After finishing The Dumbest Generation, I have very mixed feelings. I agree with Bauerlein on many points, but I also disagree with him on several occasions as well. I do believe that a major portion of the blame for our generation's "stupidity" goes to our elders and mentors. Even though they don't realize it, they have been congratulating us on our ways. We get A+ grades on papers full of information that we just reworded from the Internet, then forgot about. They show us the easy way of doing things, and almost all work is done through technology. How are students supposed to help the fact that the majority of their homework and life tasks are done online? The generations above us are definitely not helping the matter, yet they frown down upon us for not having a childhood like theirs. My FYS professor handed out a quiz full of important dates and book titles to the class to prove a point of how our generation doesn't know some of the most important history of our country or world. I can't help but wonder if the older generations would know these answers either. Whether you read information from a book or online, you can still just as easily forget the information you just read through.
Bauerlein focuses on the Twixter generation for a big part in the last few chapters in the book. I do believe that what he says about these 22-30 year olds, who have average jobs, and still reside in their parents household is true, but only to an extent. This is only a portion of people in this age group, but he makes it seem like it is everyone belonging to that generation. We have many young and intelligent people in that range, including politicians, surgeons, professors, lawyers, CEO's, etc. Society actually looks to this specific age group for leadership, knowing that they will bring energy, change, and fresh ideas. I myself believe that every generation in existence will have those "bums" that just choose to be content with their simple life. But every generation will also have many motivated and driven people that will change our world. Not everyone is stupid in this generation, and we are not doomed for failure, as Bauerlein suggests.
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