Comments on: Kids These Days: Can We Really Say They are "Dumb"?

By: Stacey

Stacey — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:57:01 +0000

I do, however, feel the kids miss out on learning some valuable skills such as how to talk to people face to face, how to conduct in personal interviews, how to paly nice with others in the workplace while they do learn the bulk of their cultural and historical referrences online. That is a valid concern of mine based on the kids I see coming into the store who can’t string a coherent sentence together half the time. Truth is, there are certain soft people skills you can only learn in person, and perhaps that’s a reason we should encourage kids to get outside and play more.

By: Daniel Ionescu

Daniel Ionescu — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:29:37 +0000

The research method you mentioned in your post is very similar to how we (university students, at least in the UK) do our work. And yes, the web is great because it gives us more points of view on a subject in a shorter and quicker way than actually going through 10 books.

Thanks for sticking up for us. :)

By: Stacey

Stacey — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:07:58 +0000

Kids today aren’t dumb. Just because they are ignorant about things that were important to us in our day, and our parents in their days, and so on, doesn’t make them dumb. I hate when people use words like that out of context.

When we get customers in who call themselves computer idiots, I’m always quick to nip that self-loathing term in the bud by saying they are confusing ignorance with stupidity. There is a huge difference, and they should cut themselves some slack. Ignorance can be corrected. Stupidity is a lifetime issue.

Fact is, kids today have more information at their fingertips than any other generation in the history of the world. What they chose to focus on and deem important to them based on what’s going on around them is what makes them different from my generation. Just like how tv made me different from my mother’s generation, and how newspapers and frivolous social parties were the way my parents learned stuff (off the streets if you will). Their parents learned from the older generations living in the home based on experience and common sense.

But, I still contend there is no such thing as common sense because not all of us go through life the same way, or think the same way, or even approach life the same way, therefore there are only unique methods and tried and true methods of doing stuff. That, to me, means there is still room leftover to try new methods. If I were to do everything the same way as five generations before me, nothing new would ever be discovered, invented, or designed. What a boring world that would be to live in.

By: Suzanne B. (Crunchy Green Mom)

Suzanne B. (Crunchy Green Mom) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:23:24 +0000

I remember seeing the interview of a woman who had been teaching for 65 years. When asked, “What advice would you give adults dealing with teens?”

She stated, “They are not bad kids, give them a break”

That has always stuck with me. People forget that we were all teens at one time. Yes, some of them leave a lot to be desired, however that is the same for all generations.

These kids can get their hands on any information they need, which is a lot better than past generations who had to depend on parents or friends, who were misleading without a “second opinion”.

I think this article needs to be read for the authors opinion, however it should also be a good representation of her character!

Suzanne B. (Mother of three teens)

By: Christine Kambourakis

Christine Kambourakis — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:16:34 +0000

Many people fear what they do not understand and it seems that if academics do not jump on the technological bandwagon, they will be left behind! The academic world MUST make room for the digital age as this method of learning, research and study is the way of the present and the future. Mr. Bauerlein can learn a few things from the kids of today!