The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) by Mark Bauerlein

Jun 16, 2009 Shelley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who plays a role in the education of teens - parents, teachers, administrators, pastors, etc - as well as anyone concerned about the intellectual well-being of our country.

His premise is simple but chilling. Bauerlein argues that on a daily basis "The Dumbest Generation" willfully abandons the kinds of intellectual pursuits that typically transform immature youths into responsible, sophisticated citizens, exchanging them for the alluring, yet mind-n...more

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Jan 28, 2009 BC rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: current-events-politics

I really enjoyed this book, and it provided some proof of what I have been experiencing as a teacher at a university. Students - even at a university - are reluctant to read any more than they must, don't take an interest in the material, and don't take an interest in the world around them. As a university professor, Bauerlain has experienced all these things himself, and now has the research to back it up.

As Bauerlain states, younger people (and I'm one of the under-30s; just barely, though) ha...more

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Nov 11, 2008 Craig rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-nonfiction

The Dumbest Generation's premise is that today's kids are sorely equipped to handle the challenges of the lives they have ahead of them. The primary reason behind this, Bauerlain states, is that this upcoming generation (broadly people under 30 but more specifically people in high school) spend an ever decreasing amount of time reading. This rationale should come as no surprise when you consider that the author is an English professor. The author sees this decline first-hand in the classroom and...more The Dumbest Generation's premise is that today's kids are sorely equipped to handle the challenges of the lives they have ahead of them. The primary reason behind this, Bauerlain states, is that this upcoming generation (broadly people under 30 but more specifically people in high school) spend an ever decreasing amount of time reading. This rationale should come as no surprise when you consider that the author is an English professor. The author sees this decline first-hand in the classroom and makes it his mission to inform people of the situation.

Because of the younger generation's short tether with all things digital and their apparent widespread disdain with "old fashioned" learning through books they have become a population of short attention-spanned narcissists, satisfied in only the here and now, their naively inflated self-importance, and with the spread of their most trivial inner thoughts and feelings through channels like MySpace and Twitter. Bauerlain broadens his argument to include the whole Internet, claiming that it not only encourages impatience and uneven reading patterns but it also allows for kids to lazily address today's questions with quick hit searches on sites like Wikipedia.

Bauerlain supports his argument very well throughout the book with copious amounts of data, from which he draws pretty sensible conclusions. I plant myself firmly in his camp though I am easier to convince than many as I see this first-hand evidence of this myself in the workplace -- or at least the results of the reading-decline epidemic. Many of these impatient up and comers demonstrate a lack of focus, a strong sense of entitlement, a poor work ethic, and -- most importantly -- their thirst for continued learning virtually dried up. Knowledge is not typically sought out and needs to be delivered in easy-to-swallow packets, on their schedule, and in forms most convenient to them -- traits that I'd argue are not abundantly present in voracious readers.

I thought the book fell somewhat short on providing solutions, preferring instead to state the accusation and spend many of its subsequent pages backing up the claim with data and repetitive statement of the problem. It's not enough to just point to the problem. To fully hit it head-on we need to be more constructive and not stop short of voicing suggestions.

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trivialchemy I find the argument which is almost always paraded out against books like this (including by Steven Johnson) which goes something like: "oh, curmudgeo...more
Nov 12, 2008 11:06am

Mike Well, I do now feel obligated to read the guy--obligated in a good way.

I wonder, re points you raise Isaiah, whether the differences in cognitive res...more
Nov 12, 2008 12:02pm

Dec 05, 2008 Danielle rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book was full of generalizations and sloppy assumptions. Bauerlain better hope this generation is dumb so that they actually buy what he's saying. He spends the beginning of the book spouting results from all kinds of surveys and studies indicating how poorly educated the Millenial generation is, which I don't doubt. However my issue is that he doesn't compare the results to any other generation. Seeing as how I recently read an article indicating that 44% of our elected officials couldn't...more

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Dec 13, 2008 Nathan rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: aquinas-library, sociology

Baulerlein has the statistics, but what he lacks is nuance, tact, and ultimately, objectivity. Under his steely eye, anyone under 30 is magicked into a mouthbreathing, illiterate cross between Britney Spears and Dennis the Menace. The shrillness of his rhetoric borders on ageism, sure to offend anyone under 30 who doesn't get all their information from Wikipedia or base their value on the worth of their iPod.

