What do you think... Are kids getting smarter or dumber?
Yes, it's true. Kids' scores today don't seem too bad. Usually they are around or even above the national average of generations before them. However, I want you to consider the following thing before you answer: Everything has been 'dumbed down". Whether it's textbooks, national tests, grading scales, or whatever, thay have all been "dumbed down". Truthfully, I feel that kids today are not exactly at their intellectual peak. I couldn't read until I was 6. I had to go to special tutors during my first few years of elementary school. Before I took the ACT, I took a preparatory class to help me and I ended up getting a 23. Today, I currently hold a 4.0 GPA as a sophomore in college. Truthfully, I don't know how anybody couldn't get a 4.0 with all the extra credit professors hand out. My mother, on the other hand, was reading chapter books at the age of 3. She never had any tutors. She scored a 29 on the ACT with no preparatory class. She had a 4.0 in college with no extra credit. Here is a little article I found... it's very interesting. http://encarta.msn.com/column_kidsgettingdumber_tamimhome/Kids_Today_Dumb_and_Dumber.html
Public Comments
- well according to the questions in the homework section, i would say dumber. or lazier.
- Nobody is getting smarter or dumber, it's because they are becoming less and less properly taught, by teachers in schools who absolutely have to abide by targets or else they lose money/lose reputation. On another note, we live in a society which doesn't allow us to reach an intellectual peak. We can't reach our potential as we live in a society which doesn't allow it.
- It's not the children that are becoming smarter or dumber, it's the society they live in that is becoming more and more a true Idiocracy like the comedy of the same name. That vision of the American future is far more probable than some Utopian Never-never-land. The average IQ of a person today is scarcely any different than the average citizen in Rome around the time of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the society, the way of life that has changed, not humans. Our basic instincts, IQ, even our desires, needs, hopes and fears, are not substantially different now than in ancient Egypt or Greece or Rome. Just one look at the children's shows on morning television today from what existed 20 years ago, is all the proof you'll ever need that I'm correct. In an experiment, 1000 college graduates from the United States who had received a BS or BA degree HERE, were invited by the French to take their standard HIGH SCHOOL exit exams. 70% of the American college grads FLUNKED and would not have been eligible for higher education in France [Which is free and based solely on merit, not race, creed or anything else but pure merit. You got the goods, it costs NOTHING]. Why did the experiment have these results? Is it that French people are way smarter than Americans? Do they have an higher IQ on average? No and No. The plain truth is simple: it is the American society and its pathetic excuse for an education system and our children who more and more have TV as their prime educator. Remember the Oompa Loompa song in the first film (with Gene Wilder) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Oompa Loompas: What do you get from a glut of TV? A pain in the neck, and an IQ of 3. You should try reading a book.... You'll get no COMMERCIALS........ That's why French kids are better educated. The education system in the UK, Ireland, Germany and most of the rest of Europe East and West, as well as Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are similar to the French model and routinely score better than Americans even with degrees. What's going on? In America, schools are indoctrinating children, not educating them. We are more interested in producing good citizens [Interpret that as those who conform to the herd mentality] than teach children to seek for truth freely and openly. I have been to your American high schools. One, which I'll not name, in San Diego, reminded more of a stinking penitentiary than a school. How can one learn when one is treated like a criminal? How can one learn when science classes can be aborted or altered because it conflicts with some faith or another? Is American going to remain much of a superpower when the Noah's Ark fable is considered literal truth by 70% of the country? Are you going to compete in the World on an equal basis when children are taught the Earth is 6,000 years old? that Evolution is some plot by godless atheists to kill God? That scientists are inspired by Satan? Get real. I'm glad I'm here on a work VISA. I teach Philosophy, Comparative Religion and Mathematics at the undergraduate college level. I speak eight languages and can read 20. I am a concert pianist as well. Let them who have eyes to see, see; and ears to hear, hear!
