PTA, etc.) went how low?

Blaming them for being dumb is like a creator insulting his own work. If they are dumb (and I don’t think they are, they just know different things and have little experience), whose fault is it? Perhaps it’s the generation who created them?

By: hayden fisher

hayden fisher — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:43:24 +0000

Consider this: the death of the expression of knowing someone’s number “by heart”; and the old speed dials with 10 or 20 numbers. Now many people have several hundred phone numbers saved in their phones. More knowledge exists. More innovation exists. More ways of connecting exist. More diversity exists. More lifestyle options exist. This is not the dumbest generation; it’s the most connected generation with the most options of all kinds available to it. Instead of spending time memorizing “facts”, this generation spends time studying and weaving them together to bring new things to life; and touching more people and places in ways that prior generations could only have dreamed of. Think how many new organizations exist because they can connect via e-mail and websites without postage and publishing charges. The entry costs have dropped. Today, it’s all about concepts and ideas.

By: Publius

Publius — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:03:39 +0000

Wendy, I agree with your experience, but you are judging the dregs of modern society with yourself and your friends who are among the most successful of your own.

I’m sure if Gen X’ers judge their generation by their friends in 30 years they too will be disappointed by the relative incompetence of the days’ plebs.