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Feb 11, 2013 Stephanie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Ironically enough, I think Bauerlein effectively and indirectly summed up the general feeling of his own book by his criticism of another critic on page 184, saying that the language used was "so elevated, so melodramatic, aims more for affect than information".
It made me laugh so I made sure to underline it.
I'm not afraid of being analyzed by the former generation, and as it is, this book didn't personally offend me for my own sake, but it did offend me for the sake of his own charge. It was sl...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Jenn rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, social-sciences

Now, to sum up my feelings on this book in a way that hopefully doesn't fulfill the author's dire prognostications:
Bauerlein and I share, I think, a horror at the currently rising tide of anti-intellectualism in the USA. We trace the blame for this problem, however, to different sources. Bauerlein believes that the culture wars of the sixties promoted a belief among the young that there was nothing worthwhile to be gained from the past. I would argue that the roots of anti-intellectualism go mu...more Now, to sum up my feelings on this book in a way that hopefully doesn't fulfill the author's dire prognostications:
Bauerlein and I share, I think, a horror at the currently rising tide of anti-intellectualism in the USA. We trace the blame for this problem, however, to different sources. Bauerlein believes that the culture wars of the sixties promoted a belief among the young that there was nothing worthwhile to be gained from the past. I would argue that the roots of anti-intellectualism go much deeper and dismissal of the "experts" and the "eggheads" is a pervasive strain of American thought.
My main problem with the book's argument is that Bauerlein seems to be saying that young people today are much more shallow, narrow-minded, and peer-obsessed than they were in the past. I just can't agree with that argument. I accept that kids today have many more sources of information and distraction than they probably did in the past; that doesn't mean I buy for one second the idea that the majority of teens (and people in general) 50 or even 100 years ago were striving to improve their minds and familiarize themselves with the world of ideas. Intellectual activity on the scale he's referring to has always been the province of a minority. The very studies Bauerlein cites show that, while students have not drastically improved in a variety of ways since the 1930s, neither have they drastically declined.
There are some points that I agree with Bauerlein on: the echo chambers we can currently create for ourselves that prevent us from stumbling upon information we disagree with; the ridiculousness of the current craze regarding "self-esteem," our incredibly narcissistic culture, the elevation of youth culture to the exclusion of everything else, etc. I just don't think we can lay the blame for all this on young people.
One point I found interesting was his continued harping on how young people today only listen to popular music, not classical or jazz. Jazz was the popular music of its time! He does admit that the passage of years has allowed us to determine what was great and what was merely a passing fad in regards to jazz, but he doesn't seem to take into consideration that jazz is not a dead artform. People are still making jazz. Some of it is very good, and some of it is terrible. Nor does he consider that 50 years from now, Skrillex may be regarded as one of the musical masters of the early 21st century. We just don't know.
Another problem I had with the book is that he really harps on remembering FACTS. Students can't remember facts! Gosh, why would they? He sounds like Homer going on about how writing was going to ruin everyone's memory. Yes, with access to the internet and our various portable data devices, it's probably easier for us to look up the date of the battle of Shiloh than remember it. Isn't it more important that we know what the battle was about and it's larger ramifications? Not that I'm saying that students are learning that, either. I was startled that, although this book was finished in 2008, Bauerlein made no reference to No Child Left Behind and "teaching to the test" which I personally regard as a large part of students' narrow worldviews. Instead of being encouraged by teachers to learn for the sake of learning and for potential applications to their future, instead students are drilled in what they need to pass their exams. I think this gives them the idea that education is just something you have to muddle through in order to get a job, and then you'll never have to think about any of this crap again.
Bauerlein admits that a large part of the problem he is detailing is just teens being teens. He feels, however, that we don't give teens enough of an incentive to want to become mature, intelligent adults, and in that I can't disagree with him. When the adults are acting like spoiled kids, why expect the kids to do better? (less)

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Dec 20, 2011 Diana rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: educational-reads

