Dumbest Generation?

[cronus]

[Tyrannical]

There is something to say about those that raised and taught the dumbest generation.

[cronus]

There is something to say about those that raised and taught the dumbest generation.

Slightly less dumb and so on until you turn up Einstein about a hundred years before the modern PC.

[Blind groper]

I have to call that guy a total idiot. He represents the dumbest generaton. He may have written a book, but I bet it is full of opinion rather than carefully measured data.

Ever heard of the Flynn Effect? That is a carefully measured item. It shows that each generation over the past 150 years or so has a higher average IQ than the previous.

Teenagers today are no different in reality, except in small ways, from teenagers of previous eras. Teenagers are shallow and ignorant. It is part of the definition. You and I met that definition also, when we were teens. But modern teenagers are no dumber than those of those earlier generatons. Quite the contrary.

I have a good enough memory to look back 50 years to when I was a teenager myself. The older people of the time shook their heads and claimed that the teenagers then (me and my friends) were incredibly dumb. Not so. It is just that a person who has a decade or five extra learning time will know a lot more. By comparison, they think teenagers are dumb. But it is just ignorant prejudice.

[cronus]

I have to call that guy a total idiot. He represents the dumbest generaton. He may have written a book, but I bet it is full of opinion rather than carefully measured data.

Ever heard of the Flynn Effect? That is a carefully measured item. It shows that each generation over the past 150 years or so has a higher average IQ than the previous.

Teenagers today are no different in reality, except in small ways, from teenagers of previous eras. Teenagers are shallow and ignorant. It is part of the definition. You and I met that definition also, when we were teens. But modern teenagers are no dumber than those of those earlier generatons. Quite the contrary.

Flynn test measures IQ tests which have become more and more popular decade on decade so mostly likely is a measure of liking the test for fools who know the test.

[Jason]

Y'all know I scored off the charts on my test rite?

[MrFungus420]

There's an easy test (in the US, at least):

Which generation is most represented in the Tea Party.

[Jason]

Boston

[Warren Dew]

Ever heard of the Flynn Effect? That is a carefully measured item. It shows that each generation over the past 150 years or so has a higher average IQ than the previous.

The flynn effect reversed starting right about when the millenial generation started.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/ed ... s-ago.html

[piscator]

There is something to say about those that raised and taught the dumbest generation.

[JimC]

Perhaps real intelligence levels are going up a little; I'm fairly certain that at least the innate intelligence of children has not been decreasing. Many of my teaching colleagues think that there has been an observable reduction in educational attainments in Australia over the last 30 years or so. However, a much higher number of students are completing higher education (for some of them, rather pointlessly), so there is a dilution effect going on. Just the other day, we were looking at maths textbooks and curriculums from 15 years ago - the maths level that in the past was required to be reached in Year 9, is now not required till Year 10, at least in much of the syllabus.

[Blind groper]

There is a tendency, which is entirely normal and very human, for every older generation to deride the younger. As in "things were better in our time", or "when I was a young chap, we respected our elders." Or some other self-serving and bullshit idea like that.

The reality is that people are people, and teenagers are teenagers, and those who claim things have gone downhill are mostly old fogies who have not kept up with the new world. Pre-Alzheimers confusion.

[JimC]

There is a tendency, which is entirely normal and very human, for every older generation to deride the younger. As in "things were better in our time", or "when I was a young chap, we respected our elders." Or some other self-serving and bullshit idea like that.

The reality is that people are people, and teenagers are teenagers, and those who claim things have gone downhill are mostly old fogies who have not kept up with the new world. Pre-Alzheimers confusion.

Well, I certainly don't share that. The lads I teach today, deep down, are no different to the lads I taught at this same school 37 years ago. However, fashions and methods in education change, and not always for the better, so literacy and numeracy attainments may reduce in some circumstances.

[pErvinalia]

Yeah, I've heard that literacy and numeracy results have been falling in a lot of the western world. It will be interesting to see what effect pervasive technology has on this generation. This is the first generation that was born into a world of internet and mobile phone domination. They've grow up with their heads stuffed into lcd screens. They communicate electronically more so than physically. Then there's the negative effects of pervasive communication - cyber bullying and other pressures. There's also this celebrity thing going on. They say that the GenY's and below have this obsession with being rich and famous, but no real concept of the work it takes to do that. So they get horribly depressed when they can't just have it all straight away. These people will be our leaders when we are old fogies. It will be interesting to see what sort of world they bring forth.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

A fall in literacy and numeracy does not equate to a fall in intelligence. It could do - but it is far more likely that it reflects changes in teaching methodology, attitudes to learning, a shift away from written media, the predominance of calculators, or any of literally hundreds of other factors.

If we actually are "becoming less intelligent" it is one of the fastest examples of evolution I have ever come across!