In “Hidden Intellectualism” Gerald Graff explains his view on intellectualism and how the education system only limits intellectualism to book smarts. Graff also enlightens the misunderstanding on society with “street smarts.” He explains that everyone including “street smart have potential and they are overlooked.…
Albert Einstein once said “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life thinking it 's stupid”. As stated by one of the greatest minds of all time, every individual has the capacity to be an intellectual, but the way society currently measures intellect purely based off of one’s “book smarts” not everyone’s genius is fully realized. As stated by Gerald Graff In his essay “Hidden Intellectualism” Graff states that our current system of teaching does by no means try to foster the intelligence of street smart people who account for many in our society. In Graff’s experience he thinks that a style of teaching incorporating street smarts would have benefitted him and would benefit people today. If we tried to teach street smart people using topics they are interested they would be able to understand…
Mark Bauerlein implies that meaningful connection is important, yet interferes with our education if not handled well, while the myth of Echo and Narcissus states how it is important not to focus on a single connection due to the problems that follow along with it. My position states that meaningful connection is necessary in life, yet needs to be handled well to be effective.…
Since the beginning of time, adults have bemoaned the lack of intelligence in the youth of ‘today’. While in some instances they may be correct, as the trend of general knowledge slopes downward, intelligence isn’t something easily defined. Due to that, the claim that the current younger generation is the dumbest is completely unfounded.…
Bauerlein's first statement in the excerpt begins by saying, "This is the paradox of the Dumbest Generation" (Source 1). He introduces some of the positives of young Americans such as "... life has never been s yielding, goods so plentiful schooling so accessible, diversion so easy, and liberties so copious" (Source 1). As he concludes this list, he begins to state the original claim that people under thirty are considered the dumbest generation. Bauerlein should not have used the list of positives of the young Americans. This adds a place for the reader to attack and weakens the point that Bauerlein is trying to make. Bauerlein leaves another fragile place for a reader to take advantage of when he says, "... knowledge and skills haven't kept pace, and the intellectual habits that complement them are slipping. The advantages of twenty-first century teen life keep expanding..." (Source 1). He contradicts the idea made in the first line with the use of the second one. If current people make advances, how can Bauerlein call this generation to be the dumbest? Using Bauerlein's own words, it can be determined that he clearly lacks the ability to present and support his claim at an intellectual…
When someone is called intelligent, people automatically think of how book smart someone is. Book smart relates to how much information about math, science, and english a person knows. In Hidden Intellectualism, Graff brings up the idea that intelligence isn’t all about a scholarly form of thinking. “Everyone knows some young person who is impressively “street smart” but does poorly in school” is the first line of Graff’s essay (Graff 787). Nowadays, it is popular for a person to have the experience and knowledge for an everyday environment but lack knowledge in educational studies. A reasonable answer for this problem could be that schools aren’t tapping into subjects other than the worn out academics that quickly in-interest students.…
Ever since the 1930’s, IQ scores all over the country have been rising, proving that generations haven’t necessarily been becoming “dumber.” (Source 2) Technology has advanced dramatically since the 1800’s or the 1900’s. Back in the days, you didn’t have a computer to open up and pull up google to find the answer to what you needed. You actually had to go to a library and read different books to be…
In the prompt “Anti-Intellectualism and the "Dumbing Down" of America” Ray Williams explains his point of view on society, and how we are getting “dumber” also how we are not taught “the right way” anymore. Catherine Liu says “We don’t educate people anymore. We train them to get jobs.” (Williams pg. 2) He also goes to rant on and talk about how our generation now is the dumbest generation, and that social media has completely taken control of our lives. To be honest I hate to say it because I am basically saying this about myself; but I agree with him. After reading about the statistics some Americans didn’t know I was in utter shock and couldn’t believe what I was reading “A surprising 77% didn't know that George Washington was the first President” (Williams pg.2) Even…