Interesting read. I thought it funny how the book spent a great deal of time talking about how people aren't reading (especially the younger generation) and yet the author chose to write a book and...I was reading it! At times in the beginning I felt like I was reading the same information over and over and thinking I had just read this page as it was a lot like the page before and the page before. It got a bit long and dry at times. I found sentences to be very long at times and hard to follow...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Shannon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future* (*Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30), is a sobering critique not of the values or behaviors of Americans under 30, but of the younger generation’s intellect. Supporting his argument with anecdotal instances and statistical studies, he contends that America’s youth is surrounded by an abundance of knowledge and chooses, instead, to turn inward. Bauerlein quickly (and accurately) turns...more Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future* (*Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30), is a sobering critique not of the values or behaviors of Americans under 30, but of the younger generation’s intellect. Supporting his argument with anecdotal instances and statistical studies, he contends that America’s youth is surrounded by an abundance of knowledge and chooses, instead, to turn inward. Bauerlein quickly (and accurately) turns to the “Electronic Age” as the root of this intellect-stunting contradiction: “The paradox may be put this way. We have entered the Information Age, traveled the Information Superhighway… while the world has provided [young Americans] extraordinary chances… they are no more learned or skillful… no more knowledgeable.” The state of young America’s intellectual curiosity, therefore, is made more puzzling and disheartening given the information surplus. This can only be explained by apathy, then, since museums, libraries, theatres, and intellectual pursuits are readily available. Bauerlein references a 2006 National Survey of Student Engagement in which the report reads that 27 percent of freshmen “never” attended an art exhibit, gallery, play, dance, or other theatre performance, and 45 percent only “sometimes.” Juxtaposed with a 2005 report by Nielsen Media Research that the average college student watches 3 hours and 41 minutes of TV daily, it is clear that the problem does not lie in distaste for entertainment, but the learning-curve required for the finer arts.
The year before The Dumbest Generation was published, Maggie Jackson’s book Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age dealt with many of the same themes as Bauerlein’s study. She discussed similar consequences of the “Information Superhighway” (or as she calls it, “The Dark Age of the Screen”); the disconnect with our past (both in terms of a disregard for history and a declining memory), and the lack of self-discipline within the classroom due to poor attention spans. Bauerlein is less concerned with classroom self-discipline than he is with out of class intellectual pursuits, knowledge for knowledge’s sake. He often cites examples of students who excel in school, standardized tests, and extracurricular activities, but they treat knowledge like exercises to be completed, or a box to check off of a list, rather than something that holds intrinsic value. Jackson and Bauerlein argue that one of the main problems with the “Dark Age of the Screen” is that it is being used to connect only with the familiar. Both authors discuss social media websites as software which distracts and obstructs learning. Nevertheless, Bauerlein ignores Jackson’s work entirely; despite the overlapping fields of study and the proximity of publication dates, Distracted is not listed in his biography.
While mass-media culture critiques and its effects on the attention and education of youth are not new, Bauerlein presents an excellent section in The Dumbest Generation on online learning. Middle schools, high schools, and colleges spend more and more money every year on new “digital initiatives.” Shockingly, Bauerlein writes that a school district in California spent $37 million on new digital tools for eleven schools by the budget for science equipment and field trips (reminiscent of Boorstin’s pseudo-events, we prefer the digital shadow to the field trip, the real experience). Rather than fostering learning, the presence of computers in the classroom actually aggravates real problems in education, like the acquisition of language. Additionally, Bauerlein destroys the myth that people (he limits it to teens, but the statistics cited refer to “web users” generally, regardless of age) actually read online. Instead, most people reading online scan the pages, “picking out individual words and sentences and processing them out of sequence.” This is Bauerlein’s most significant contribution in The Dumbest Generation, and it drives his point home. He effectively combats the myth that increased technology and educational media will increase learning and intellectual curiosity.
Bauerlein’s study focuses entirely on the concept of a generational divide, as if everyone over the age of 30 remained completely unaffected by the paradoxical consequences of the Digital Revolution. This conclusion is partially a logical progression of extended exposure to television or other aspects of the “information superhighway” as a child. In a 2007 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine study, researchers found that “frequent television viewing during adolescence was associated with elevated risk for subsequent attention and learning difficulties … [and] poor homework completion, negative attitudes toward school,” etc. The young Americans of the “dumbest” generation, therefore, have been taught to use the digital revolution as a means to turn inward from their earliest years.
While the younger generation may be at more of a disadvantage, he discredits his study by arguing that the digital revolution has caused a lack of intellectual curiosity exclusively in Americans under the age of 30. The whole of America took part in the Digital Revolution, and its effects can be seen across the board. The younger generation is understandably more saturated in the surplus of information, but even the statistics that Bauerlein references reveal a multi-generational decline in reading. A report by the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts compared voluntary reading rates from 1982, 1992, to 2002. The percentages for 35-44 year olds (who would now be 44-53 year olds) dropped from 59.7% in 1982, to 46.6% in 2002 and even the 65-74 year old age group dropped 5% from 1992 to 2002. It seems that even the over-30 crowd, which Bauerlein calls “unconscionable” if they do not speak out against the younger generation, has been similarly affected by the paradox of the stagnant Information-Superhighway. The Dumbest Generation is a careful critique of a very real problem, but Bauerlein may begin to lose his audience with his doom-and-gloom language throughout the book. He claims that “as of 2008, the intellectual future of the United States looks dim” and “the ramifications for the United States are grave.” The last sentence of the book claims that America’s youth “may even be recalled as the generation that lost the great American heritage, forever.” His apocalyptic prophecy that America’s under-30-year olds will bring about the end of ‘America As We Know It' weakens his thesis, rather than reinforces it; the book at this point seems more like a call for help than the legitimate academic study that Bauerlein actually produced.
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Jul 19, 2011 Stewart rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mark Bauerlein's premise that the electronic world (Internet, Facebook, cellphones, iPads, etc.) is dumbing-down and disengaging younger people from the wider world is hard to dispute. "Most young Americans possess little of the knowledge that makes for an informed citizen, and too few of them master the skills needed to negotiate an information-heavy, communication-based society and economy." I have read the surveys and polls over the past three decades, some of which are quoted in the book, t...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Kari rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2011

Bauerlein shares research from studies across generations, sometimes going back to the 1970s to make comparisons. While he finds that intelligence seems to be getting higher (more geniuses), general knowledge and interest in history, culutre and politics is declining. The current generation of 18-30 year olds is more concerned about their social circle and pop culture than about who is running for governor, which doesn't bode well for the next generation of leadership.
Bauerlein was one of the p...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Chickens McShiterson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own

