Analysis: The Dumbest Generation

The life of an average teenager has changed dramatically over the last few decades. This historical alteration in adolescence causes a shocking reality that you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from modern adolescence centuries ago. And this is no joke. Thirty years ago, you would see an average teenage boy competing in a fun game of basketball at the local court, enjoying nights out under the stars while camping in the woods with his best friends, and getting the bitter taste of defeat every time they make a move to the classroom beauty queen. Now, that whole idea wanders in the mind of adults as they reminisce of their childhood. Parents now look at their teenage son who is playing hours of Grand Theft Auto 5 before spending all night

With what would be a dream come true for adults decades ago, teenagers don’t seem to be using the blessing they have in order to broaden their horizons with effortless amounts knowledge. In an interview recorded by Reason TV, Mark Bauerlein is quoted reading a fact that is shocking to most American citizens. This statistic found in his book The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) explains how in 2001, a Nape High School history exam had the following question. It asked those senior students who were our allies during World War II. After receiving the marks, the exam found that 52% of the students had chosen Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan or Fascist Italy as our allies during World War II instead of the Soviet Union. This type of mistake is inexcusable! The internet allows children to have an open ended gate to miraculous knowledge. The internet poses as sensational tool that carries large amounts of information but it seems that our young adults have chosen not to take such a valued advantage. Instead, they spend their time on the computer working towards another downfall to their success.(Real Talk,

And what else seems like common sense is being able to read perfectly by the age of ten. It seems even more common that up by the teen years, adolescence should be reading much higher class novels. But what seems to be the case are that children are not reading out of pure passion of reading, but are forced by parents and teachers to read. To those students, their drive to read is not to further their literacy or expand English knowledge. Those reasons fall short of their time. They now have a different outlet to give them all the quick answers they need before a test; far shorter than reading a book but ultimately short of attaining any beneficial knowledge. An example of a source that allows where an average teenager can get the most out of little effort is the “study guide” website SparkNotes. This online website allows for students to search up their well-known book assigned in class and be able to find chapter summaries, key topics within the novel as well as character summaries, motifs within the book and important key quotations that are the central core of the book’s