The Dumb Generation

This article didn’t surprise me too much. I’ve heard before that people in this generation don’t pay fine attention or know history like their parents and so on did. It’s disappointing that people now don’t perceive important history facts that should be taken notice. But a few things caught my attention. The knowledge and life using skills behind video games was a shocker, along with plain and simple facts kids don’t know. I always thought video games were bad for people and one wouldn’t gain anything from it. But according to this article, video games can be used to a person’s advantage. But if I break it down and analyze it, I guess video games do have some sort of educational background! I always knew that multitasking was a different task to take on, but I never knew that it affected everything that one’s trying to do at once. I now know though, why I can’t multitask and I have to read a passage over and over again when I’m trying to do two other things at the same time.

I agree with some parts of the articles but others, I do not. I agree with the fact that many kids in this generation get distracted with what’s around us (technology) and lean away from the aspect of learning, knowing, analyzing, etc. It’s very sad and almost pathetic that some don’t know what ‘colored entrance’ stood for or who Dick Cheney is. Many of the facts that 2/3 of high school seniors in 2006 didn’t know, are pretty important facts and should be known. But maybe in their eyes, they don’t need it. Things can’t be taught if there is not a special need for it according to Gasset. All students are more interested in different subjects and areas of knowledge, not everyone is going to want to learn or know the same things. Therefore, some will not know facts that one thinks SHOULD be known. Plus, in this generation, people are better and specialize in things that help us to this day, such as technology. Technology is advancing, and as it advances, obviously people around it will be more interested in it (maybe with studying it). The reason we are so advanced with technology to this day is because the people of our generation and a little before have invented it. They might not know who Dick Cheney is, but they had a need and soon succeeded in inventing a T.V., radio, Xbox, and so on.

The generation before us maybe knew what a ‘colored entrance’ was, but no one knows if they were real students who questioned the knowledge that was being thrown at them. According to Gasset, a real student should question everything, starting with assuming the teacher could be wrong. Our generation definitely questions the technology being put out, because we are always trying to fix it or make it better.