There is a slight irony to posting a review of this book on a social networking website (albeit one that focuses solely on literature). While Bauerlein's thesis is solid and most of his contentions are true in some cases, the book offers hardly any solid solutions, and instead comes off as an ivory tower polemic that solidifies one of the author's fears: that those who love literature and believe in its virtues are seen as stodgy fogies unwilling to embrace the digital age. Yes, teenagers utiliz...more There is a slight irony to posting a review of this book on a social networking website (albeit one that focuses solely on literature). While Bauerlein's thesis is solid and most of his contentions are true in some cases, the book offers hardly any solid solutions, and instead comes off as an ivory tower polemic that solidifies one of the author's fears: that those who love literature and believe in its virtues are seen as stodgy fogies unwilling to embrace the digital age. Yes, teenagers utilize technology in a narcissistic fashion, focusing not on gathering information and knowledge, but in playing a cat and mouse game of enhancing (or maintaining) their social status among peers. Yes, some teenagers eschew the virtues of literature and the arts, replacing said traditions with online feeble-minded ventures. However, discounting this generation in such broad terms can be a bit counter-productive.

For instance, as a member of the dreaded Generation X, I did not read much aside from required high school texts, nor did I incessantly visit museums or appreciate art in my youth, but I turned that pattern of behavior around. Most people believed that my generation was doomed to a slacker miasma, which I believe a good many of "us" have solidly refuted. So too, as an idealist, I believe this generation will prove us wrong. Perhaps the lure of total immersion in all things technology may produce a cultural ennui for them, only time will tell. I think it is natural for us to fear the worst, that this generation will never acquire a deep appreciation for intellectualism or civic duty, but to write the entire generation off is a bit foolhardy (because, hey- I've had students who loved the books I taught, who loved Shakespeare despite the perceived personal addictions they had to social networking).

All this aside, Bauerlein definitely brings up arguments and observations that need to be kept in mind and considered, especially from an educator's standpoint. Is there cause for alarm? Absolutely. Are books important to our culture in forging an understanding of the past with the prospects of the future? No doubt. But for some generations and individuals, these connections take time to comprehend and appreciate. Perhaps this is the fate of this generation, but let's not hasten to label them "dumb." (less)

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Mar 29, 2011 Jud Barry rated it 3 of 5 stars

The author visited my library last night and for the most part delivered the main messages from this book:

1. 24/7 digital connectivity (a.k.a. social networking, Internet 2.0) tends to exacerbate the peer-pressured, anti-intellectual predispositions of American youth. It didn't cause it, but it makes it worse.

2. Facility with technology is not the same thing as intelligence.

3. Reading books and reading online aren't the same. Reading books both encourages and requires long periods of focused att...more

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Jul 19, 2010 Derek rated it 4 of 5 stars

The thrust of the argument behind Mark Bauerlein’s excellent The Dumbest Generation is that the decline of American intellectualism has largely been influenced by the proliferation of technology, both in the classroom and in social settings, and that the main culprits behind the decline are the “Millenials” (my generation) and younger. It’s a well-argued and very well-supported premise throughout, and simply based on the limitations of a “review” such as this, much of the nuance and intelligence...more The thrust of the argument behind Mark Bauerlein’s excellent The Dumbest Generation is that the decline of American intellectualism has largely been influenced by the proliferation of technology, both in the classroom and in social settings, and that the main culprits behind the decline are the “Millenials” (my generation) and younger. It’s a well-argued and very well-supported premise throughout, and simply based on the limitations of a “review” such as this, much of the nuance and intelligence behind his argument is lost in my retelling.

In many ways, the book is a reaction to the misguided technophiles who hail this new generation as able multi-taskers and astute operators of technological advancements. The technophiles argue (or rather, Bauerlein presents their argument as such) that, even if adolescents don’t bother with the classics or fine art anymore, they’ve advanced beyond us in other ways instead: they whiz through computers without a second thought, they can work at 15 things at once, and on and on.

Bauerlein then cites the piles of unassailable evidence that knock this conventional wisdom on its ass: multitasking is not the same as doing something well, and knowing how to investigate a subject on Wikipedia is simply not the same as knowing it, particularly when presented in contrast to reading about it in a book. We read and understand things differently (and in many ways, more thoroughly) when they’re not on a screen; to thoughtlessly brush off books as outmoded is reductive and destructive.

You’ll notice, of course, the limitations of Bauerlein’s argument almost immediately: the “they” versus “us” construction, and the criminal oversimplification that such a construction inherently demonstrates. But that doesn’t mean that he isn’t able to overcome the simplification and provide a coherent argument to support it. It just weakens almost everything he says.

Bauerlein takes into account most counterarguments (“But what about Harry Potter!”) and seems unafraid to alienate himself by speaking his version of the truth. For that, I say, “Three cheers for Bauerlein!” Huzzah for chastising the people who feel that reading is a waste of time! Huzzah for bashing those people who willingly forego political involvement! Huzzah for recognizing that bloggy navel-gazing is not the same as the considered, careful construction of literature!

