My Generation is Smarter than Yours
I was watching Quiz Show the other day (great movie, if you haven’t seen it, turn off your computer, drive to Blockbuster, rent it, watch it, marvel in the glory that is Rob Morrow’s accent). Anyway, I was watching Quiz Show, when, for the first time in God knows how many viewings, I noted that one of the characters discussed the “crisis of education in this country”.
I found this interesting, given how much that phrase is thrown around about the modern day education system, and how often my generation is called stupid in comparison to past generations.
That line, combined with some guy being on the Colbert report making some very good points about this issue, has reaffirmed my previous belief: that anyone who thinks my generation is dumber than previous ones is out of their fucking mind.
It’s just bizarre to me that people think my generation isn’t as bright as my parents' and so forth, and I’m going to take a post explaining why it’s bullshit.
One of the things they always throw around to say my generation is retarded are these stats about how we don’t know simple things. The most popular of these is the “3 out of 4 young adults can’t find blank on a map/globe.”
Which is about the stupidest fucking argument I’ve ever heard in my life. First off, you’ll notice these polls never include information on how many people from other age groups can find whatever on the map. Without which, the data MEANS NOTHING. Without a comparison set of data for some other age group, what am I possibly supposed to conclude from the fact that (according to the National-Geographic-Roper Study) six in 10 young Americans ages 18 to 24 cannot find Iraq on a map of the Middle East?
Because frankly I doubt that more than 4 out of 10 adults can find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. I’m not sure my father could pick Iraq out of a map that included only Iraq and Iran.
Even giving me data about kids from other countries would tell me something. It wouldn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, that Americans are less well informed about world affairs than non-Americans, but at least the poll would then SUPPORT A CONCLUSION OF SOME SORT. As is, it literally says nothing. It means nothing. No inferences can be drawn from this report. I am befuddled as to why the people who conducted this survey did not feel a need to have it be useful.
But even if I were to grant that 60% is a high number of young adults to not be able to locate Iraq on a map (which I cannot grant since I have NOTHING TO COMPARE IT TO…Jesus Fucking Christ, didn’t these people have to take a stats class or something in college? I swear to God…okay deep breaths…deep breaths).
Okay. I’m better. Even if I could say that was a high number, let me ask you this: WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK? When is this going to come up in my life time? At what point is a future employer likely to throw a map on my desk (one without the names of the countries for some inexplicable reason) and demand that I locate Afghanistan (Which 88% of young adults couldn’t do…hint: look for the smoldering hole on the map).
Guess what? Not going to be an issue. Not being able to find Australia on a globe will never affect my life. If I go to the airport and get on the plane with the big sign that says AUSTRALIA, it will take me there. It is highly unlikely the pilot will ask me for directions.
And if you do need to find Afghanistan on a map (God knows why), that’s why maps have the names of the countries written right on them. So we don’t all have to memorize which one is Jordan and which one is Syria.
So please cut the “It’s a travesty, how can young people not locate Bangladesh while blindfolded in a dark room, and surrounded by midgets” because that DOESN’T MEAN A GODDAMN THING.
(Lot of caps-locking going on in this post…very emotional issue for me…sorry).
Furthermore, please cut the bullshit comparisons to other countries. First of all, a lot of those countries (i.e. Japan) only allow their best students to continue on in the educational systems, so of course they test higher than our kids. If you only tested me, I’d kick the shit out of the rest of the planet, I can say with a fair level of confidence. But that’s not a very good measure of a country's education system. And even given that we are slipping in comparison to the rest of the world, that’s a whole lot more about the rest of the world not sucking like it used to, and not about your buddies being Einstein, Granddad.
So why do I think my generation is smarter than yours, old people? A lot of reasons. First, high schools are offering more and more AP level classes, suggesting that the advanced kids are learning faster than they used to. Second, kids today manage to learn (in my opinion) pretty much everything your generation learned, while at the same time doing a whole lot extra (i.e. computers, larger music/art programs, more extracurricular activities, etc.)
But frankly, those aren’t the big reasons. The big reason is that my generation is capable of doing more than one thing at a time. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but people older than about 27 or so, are incapable of concentrating on more than one thing. If the TV is on, they cannot have a conversation with you. It’s impossible for them.
