Blog Response One

Emory University English professor and author Mark Bauerlein contends that ours is the “dumbest generation” in his new book.  He blames our seeming decline in intelligence as well as interest on the ubiquitous technology of this digital age.  It might be possible that many of us have not read Moby Dick, since his evidence of our increasing stupidity is that we don’t read enough, however our generation is savvy in ways that are applicable to the changing world, and already possess useful and necessary job skills. 

 My cousin, a recent graduate with a finance degree, has been having trouble finding work in his field.  He had an internship while in school, and the company recently offered him a position teaching others in the company how to use new kinds of software- software that he had never used before.  He does not have a degree in computer science, just an interest in new technology and is a bit nerdy.  He and many others in our generation do not need to be taught to use new programs, we can pick it up easily.  Computers and other forms of technology come to us as a second nature, we know how to navigate the digital world.  This is a function of being a “digital native,” as Bauerlein would say, but in my opinion, this is an important skill that we have and “digital immigrants” do not.

Increasingly, life takes place on the internet, on the computer, cell phone or other form of technology.  Whether this is good or bad almost doesn’t matter, its just a fact.  However, the fact that our generation is well equipped to engage in the job force because we picked up skills editing our photos for Facebook, or learning the shortcuts in Excel may be more beneficial to us, and the greater community, than whether or not we have read all of the novels on the Classics syllabus.  Bauerlein may be correct that we are getting worse at some things, but are we better at the more relevant things?