However, my support of Bauerlein flagged by the book’s conclusion, simply because he limits himself by focusing on adolescence, a target perhaps too ripe. What he is really talking about is the decline of intellectualism in America in general, not just as demonstrated by its youth, however thoroughly and irrefutably they demonstrate it. Bauerlein’s hoo-rah call-to-action ending doesn’t do him any favors either, and the froth spilt onto his keyboard in the closing paragraphs diminishes the preceding even-handed citations and observations. After all, youth has always been anti-intellectual, and the facilitation (and, in fact, documentation) of such an attitude by Facebook, Twitter, and the like doesn’t necessarily mark the end of Western civilization.

I’m not suggesting that Bauerlein change the premise of his book, but I do wish that he would temper his chastisement of youth “culture” (pointedly in quotation marks here) with some even-handed examination of the anti-intellectualism of preceding generations. He hints at this, and in fact names the baby boomers for abdicating the intellectual throne so willingly, but he undermines his argument by speaking so broadly about an entire generation. I understand and mostly agree with what he is saying, but not every Millenial throws away his or her library to replace it with an RSS feed and a MySpace profile, even if such people are the exception to the norm.

I would also argue against his assumption that classical and jazz are the only worthwhile forms of music – Bauerlein seems to gloss over the vast array of quality that falls somewhere between Charlie Parker and Lady Gaga. Perhaps I’m listening to the wrong kind of music, or am hearing it differently, but there is plenty of artistic value to be found in “pop” music, which he so easily brushes aside (I’m willing to accept, of course, that perhaps he and I simply define this term differently).

With that said, I still think this is a book that almost everyone should read, particularly if you find your brain is turning to mush from excessive Facebook refreshing. Very highly recommended, despite any negatives.

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Feb 05, 2010 Nida rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Educators

I've decided to shelve this book. Although I believe that the younger generation is letting the thirst knowledge and culture slip away into superficial pastimes, I feel that as you get older the world around you changes. There may be hope for the world yet, as the "Dumbest Generation" grows up.

As for the book, well, it was a little too heavily laden with research on study habits, test taking skills, and a generalized way of proving the decline of intelligence in the current generation. To me the...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Jay rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: futurology, business, audiobook

I am used to books like this describing a problem, discussing what the problem is growing into, and defining solutions. This one starts with some overwhelming statistical evidence of the decline of reading in the young. Frightening stats to be sure. The author takes this problem as a sign, along with other evidence, of a decline of intellectualism in the young. Where is this leading? Seems like the country won't have the people with the intellect and desire to run the country as things are going...more

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May 11, 2011 Jacqueline rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Those seeking a more realized understanding of today's youth.

Recommended to Jacqueline by: Impulse buy/interest

Shelves: genre-sociology

Anyone who can legitimately make the assertion that the youth of the twenty-first century are not generally, deeply flawed needs to lay down the crack pipe. Specifically, the quantitative intelligence of the tweens and teens this generation has produced is abysmal to say the least, slit-wrist worthy to say the most.

This shrinking intelligence threshold is not a question, it is a fact.

And this fact is not only expounded upon in The Dumbest Generation, it is also reinforced and proven by the cumu...more Anyone who can legitimately make the assertion that the youth of the twenty-first century are not generally, deeply flawed needs to lay down the crack pipe. Specifically, the quantitative intelligence of the tweens and teens this generation has produced is abysmal to say the least, slit-wrist worthy to say the most.

This shrinking intelligence threshold is not a question, it is a fact.

And this fact is not only expounded upon in The Dumbest Generation, it is also reinforced and proven by the cumulative evidentiary data noted and referenced herein. The problem is not an issue for debate, though the cause might be. Mark Bauerlein endeavors, and mostly succeeds, at placing the blame on the massive culturally-approved obsession today's generation has with technology in this Digital Age.

Put simply, I am in very close agreement with nearly all of the claims and issues Bauerlein discussed within his book. When examining all the evidence, it becomes very clear that my generation has endorsed the qualities of laziness and simplistic obsession. I cannot applaud this particular professor more resoundingly for his intelligent and meaningful observations.

I do, however, find myself in disagreement with him on one particular issue. One hundred and eighty two pages into this work I discovered my one and only objection. Bauerlein expounds on the point that the fault of our culture's petty materialistic Digital obsession lies squarely on the shoulders of the intellectuals, noted in the chapter "The Betrayal of the Mentors." While I do agree with this allegation in the modern time, that sociologists and learned peoples discredit traditionalism too readily, I fault this author for his lengthy discuss on the Rutger's University English professor's publicized stance on his congratulatory applause for the nineteen sixties youth revolution.

