I found Mark Bauerlein
and Neil Howe’s discussion on the millennial to be extremely interesting yet also disconcerning. I
found this discussion interesting because it offers some insight into how the
current teenagers think. But should we as a society compare the teenagers of
today to the teenagers of previous generations? I say no. How could we effectively
compare various generations of teens when their lives and experiences are so
vastly different. Comparing various generations educational prowess is utterly ridiculous.
Mark Bauerlain states that the students today, with so many advantages (such as
the internet), result in lower academic achievement than those students from
earlier generations (Bauerlein & Howe, 2008.) So many changes have occurred
in the content covered in schools and the educational theories regarding
education that it would be impractical to even attempt such ridiculous comparisons.
The negatives Bauerlein uses as his argument can be from a number of different
reasons. Education has changed a lot since many generations were in a
classroom. Now many teachers have staggering amounts of standards they need to
address in such a small time frame that they can do little more than focus
solely on those standards and essentially teach to the test. If it is not on
the state mandated exam often it is not taught. I, for instance, have 47
different standards I have to teach in biology, and with the state EOC being so
important to each student’s grade I focus a lot of my effort on getting through
those standards so they can be prepared. I want to teach my students content
that they may not normally see in state standards but I have so much I need to
cover that I have to wait to teach that content until after the EOC. Neil Howe
on the other side of the issue argues that the Millennials will be the next
great generation. I believe that this generation has the ability to become
great. Just like every generation before there is the potential to be greater
than the last generation, but it’s what students do with that potential is up
to them.
Bauerlein, M. & Howe, N. (2008).
The Millennials: The Dumbest Generation or the Next Great Generation? Retrieved
October 24, 2012
I also found the video to be incredibly interesting. I agree that the debate seems to be comparing apples-to-oranges. I think about the effects that culture has on learning and assessment currently and then I think about how comparing generations is a similar culturally bias comparison. The comparison of the decades is definitely different. The circumstances and conditions were highly specific to the time period, as you stated.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think both speakers had interesting evidence, I'm not sure if I looked at it more closely that I wouldn't find several logical fallacies for each speaker.