Coast to Coast and "The Dumbest Generation" program last night

[Mike 03]

"Professor of English at Emory University, Mark Bauerlein discussed why the near total immersion in the digital world has made young people less interested in the world around them, and how this jeopardizes our future. More details forthcoming."


Website(s):
•dumbestgeneration.com
Book(s):
•The Dumbest Generation


http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2009/05/16

One irony I would point out is that the C2C summation of this program is so poorly punctualized that I had to correct what little I have reproduced here.

Are you the dumbest generation?

Are we the dumbest generation?

[Ian David]

1. Art Bell's audience is the dumbest generation. n/t

[islandmkl]

3. art is pretty much removed from the program..

at least art knew, and acted like, there was a lot of horseshit that would pass for entertainment...

look at cable and network TV...and you think art bell mined the depths of dumb??

[woo me with science]

2. "Punctualized"?

Maybe we are.

:rofl:

[tritsofme]

4. As an age group they voted for Obama at a higher rate than any other.

Maybe they should be looking at us and calling us dumb?

[Sanity Claws]

5. Punctuated, not punctualized

[Jackpine Radical]

6. Punctualized?

Whazzat mean, rendered punctual? Like Mussolini is rumored to have done to the trains?

[NJCher]

7. observations

I've listened to part of it and I'm not sure how much I agree. I, too, am an English professor.

I think this generation responds to good teaching. Every year I make changes to how I teach, always hoping to do a better job. This year I paid more attention to certain research paper areas, such as MLA or APA citation. I was quite satisfied with the research papers they did this year and what's more, it was encouraging to me to see they had intrinsic interest in their topics. They took great pleasure in coming up with creative ways to start their papers and in writing clever titles and subheads.

Why didn't I do it this way earlier, I asked myself.

Definitely they are glued to their electronic toys and that has to stop. Schools need to make a policy about cellphones and other gadgets in the classroom. As a teacher, I make my own policy but it would be more effective if there was a university-wide policy.

The program stated how little homework and prep they do and I would concur with that. It's shocking to me how they will come to class having done nothing whatsoever to prepare. To mitigate that, I began a points system and they did respond favorably to that.

They are cynical. They have no faith or trust in our institutions or politicians. That, to me, might be the saddest part of it all (because they're right to be cynical--not because they're cynical).


Cher