In utilizing this issue as evidence for the chapter's statement, the writer is erring on the side of over-association. The issue at hand is context; the generation of the rebellious sixties is not comparable to the generation of the digital apathetic Millennials. The rebellious youth of said era were not uninformed, were not separated from the intellectual sphere. They were living history, living tumultuous times. They were not moronic tweens tweeting and texting the latest updates of Jersey Shore.

Likewise, I agree that age and wisdom harbor fact, knowledge, and experience. However, I do not parallel my thinking with Bauerlein's seeming take that the older intellectuals are infallible. This eliminates the question of human frailness and imperfection, as though the aged are incapable of misstep. I especially abhor this writer's constant reflection with the sixties and seventies elders, when then (unlike now) youth protesters were clearly in the right while the wizened aged were lodging wars in Korea and Vietnam, attacking races and youth freedoms, and engaged in political and activist-leaders assassinations.

Mark Bauerlein makes the statement, "If the guardians of tradition claim that the young, though ignorant, have a special perspective on the past, or if teachers prize the impulses of tenth-graders more than the thoughts of the wise and the works of the masters, learning loses its point." It is a quote I most thoroughly DO agree with, having but one caveat. The works, thoughts, and publications of the past should most certainly be studied and exalted - so long as the teacher or professor does so with the correct spirit of inquired engagement. It is not a sin to question an old idea or work, for only through questioning and modern analysis can we appreciate, understand, and process where we have been, to assimilate that information, in order to know where we are going.

Truly, this is a good book, despite my lengthy arguments with issues noted therein. Rather, problems are easier to write on than agreements, for continuing in an applause-after-applause monologue is both boring and pointless. Still, as noted before, Bauerlein makes many statements, issues many opinions and predictions of which I most truly appreciate and agree.

In summation, this author takes the opinion that educators should stand against popular culture. This is his resounding theme throughout the work, and I cannot agree more! Popular culture is fleeting and unreliable, and only in the face of something more lasting can students and young persons grow as well-rounded individuals. (less)

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Jul 14, 2010 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Well. I'm certainly impressed by the evidence marshaled in this book, especially when coupled with the recent release of a study showing that low-income students who received laptops for schoolwork in a recent program actually had their educational scores go DOWN. Well, Bauerlein wouldn't be surprised--turns out the kids used them to play games, not do schoolwork.
The first part of this book goes over the unfortunately all-too-ample research showing that our kids these days don't really know much...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Rinny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction-other

So this book echos the same three premises throughout: 1) Although the rise in technology in classrooms constantly receive praise from critics, there are no results which mention a rise in education (if anything, there's a drop). 2) Most people born between 1980-2000 are generally disinterested in learning anything beyond what can make them a successful individual in their social circles. 3) While technology has advanced to the point where the entire world is in our back pockets, purses or book...more So this book echos the same three premises throughout: 1) Although the rise in technology in classrooms constantly receive praise from critics, there are no results which mention a rise in education (if anything, there's a drop). 2) Most people born between 1980-2000 are generally disinterested in learning anything beyond what can make them a successful individual in their social circles. 3) While technology has advanced to the point where the entire world is in our back pockets, purses or book bags, young people primarily use the internet for their own ego and social purposes; research is left in the classroom.

I see these points in real life all of the time, so I can't disagree. What troubled me about his argument was he wanted everybody to be some literary, artistic, musical connoisseur. While I won't argue that these subjects (as well as history, which he constantly brought up) are semi-important for becoming a well-rounded individual, so are math and science. (ESPECIALLY math and science.)

Students, despite the rise in technology, have an extreme phobia, distrust and disinterest in these subjects. Just as many twenty-somethings know very little about civics, and politics there is an innate ignorance when it comes to science -- yet it's another subject that many people in power are trying to take away!

No one can explain evolution or the Big Bang theory, which would denote all religious dogma that spreads throughout this country. No one understands genetics, which would explain the physical differences between us. No one can do basic algebra, statistics or math calculations which can be used for a plethora of real-world applications (contrary to popular opinions). Yet, if you can't "do" these subjects, everybody laughs it off a bit and moves on. Proof that these things are equally ignored and spawn an ignorance this country cannot afford anymore.

This book would have been much better if he wasn't full of his own ego, constantly harping on the fact that no one likes his subject (history) or loves the classics as much as he does. As much as it disappoints him, not everybody needs to read the Iliad or Shakespeare plays in order to be a well-rounded individual. What is important these days is to be able to discern what's true and what isn't. The internet is being filled with propaganda from media outlets and peers online that are not entirely true and many young people follow whoever has the most agreeable opinions in their circle of friends. This problem crosses over the boundaries of history into science as well. I IMPLORE THE OLDER GENERATION TO STOP IGNORING THIS IMPORTANCE.

His arguments should have focused on critical thinking, problem solving, understanding how to think historically, linguistically, scientifically, mathematically. It should have provided possible solutions to the problem instead of constantly saying that the attempts to solve the problem or pretend it isn't there have shown no results. This book was no better than a rant. Teenagers and twenty-somethings don't want to add anything academic into their daily lives because it does not enhance their social lives, I get that -- so what's the plan? What is the possible solution?

