I believe it is safe to say that the most recent generation has to be the “dumbest generation”.
According to Joel Best’s book, The Stupidity Epidemic: Worrying About Students, Schools, and America’s Future, we are living in what has the be the dumbest generation in history. School systems are failing at teaching students adequate knowledge and skills to prepare them for the vigorous workforce and their overall future. While I agree with the fact that schools are a significant source in educating young students, I believe there are more underlying factors that cause my generation to be categorized as the youngest generation.
Growing up as an individual of the “Generation Z”, I believe we are not the smartest group of intellectuals. I remember when I was in grade school, kindergarten to be exact, I learned basic life skills such as how to greet people, say “Please” and “Thank You”, and my ABC’s and 123’s. However, As I am watching younger students transition throughout grade school, I am noticing a shift in the curriculum. Young children are not being taught the same skills as when I was in grade school. I also notice that the drive of not only student, but teachers has drastically decreased. Students do not want to learn and teachers do not want to teach. Surprisingly, teachers will even admit to being there “to pay bills” or “to get a check”. In this case, I believe schools are apart of the blame why we are the dumbest generation.
In Best’s reading, he explains the evolution of American schooling and traces time back to when Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to enter space created by the Soviet Union, was launched. He compares a 1958 photo of a female Russian student who was focused on her education to a few American students that were trying to play music from a jukebox. He explains how this is a prime juxtaposition of the how behind American schooling systems are compared to foreign school systems. He then proceeds to say “No wonder the Russians were ahead in the space race.” indicating that the American lifestyle does not encourage education as much as Russians. Ultimately, I agree with Best, I believe that schools play a big role in providing knowledge for students which is why many Americans may not be deemed as knowledgeable or intelligent, however I would not blame it necessarily on the schools itself but on the people that is in charge of the curriculum.
I also feel that the American curriculum is very compromised. If you think about it, who creates textbooks for students? Mmm… let’s do a google search!
Okay! So, after doing some quite intense research, I have found that the LOCAL GOVERNMENT is in charge of the board of education, which is in charge of the curriculum of schools. What does that mean? That means that people of power are in charge of what is mentally feed to these students. When newer and younger people are elected into the board of education, policies change and become more modern.
In the second chapter of The Stupidity Epidemic: Worrying About Students, Schools, and America’s Future, he states:
“the second criticism—that schools are actually doing worse than in the past—is not necessarily true. Th is is the central concern when people worry about rising stupidity—that education isn’t as good as it used to be, that we are raising the dumbest generation, and that their knowledge deficit will eventually damage our entire society. These propositions may—or may not—be true, but we ought to be able to test them, to search for evidence that can tell us whether there is a Stupidity Epidemic.”
Best, Joel. <i>The Stupidity Epidemic : Worrying about Students, Schools, and America’s Future</i>, Routledge, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/howard/detail.action?docID=981725.Created from howard on 2019-09-24 11:52:01.
Although I do believe Bests theory of the “failings schools”, I believe the two other significant underlying factors that is causing us to be the dumbest generation is social media and support from households.
Hear me out! If you observe social media, you see so much broken text, misspelled and misused words, and just a bunch of unintelligent phrases. In my opinion, the rise of the internet has played a major role in frying our brain cells. Moreover, artificial intelligence is allowing us to become lazy by relying on “Auto-correct”. To be honest with you, I needed auto-correct while I was creating this post. The more you use technology, the more it ruins your brain activity. In addition to social media, I believe that if students had more of a support system at home, then students would be driven and motivated more in school. Ultimately students lose focus and just are not motivated.
Alana McClellan's Promise Land 