'The Dumbest Generation'

I am insulted when I hear Dr. Bauerlein describe my generation, the 'under 30 years old crowd' as the dumbest generation. I'll admit I don't know all the details about every war and I most likely can't name all of Antonio Vilvaldi's compositions but that does not mean the this technology era has turned my brain to mush. Yes, my generation loves the internet, computers, cell phones, iPads, iPods, video games, GPS's and all other new technology, but it doesn't mean our advanced interest in technology is dumbing us down.

Every generation rags on the newer generation for being lucky, spoiled, wild, reckless, or just naive. My grandparents thought that my dad was a wild child because he wanted to listen to The Beatles as opposed to Beethoven, and my dad doesn't understand why Facebook is so appealing. I'm sure when my generation is older we won't understand or agree with our children's interests but kids do what they wanna do. Kids learn from mistakes, just like our parents, our grandparents and great grandparents did. No textbook, classical composer, or website is going to prevent those mistakes.

In the interview we watched in class about 'The Dumbest Generation,' Dr. Bauerlein says that friend's don't expand your vocabulary, friends don't make you appreciate the Venetian Republic and that we need to pull ourselves out of our "little tiny social world." I disagree with him on this point, I believe that a big difference with our generation is that we learn an immense amount of knowledge from our friends, parents, teachers and people we interact with. Maybe our generation just has a little attention deficit disorder than previous generations because we would rather learn how to through interactions and hands on experiences than just reading about it in books--which in my eyes is far from being a bad thing. There is no doubt in my mind teenagers and people in their 20s spend immense amounts of time on Facebook or socializing with friends and coworkers. I can only really speak for my friends and I when I say, that we don't just talk about the latest break ups, what parties are going on this weekend, or what happened on Jersey Shore last week, we talk about our futures, our pasts, religion, what we enjoy and what we think is important or not important. I believe that our generation thrives off of social relations because everyone had some different and unique to contribute and life these days depends on social skills, who you know, and not so much about the Venetian Republic.

Now I do believe that there are some people under the age of 30 who have been brain washed by the digital divide. The youth is very fortunate to have all this social networking and leisure activities to enjoy, but they do have a tendency to suck people out of reality, morals, and nature. For example, Keisha's song Tik Tok is probably how Dr. Bauerlein see's every girl under 30.

Tik Tock by Kesha

I personally enjoy the parody of this song better.

Sing Talk (Tik Tock Parody)


Personally, I believe that Dr. Baurelein says our generation is lazy and ignorant because of people like Kesha who flat out say all they care about is drinking and looking good but also Dr. Baurelein is lazy and ignorant for generalizing our whole generation as people like Ms. South Carolina and Kesha.