We live in a world where college is no longer for an education but money and perceived power and status. Still, people graduate and return home to their parents because they aren't ready for the world yet. Where do they spend their time? The internet! The adolescent state of mind lingers well past the eighteenth birthday. Many twenty-somethings feel as though writing a blog or making a Twitter status about some current event they are....

...the point is there were absolutely no solutions in this book and it did not cover every pressing issue it should have covered. It was just a redundant rant about how he can't find a high school kid he can have a conversation about World War II with. For that reason alone, while it was informational, I'll leave it at three stars.(less)

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Feb 15, 2012 Amber rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, non-fiction

I'm three pages away so I'm going to go ahead and mark this as finished.

I found this book really patronizing and annoying. Sure, he has some good points about education, etc but he is definitely coming from a white middle-class male view. He even referred to culture warriors exclusively as males. Bauerlein is a traditionalist to a fault, and seems to have an English professor chip on his shoulder. This is especially evident in the chapter about bibliophobes.

The strangest thing to me is that his...more

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Apr 24, 2009 Lining rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: failarious, nonfiction

Okay, so...

I feel horribly insulted.

I mean, seriously. Are you saying that ALL young people today are dumb? That's pretentious and arrogant. Excuse me, but I don't spend all my time on social networking- in fact, very few hours indeed. And when I do, it's to talk to people who have similar interests, and who post in a very dignified, informational way.

HUGE eye-roll at the no-reading section. I'm 13 years old, and I've read more than 50 books this year, and I have the second highest point scor...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Derrick rated it 1 of 5 stars

I decided to read this book because I saw a friend, who is under 30, reading this book last summer. The author has a powerful thesis, but fails to execute well. At the beginning, he starts with an example of Walt Whitman High School, an exception to his thesis. He then provides several (SEVERAL!) examples of research that supports his view of a generation immersed in their own social cocoon. I was supportive of his ideas after a page or two, but he proceeded to share superfluous items of researc...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Kash rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is so very frightening. This slim book talks about the digital generation born between 1980 to mid 1990s. A generation that reads less and less every day and is off the mark by miles. And this know-nothing generation voted a know-nothing president into office this past November. It makes me very worried. Unless something is done with the public education, there's no way the future generations become any better either. Most teenagers and young adults I have talked to in the US or Canada are...more

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Sep 18, 2009 Mary rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book really looked so promising when I read a section while waiting at the local bookstore. And there is some great insight and data here, but this is not the book it should be. There are a lot of statistics, which is good, but the author does not do a great job explaining the data. The writing is very dry (I was falling asleep every 2 pages in the second half). Sometimes the author presented the data about the brilliance of the current up-and-coming generation and I would get confused abou...more

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Jun 17, 2012 Seamus Enright rated it 2 of 5 stars

Synopsis:

Kids these days...playing around with their ipods and updating their myspace pages all day.

When I was their age I was reading The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom...it made a big impression on me as I've rehashed more or less the whole book here.

I used to listen to Jazz when I was a kid. My parents didn't get it because they were squares. Now kids listen to Rock which is a much less intellectually rich form of music...I assume so because I don't listen to any of it myself.

Kid...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Scot Mcatee rated it 1 of 5 stars

This author made me angry. He cited lots and lots of statistics, which can always be interpreted differently by anyone for any reason. While I would agree with a fair number of the generalized observations in this book, the author comes off sounding like one of those old fogeys who believes the young generation are worthless. The "explicit warning" to not trust anyone under 30 on the front cover should have been a tip-off.

I feel like the few hours I spent reading this book would have been better...more This author made me angry. He cited lots and lots of statistics, which can always be interpreted differently by anyone for any reason. While I would agree with a fair number of the generalized observations in this book, the author comes off sounding like one of those old fogeys who believes the young generation are worthless. The "explicit warning" to not trust anyone under 30 on the front cover should have been a tip-off.

I feel like the few hours I spent reading this book would have been better spent going to a nursing home, spoon feeding an Alzheimer's patient who might call me Suzy a hundred times and tell me over and over that young people are stupid. Yeah, I hated the underlying message of this book that much to make a nasty, inappropriate comment.

Today's youth are the same as yesterday's youth, who are the same as the generation before them. There are a certain amount who are spoiled rotten and may never amount to much, a group who are lazy and never CARE to achieve very much, but some of them are utilizing ever tool available to them to do exactly what their teachers and preachers and parents have been telling them all along: learn how to become a more well rounded person. Does Mr. Bauerlein not understand that kids today are doing the exact same thing they always did, except that instead of landline phone calls or folded up paper notes, they're using Ipads, PCs, and their cell phones? Would Mr. Bauerlein like to go back to the manufacturing/industrial base that we had a single generation ago? Well, sorry, sir-- those days are gone. Perhaps he should move to China to relive the glory days.