Why? They didn’t play video games growing up. And this is the big difference for my generation. We all grew up playing with computers and Nintendo and whatnot. And for all the garbage old people spew about how video games are rotting our minds, what they’re actually doing is making us way smarter.
Bear with me on this. What a video game is (in the most basic of terms) is a collection of sensory inputs and puzzles. Those puzzles may or may not be logic-based, they may merely require you to push buttons in some specific sequence in order to throw a proper attack combo, but regardless that’s a puzzle. It’s something you have to learn to do, while reacting to the environment of the game.
Further, video games (unlike many of the games our parents grew up playing) get harder as you play them (unless they suck or you cheat). Video Games are designed to be just hard enough that they are constantly challenging, without ever being so hard that you give up. And as you improve they continually push you along to get better and better at what you’re doing.
Now you might protest that you are getting better at that skill, but in the case of CounterStrike, that skill is to shoot people. And here’s a crucial point that you may or may not believe: that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what the “goal” of the game is. Especially since those goals are just a dummy set of variables for the same basic set of inputs: reacting through pushing buttons to do X in a limited amount of time to event Y taking place.
It doesn’t really matter what event Y is or what X is caused by pushing the buttons. Regardless, you are training your mind to make quick decisions in response to sensory inputs. And (this is the crux of that crucial point) anytime you use your brain that’s a good thing. It doesn’t matter what skill you’re training it with, it’s always benefiting you.
Now, are some games even more beneficial than others? Yes. Obviously. And here’s another key point: those games are among the most popular.
The most wildly successful computer game ever is the Sims. A game that teaches you to interact socially with others. The Civilization games are also incredibly successful. These are games that teach you history, teach you politics, teach you strategy, resources management, and God knows what else. The MYST games were huge. Tetris is one of the best selling video games of all time, and it’s basically the spatial reasoning portion of that skills test they made me take in high school.
So not only are video games helping us to increase the quickness of our reflexes and decision making processes, not only do they teach us to mentally multi-task, not only do they constantly push us to our mental limits, but they actually often teach us real-honest-to-God knowledge and skills.
So shut the fuck up about how smart you and your buddies were pops, cause my generation will mop the floor with your ass.
Now if you want to challenge us to some sort of fitness competition, feel free to walk away with that trophy right now.
I found this interesting, given how much that phrase is thrown around about the modern day education system, and how often my generation is called stupid in comparison to past generations.
That line, combined with some guy being on the Colbert report making some very good points about this issue, has reaffirmed my previous belief: that anyone who thinks my generation is dumber than previous ones is out of their fucking mind.
It’s just bizarre to me that people think my generation isn’t as bright as my parents' and so forth, and I’m going to take a post explaining why it’s bullshit.
One of the things they always throw around to say my generation is retarded are these stats about how we don’t know simple things. The most popular of these is the “3 out of 4 young adults can’t find blank on a map/globe.”
Which is about the stupidest fucking argument I’ve ever heard in my life. First off, you’ll notice these polls never include information on how many people from other age groups can find whatever on the map. Without which, the data MEANS NOTHING. Without a comparison set of data for some other age group, what am I possibly supposed to conclude from the fact that (according to the National-Geographic-Roper Study) six in 10 young Americans ages 18 to 24 cannot find Iraq on a map of the Middle East?
Because frankly I doubt that more than 4 out of 10 adults can find Iraq on a map of the Middle East. I’m not sure my father could pick Iraq out of a map that included only Iraq and Iran.
Even giving me data about kids from other countries would tell me something. It wouldn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, that Americans are less well informed about world affairs than non-Americans, but at least the poll would then SUPPORT A CONCLUSION OF SOME SORT. As is, it literally says nothing. It means nothing. No inferences can be drawn from this report. I am befuddled as to why the people who conducted this survey did not feel a need to have it be useful.
But even if I were to grant that 60% is a high number of young adults to not be able to locate Iraq on a map (which I cannot grant since I have NOTHING TO COMPARE IT TO…Jesus Fucking Christ, didn’t these people have to take a stats class or something in college? I swear to God…okay deep breaths…deep breaths).