In the United States between 1932 and 1978, mean IQ scores rose 13.8 points, or approximately 0.33 points each year (Flynn, 1984), and IQ scores continued to increase at least into the mid 1990s (Rowe & Rodgers, 2002). Even more striking increases in IQ scores were reported in other countries; for example, IQ scores in Great Britain surged 27 points between 1942 and 1992 (Flynn, 1999). Smaller increases were reported in numerous other countries (e.g., France, the Netherlands, and Norway) during shorter time periods (Flynn, 1987). The Flynn effect, as it is referred to by researchers, is supported by a growing body of research that indicates that even within relatively short timeframes, mean IQ scores tend to increase (Dickens & Flynn, 2001). Furthermore, the Flynn effect is not limited to developed countries (Daley, Whaley, Sigman, Espinosa, & Neumann, 2003). Meanwhile, research has identified numerous practical problems created by the Flynn effect. For example, rising scores require intelligence tests to be restandardized, which alters the scoring of tests such as the WAIS, and changes in test norms create difficulties in assessing the mental capacity of the mentally retarded (Tomoe & Ceci, 2003) and the elderly (Verhaeghen, 2003). Moreover, the Flynn effect may undermine the current theoretical concept of intelligence or the validity of intelligence tests (Flynn, 1984). Although numerous explanations for the Flynn effect were proposed (e.g., Dickens & Flynn, 2001; Flynn, 1987), debate on the origins of the Flynn effect continues (e.g., Rowe & Rodgers, 2002).…
Synthesis Essay Complete the Culminating Conversation exercise on page 166 of your textbook. You will have the entire class period on Tuesday to read and take notes on sources and the entire class period on Wednesday to write and revise. The assignment will be due at the start of the school day on Thursday. Use MLA format for citations.…
Claims are being made left and right about whether this current generation is the dumbest yet. Some agree, and some disagree causing this debate to become a battle between generations. Mark Bauerlein claimed, in his best-selling book The Dumbest Generation, stating that “I’ve noticed in the last ten years that students are no less intelligent, no less ambitious, but here are two big differences: Reading habits have slipped, along with general knowledge. You can quote me on this: You guys don’t know anything”. This statement is not entirely true.…
“Intelligence includes the ability to reason abstractly, the ability to profit from experience, and the ability to adapt to varying environmental contexts” (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 167). Tests to measure intelligence were first developed in 1905 by Frenchmen, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon. The purpose of the tests was to measure these abilities to help children who difficulties in school. At that time, the French government began requiring all children to attend school, they wanted to be able to identify those with difficulties. The tests were made to measure skills that children would use in school “including measures of vocabulary, comprehension of facts and relationships, and mathematical and verbal reasoning” (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 167). The original tests developed by Binet and Simon were revised in 1916 and 1937 by Lewis Terman while at Stanford University. He wanted to revise the tests for children in the United States, and they were termed the Stanford-Binet tests. There were six different tests for different ages. When taking the test, the child would take the individual tests designed by age until he reached a test that he could not complete. A formula was used to determine the Intelligence Quotient (as known as IQ) of the child based on their scores. Binet and Simon compared the children’s actual chronological age to their “mental age” defined as “the age level of IQ test terms a child could successfully answer” (Bee & Boyd, 2012, p. 168). There have been revisions over the years in how IQ scores are calculated and today they are calculated by comparing a child’s score with that of children of the same age. There has been a need for changes in computing IQ scores because IQ scores have increased gradually over the last five decades. If a child today were to take the tests given in the early 1930s, he would score higher than the average of 100.…
Ever since the advent of the modern digital culture, there have been some heated discussions on the topic of whether technology is a foe or a friend. Some people argue that it is influencing us negatively, scattering our attention and diffusing our concentration, while others believe otherwise, suggesting that it is making our lives more efficient and convenient. The emergence of such technology not only enhances some of our fundamental cognitive abilities, but also enables us to explore more of what is we are truly interested in.…
In today's time and age, grownups are overestimating the effects of media and new technologies. The new generation is born into the digital age but that doesn't necessarily mean they are any less intelligent than the previous generation. The misconception that the new generation appears dumb exists because of the media, technology, and choices made by the new generation.…
ration Why are employers having such great difficulties attracting and retaining young employees? Maybe it is time that we try to see things from their point of view as well.…