Today, we're trying to teach kids to prepare for jobs that don't even exist yet with tools that become outdated the minute they leave the store. Our culture's voracious appetite for tech is the same one that the Koreans and Japanese and Europeans have, yet I don't hear Mr. Bauerlein sounding a warning for those children. What are we to infer from that? Hmm... who's the apologist now, and for what?

The thing that Mr. Bauerlein misses is that every old generation says the same thing about the younger generation, yet the younger generation eventually grows up and takes over things for the oldsters, changing them to suit their needs as they go. Things are going to be different, sir, but as a wise man once said, "Those cultures who don't change, die."

My mother taught me if I didn't have something nice to say then I should keep quiet. But when I read something like this book, which feels like a direct attack on me and my children, I will not keep quiet. Perhaps it's not the kids who need to grow up, Mr. Bauerlein, perhaps it's you.(less)

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Jul 29, 2009 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: education

This book was a particularly pertinent read for me since I find myself on both sides of Bauerlein's audience. Being under 30, I am as the title suggests, "not to be trusted" but as a teacher of today's youth, I see the repercussions of our society on education and am almost as frustrated as Bauerlein. (I truly believe no one could be MORE frustrated than Bauerlein; which may be a turn-off to some readers, but I find it refreshing in light of how our districts and administration tell us what meth...more This book was a particularly pertinent read for me since I find myself on both sides of Bauerlein's audience. Being under 30, I am as the title suggests, "not to be trusted" but as a teacher of today's youth, I see the repercussions of our society on education and am almost as frustrated as Bauerlein. (I truly believe no one could be MORE frustrated than Bauerlein; which may be a turn-off to some readers, but I find it refreshing in light of how our districts and administration tell us what methods of teaching will best impact our students.)

I will preface this by saying I am extremely wary of many of the statistics he uses. I more than understand how data can be manipulated to say what you want it to say and this book is on my radar for such use. For instance, I'm not sure that 49% of 18-24 year olds haven't read a single book for outside pleasure (mind you a cookbook, celebrity bio, sports, history would have counted as a "book") and if this IS the case, then how much can be accounted for by the fact that some of these students are overwhelmed with their course reading and have little time for outside material? Despite my skepticism, I read on and thoroughly enjoyed and agreed with what he had to say.

He hits it right on the head when Bauerlein avers that technology is NOT a panacea for learning. Sticking a kid in front of a screen will not necessarily entice them or help them learn more effectively. Reading this in light of "Why Don't Students Like School?" helped me to reflect on why this would be the case and what DOES encourage students to learn. Any teacher reading this should definitely also pick up "Why Don't Students Like School". After this downer, you need to read that students can be taught and impacted.

I realized I am turning into a crusty old woman when I read (and vehemently agreed) that "...author Jean Twenge groused, 'We need to stop endlessly repeating, 'You're special,' and having children repeat that back. Kids are self-centered enough already.'" The narcisistic youth of today's culture hears time and time again that they are doing "great". We are teaching kids that they're good enough as is, no improvement needed. This makes it extremely hard to push them or to give them constructive criticism. They don't take it well!!!

I could probably write an entire dissertation on this book, but I will stop now. I will concede that I am doing exactly what I hated that Bauerlein did; I am making generalizations. When I say "they", I DO NOT mean each and every one of the teens that cross my path. I had some extremely talented students who strove to meet their best. I truly admired those who weren't happy with an "A" because they knew that they were capable of 100%. It may seem ridiculous, but to me this indicated that they weren't all about the grade, but about the learning experience.

This book was dead-on. I recognized many of my own flaws (I use my computer for Facebook hours a week and yet I never look up articles on world news. Shame on me!!!) Hopefully I will learn a lesson as well!

(less)

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Jul 23, 2011 Jon added it

When Albert Szent-Gyorgi (the scientist best known for discovering Vitamin C) was asked, circa 1970, what advice he'd give young people he said "I would share their rejection of the world as it is, all of it. What good is study and work? Fornication, at least that is something good. Fornicate and take drugs against this terrible strain of idiots who run the world." Unfortunately youngsters failed to follow his advice, instead choosing computers, with the horrifying results described in this book...more

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Mar 02, 2012 Danielle Huebner rated it 3 of 5 stars

As a whole, I enjoyed this book quite well. Although sometimes I found Bauerlein's examples faulty and his assumptions a little too radical for the vague statistics he's offered, I agree with him in general. It's obvious that he never expected the recession to get so bad, but even now a lot of his points apply.

Kids these days are lazy and unmotivated. As a high schooler, I think I know that. However, if he does nothing else, Bauerlein points out that my generation's modern stupidity isn't entire...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

I agreed with the author's premise that the under 30 generation values reading less than the screen time they spend with computers and phones. He also makes a clear case that reading gives people a sense of history and knowledge that is necessary for a democarcy to exist. One fact I found interesting was that most people read a computer page of print in an F shape reading the first line, then skimming, then reading a middle line and scanning to the end. He makes a good case that indepth analyisi...more

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The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)

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