Okay. I’m better. Even if I could say that was a high number, let me ask you this: WHO GIVES A FLYING FUCK? When is this going to come up in my life time? At what point is a future employer likely to throw a map on my desk (one without the names of the countries for some inexplicable reason) and demand that I locate Afghanistan (Which 88% of young adults couldn’t do…hint: look for the smoldering hole on the map).
Guess what? Not going to be an issue. Not being able to find Australia on a globe will never affect my life. If I go to the airport and get on the plane with the big sign that says AUSTRALIA, it will take me there. It is highly unlikely the pilot will ask me for directions.
And if you do need to find Afghanistan on a map (God knows why), that’s why maps have the names of the countries written right on them. So we don’t all have to memorize which one is Jordan and which one is Syria.
So please cut the “It’s a travesty, how can young people not locate Bangladesh while blindfolded in a dark room, and surrounded by midgets” because that DOESN’T MEAN A GODDAMN THING.
(Lot of caps-locking going on in this post…very emotional issue for me…sorry).
Furthermore, please cut the bullshit comparisons to other countries. First of all, a lot of those countries (i.e. Japan) only allow their best students to continue on in the educational systems, so of course they test higher than our kids. If you only tested me, I’d kick the shit out of the rest of the planet, I can say with a fair level of confidence. But that’s not a very good measure of a country's education system. And even given that we are slipping in comparison to the rest of the world, that’s a whole lot more about the rest of the world not sucking like it used to, and not about your buddies being Einstein, Granddad.
So why do I think my generation is smarter than yours, old people? A lot of reasons. First, high schools are offering more and more AP level classes, suggesting that the advanced kids are learning faster than they used to. Second, kids today manage to learn (in my opinion) pretty much everything your generation learned, while at the same time doing a whole lot extra (i.e. computers, larger music/art programs, more extracurricular activities, etc.)
But frankly, those aren’t the big reasons. The big reason is that my generation is capable of doing more than one thing at a time. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but people older than about 27 or so, are incapable of concentrating on more than one thing. If the TV is on, they cannot have a conversation with you. It’s impossible for them.
Why? They didn’t play video games growing up. And this is the big difference for my generation. We all grew up playing with computers and Nintendo and whatnot. And for all the garbage old people spew about how video games are rotting our minds, what they’re actually doing is making us way smarter.
Bear with me on this. What a video game is (in the most basic of terms) is a collection of sensory inputs and puzzles. Those puzzles may or may not be logic-based, they may merely require you to push buttons in some specific sequence in order to throw a proper attack combo, but regardless that’s a puzzle. It’s something you have to learn to do, while reacting to the environment of the game.
Further, video games (unlike many of the games our parents grew up playing) get harder as you play them (unless they suck or you cheat). Video Games are designed to be just hard enough that they are constantly challenging, without ever being so hard that you give up. And as you improve they continually push you along to get better and better at what you’re doing.
Now you might protest that you are getting better at that skill, but in the case of CounterStrike, that skill is to shoot people. And here’s a crucial point that you may or may not believe: that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what the “goal” of the game is. Especially since those goals are just a dummy set of variables for the same basic set of inputs: reacting through pushing buttons to do X in a limited amount of time to event Y taking place.
It doesn’t really matter what event Y is or what X is caused by pushing the buttons. Regardless, you are training your mind to make quick decisions in response to sensory inputs. And (this is the crux of that crucial point) anytime you use your brain that’s a good thing. It doesn’t matter what skill you’re training it with, it’s always benefiting you.
Now, are some games even more beneficial than others? Yes. Obviously. And here’s another key point: those games are among the most popular.
The most wildly successful computer game ever is the Sims. A game that teaches you to interact socially with others. The Civilization games are also incredibly successful. These are games that teach you history, teach you politics, teach you strategy, resources management, and God knows what else. The MYST games were huge. Tetris is one of the best selling video games of all time, and it’s basically the spatial reasoning portion of that skills test they made me take in high school.
So not only are video games helping us to increase the quickness of our reflexes and decision making processes, not only do they teach us to mentally multi-task, not only do they constantly push us to our mental limits, but they actually often teach us real-honest-to-God knowledge and skills.
So shut the fuck up about how smart you and your buddies were pops, cause my generation will mop the floor with your ass.
Now if you want to challenge us to some sort of fitness competition, feel free to walk away with that trophy right now.
posted by drs at 8:55 AM
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