Stanton Champion

It’s almost human nature to believe you’re better than those who are younger. Usually this griping is short sighted, and none of it more so than the dreck that has poured forth from Emory University professor of English Mark Bauerlein. The good professor recently wrote a new book titled The Dumbest Generation in which he complains that technology has lowered the standards of youth under 30 and made us all dumber. His eight points are neatly summarized by this feature in the Boston Globe.

Well, as a member of the under-30 crowd, I thought I would reply to his points as best as I could given my apparent lack of intelligence.

1. They make excellent “Jaywalking” targets - I’m not even sure what “jaywalking” means in this context (maybe I’m not bright enough) but supposedly we are cutoff from realities that don’t include “friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, Facebook.” However, when has any society paid much attention to realities beyond immediate human contact? Up until this century, news from around the world was scarce and we only had our immediate friends and work. Meanwhile, the Internet has brought us access to people who are exposed to more experiences and places than ever before. For example, Twitter users were on top of the Chinese earthquake before the mainstream media.
2. They don’t read books — and don’t want to, either - Poor English professor, nobody wants to read his book. Bauerlein foolishly defines book reading as a metric of intelligence rather than reading itself. People who are online do a lot of reading, and the fact that books are in decline means absolutely nothing. This argument is equivalent to me saying that the “new generation is so unsophisticated because they refuse to use horse drawn carriages and prefer the disgusting and noisy automobile.”
3. They can’t spell - The good professor should leave his Ivory Towered office and go visit a social scientist in the linguistics field (maybe none of the linguists at Emory are over 30?). What he would learn is that language is fluid and relative and that spelling is really just a social construct. If he used many of the technologies he seems to dislike, he would also realize that the amount of communicating between people has reached a level where shorthand is more convenient. While long and thoughtful letters are nice, the form has languished due to the immediacy of instant messaging. We should be grateful, however, for this rapidity because it has unleashed an avalanche of economic wealth and benefit including rampant globalization. Instead of crafting a 30 page letter to an Indian developer that takes weeks to arrive, I can have an instant message conversation now.
4. They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing - I have never once been ridiculed for my writing - other things - but never my writing. The Internet is filled with excellent writing by people under 30. Idiots are everywhere and in every generation, so perhaps Professor Bauerlein is generalizing a bit?
5. Grand Theft Auto IV, etc. - What does the success of a video game have to do with anything? The new Grand Theft Auto has been praised for its immersive style and complex game environment. Much of that game was developed by people under 30, many of whom are very entrepreneurial. $500 million in sales represents a tremendous economic exchange, creating wealth for all participants. Maybe the professor believes that a violent video game creates violent people. Unfortunately, this idea has been debunked…by actual scientists.
6. They don’t store the information - We’ve grown accustomed to the vastness of the Internet, allowing us to focus on learning the things that matter while referencing the things that don’t. Are we “dumb” because we find Wikipedia more useful than rote memorization rather than focusing on innovation and creativity which are drivers of new wealth? We can only do so much with our free time, and if I need Wikipedia to tell me the state capitals, can anyone really argue that this is bad? If so, give me a good reason.
7. Because their teachers don’t tell them so - We are never told “no” or something. This reeks of generalization, but I can’t help but wonder if the professor was ever exposed to youth? Perhaps he was hatched, thus missing out on this life phase. Teens have spent hours pointlessly communicating with peers for a long time, and it’s all part of growing up. Prior to the web, it was constant talk on the telephone. Today it’s IM. Nothing’s changed. People grow up and do fine regardless.
8. Because they’re young - The worst argument of the batch. Everyone is young at some time, and that no more means we’re the dumbest generation than you were. However, plenty of young people are enormously successful. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg both founded wildly successful companies while still in college, as did Michael Dell. Google and Yahoo! emerged as Stanford PhD projects.

The youth of today are doing just fine. We should be proud of their accomplishments and encourage them to do more.

Since we’re generalizing a bit, I figured I would next write something inflammatory about why adults are “dumb.” Stay tuned!

Follow-up: You Think We’re Dumb? - Part 2, Adults are Dense too!