A couple of quotes stood out when I was reading this week, "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I agree and disagree with this statement, I can relate to this but only on a small scale and not on an entire generation of people. There are too many variables to consider for this quote to even be possible.
"47% of grads in 1950 could name the largest lake in North America, compared with 38% in 2002." My first instinct after reading this comment was just to backlash on it because it is completely irrelevant to what the author is trying to prove. 52 years have passed from 1950 when the government had taken their first survey. The amount of information that the world has discovered and all the advancements in every field of work we have had improved drastically for the most part. It should be obvious that a little fact like that would stop being at the top of peoples minds when there is much more to focus on.
Also in our class discussion one of my group member Katie was bashing on Dr. Bauerlein because he puts a lot of the blaim for our so called ignorance on us and its our responsibility. I can say that sure some of it may be ours to take, however if it bothers the older generation so much then they should step in with different ideas rather than writing a book that says its my fault. Just for an example, we have changed the way the world looks at our generation because of popular media, but if you look back in time who's fault was it for global warming, and the DDT crisis. So everybody makes these mistakes, and it will just continue and keep cycling.
I love your second paragraph, and completely agree. How important is it to really know which lake in North America is the largest. It is very irrelevant unless you are going to be on a trivia game show. Then you might want to brush up on facts like that.
ReplyDeleteIf I get to go on a trivia show I will look up "pointless facts" on google and start studying.
ReplyDeleteHaha I agree with Jill's and your comment! But I also agree with your third paragraph. I feel like instead of older people telling us how dumb we are then they should try to do something about it, not just stand around and criticizes us.
ReplyDeleteThe comments are your blog make me laugh. I think of Ken Jennings from -Jeopardy.- I mean, what did that guy really know that was of any value in life?! Oh, but then again, maybe that's just my self-absorbed self talking.
ReplyDeleteAnd if there ever comes a time where we need to know "Trivia Facts", that is what google is for!!!
ReplyDeleteYour always so honest in your blogs! I agree with your second paragraph 100 percent older people always talk about how lazy we've become or how they think we are a dumb generation but don't do anything to contribute to changing that they just continue to further the technology.
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