The author certainly had opinions on the future of my generation and was quite willing to step on some toes in getting them out. His argument, however, made some sense. Bauerlein was expressing some concern about the overall capabilities of the younger, more technological savvy generation and how we are losing valuable experiences that mold us into cultured adults, workers, voters, and people. We need to know how to make choices! Solve problems! Be less dumb!
As he moves through his argument, he touches on each aspect to link together his overall opinion. He starts the book explaining our lack of basic knowledge and a blatant disregard for the knowledge we don't know. Then he moves into a description of the amount of time we spend in front of a screen instead of, let's say, in a museum. A point Bauerlein addresses throughout his book is the idea of illiteracy and a-literacy. Being illiterate means you can't read at all, no matter if you have a desire to or not. Being a-literate means that you can read just fine, but choose to spend your time doing non-Bauerlein-approved things. Then he rounds out the book by telling us that we are blatantly ignoring tradition, we need mentors to help guide us (i.e. teachers, parents, or other role models), and that if we don't we will have actually lost all that we had gained from our ancestors. Bauerlein often likes to pick a simple point and talk about it for 60 pages, but he does have a point. We are becoming dependent of technology and everyone is beginning to take notice.
The title of this video is so fantasically offensive that I had to include it. Bauerlein also manages to summarize his argument pretty nicely as well.
Mark Bauerlein - Young Americans Are the Dumbest Generation:
Two passages I agree with:
"Go to the gym three times a week and the session are invigorating. Go to the gym three times a month and they're painful. As the occasions of reading diminish, reading becomes a harder task. A sinister corollary to the cognitive benefit applies: the more you don't read, the more you can't read" (Pg. 59).
I like this passage because it explains the value of reading in easy terms. Reading comes more easily over time just like working out does. Not only is reading beneficial for the future, it can help me right now; what with all these standardized tests I'm taking for entering college, not to mention my daily schoolwork.
"Books afford young readers a place to slow down and reflect, to find role models, to observe their own turbulent feelings well expressed, or to discover moral convictions missing from their real situations. Habitual readers acquire a better sense of plot and character, an eye for the structure of arguments, and an ear for style, over time recognizing the aesthetic vision of adolescent fare as, precisely, adolescent" (Pg. 58).
This section of the book was one that I marked up a lot. I loved the wording of this last passage and I completely agree with it. Reading is what forms writers. It forms people with initiative, drive, and dreams. My mom always talks about her favorite book, A Wrinkle In Time, by Madeleine L'Engle. She read it over and over and worked hard to achieve more so she could provide for her family better. Books benefit you in so many ways. That's how books work.
Here is a link to an article that I felt was exactly what I was talking about:
Two passages I disagree with:
"But the effects of their habits will outlast them, and if things do not change they will be remembered as the fortunate ones who were unworthy of the privileges they inherited. They may even be recalled as the generation that lost that great American heritage, forever" (Pg. 236).
I dislike this passage because it puts my generation in one specific category of failures. We are all the same; aimless and without a care in the world apart from Cosmo. It is condescending and offensive. Think twice, Bauerlein.
"It's not under-30-year-olds who have changed. What has changed is the threshold into adulthood, the rituals minors undergo to become responsible citizens, the knowledge and skill activities that bring maturity and understanding" (Pg. 160).
I ask Bauerlein, What has changed? You never cease to confuse. Times have changed but we all mature (to some extent, at least) at some point. He makes it sound like we have no chance.
The effectiveness of Bauerlein's argument relies heavily on who is reading it. If Bauerlein expected the audience of this book to be actual members of the Dumbest Generation, he would have taken some self defense classes. No, he expected his audience to be other concerned 30+ year-olds and parents of under-30-year-olds so they can be aware of the most effective parenting techniques.
Bauerlein also heavily relies on logic for his argument, and is constantly using scientific research to back up his statements. Throughout the book I feel like he is over-convincing me.
I definitely thought the book was credible and had accurate points, but it was offensive and could have been condensed into an essay - not a 300 page book (National Bestseller...?).
Thanks for letting me get on my soap box,
Maddie
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