Free topic

Name:
Instructor:Course:
Date:
Book Summary: The Dumbest Generation
Mark Bauerlein, in his book, The Dumbest Generation, discusses alarming evolving trends among the young American population. Technology is an immensely beneficial tool whose incorporation in our education system in this digital renaissance helps educate our youth as they have access to digital information, content, and resources availed via Google, Wikipedia, and other encyclopedias. There is widespread access to mobile phone devices in which access to the internet is a possible aspect, and with the advent of social media such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and blogs on many subjects, so much significant time that could be utilized is spent on them. It, therefore, impacts that we understand the impact which technology has had on our digital generation, and as Bauerlein writes, incorporation of technology has only “contracted the horizon of young American minds unto themselves and the social scene around them” instead of opening them up to science, politics, and civilization (10). He quotes various statistics that reveal increasing high school and college dropouts annually, falling literacy rates, and rapid degradation of traditional values and knowledge.
An “immense opportunity exists today for the young people to tap into compile knowledge, elevate their taste, cultivate their skill, and mold their expertise” (12). However, these technologies have made them isolate themselves into cocoons of entertainment news, teen imagery, games, hot gossip, and multiple communications on social media (4).

They have nurtured a “brazen disregard of books and reading” following the “underuse or misuse of information technology and the electronic gadgets at their disposal” (4). They have employed technology for an extension and deepening of their behaviors and connecting with their peers instead of reaching out to learn about the globe and its occupants, shifting them from the worlds to pop’s culture (4).
They do not utilize the internet to find out more about what they learn in class or verify the information, data, and knowledge they get therein. They instead use that opportunity to check out YouTube, blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Instagram among many other multiple social media sites. They do not read books which would lead to higher level vocabulary, and they have significantly retreated from traditional reading styles. Despite this greatly availed education and information access more than even their parents had, a 2007 Pew Survey revealed that “between 1989 and 2007, more than half of young people aged between 18 and 29 had lower knowledge levels than only 22 percent of those aged between 50 and 64” (47).
For these young people, academic research mostly involves skimming through online sources and gathering multiple information pieces “without any critical thought and reflection,” devising a model where information is merely retrieved which does not lead to the formation of knowledge (94). “Digital enthusiasts say the screen incorporates all the things book reading entails, and supplies so much more. More important, they argue, the display encourages more reading and writing, more inquiry and activism, more decision making” (103). Bauerlein concurs but denounces the proposition that it empowers student knowledge. He states that mentors have been hindered from instilling proper education to the young for their sustainability because of “advocacy for digital media in the class, the cultural emphasis” that an identity is better than an established knowledge base, and lacking support for traditional values to help them shape their destiny and identity. Bauerlein quips, “Does the young man’s growth have to assume such an adversarial pitch? Does tradition have to retire so conspicuously for the teenage self to come into its own?” (174).
Instead of opening up the mind to the knowledge of science, politics, and progress, technology has rather contracted this horizon to their selves and the social scene. The more focus is made on themselves; the less they remember where they have come from and where they are headed. Technology is meant to make the users “better writers and readers, sharper interpreters and more discerning critics, more knowledgeable citizens and tasteful consumers” (110). However, it has created isolated them from the older and experienced members of the society, leaving them impoverished regarding knowledge and skill. This exhausts conversations for policy experts as they have to establish the basic tenets of foundational knowledge, and as he says, “For most rising users, screen tie doesn’t graduate them into higher knowledge or skill rates. It superpowers their social impulses, but it blocks intellectual gains” (139).
The issue at play, that of the adverse impact of technology on education cuts across social, economic, and political boundaries. “Never have opportunities for education, learning, political action, and cultural activity been greater. All the ingredients for making an informed and intelligent citizen are in place” in this era (10). It is important that we understand the adverse impacts of technology on our educational system. Policy and other relevant stakeholders need to identify these effects and see how technology can have integration into the education system, and be used to positively influence the young generation to acquire sufficient and relevant knowledge. These are the people who are the future expertise in this country, and because technology is here to stay, it cannot be wished away. It is upon us to see how we can best integrate for the benefit of the society. I would employ the information gathered from the book to devise strategies and mechanisms that can be utilized effectively in gathering educational information from digital sources for a better and educated society.
Work Cited
Bauerlein, Mark. The Dumbest Generation. 1st ed., New York, NY, Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2008.