Don't Know Much About History…

(CBS)  For generations now, we've been asking the same question: What's the matter with kids these days?

A new survey of 17-year-olds found that when asked which year Columbus sailed the ocean blue, 26 percent did not say 1492, CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports.

And a whopping 57 percent did not know the Civil War happened in the last half of the 19th Century.

At one high school in Oakland, Calif., the students were pretty sharp.

Tracy asked one, "Which American poet wrote Leaves of Grass?"

"I want to say Walt Whitman," the student said. And was correct.

But other historical names, like anti-Communist crusader Sen. Joseph McCarthy, have been, well, blacklisted.

"What was the big controversy that surrounded him?" Tracy asked.

"Is he the Senator that did the bathroom stint?" one student said.

The author of a new book, "The Dumbest Generation," says teenagers are too distracted by computers and social networking.

"They don't care! That doesn't' touch them" said Mark Bauerlein from Emory University. "There's no reason for them to care."

He added: "This is what is crowding out the materials of history, civics and so on."

But a lot of educators say all this talk about the dumbest generation is really quite stupid. They say high school is more demanding than it's ever been, and students don't need to know a litany of dates because they can just Google them.

"You helped teach this generation - do you take any offense to any of this?" Tracy asked Bishop O'Dowd High School's Steve Phelps.

"I know that this generation is the smartest we've had," he said.

Phelps teaches at the Oakland high school. He says students are expected to analyze events and concepts rather than recite dates.

"People think that not knowing the old information means you're not educated," he said. "But they don't look at what this generation knows today."

Closing that gap between teens and their parents may be the real test.

[gunownerdan]

Anyone seen the movie Idiocracy with Luke Wilson, Dex Shepard, and Maya Rudolph...

It is perhaps a sad prediction of things to come...

Posted by ozilot

The first 5 minutes or so unfortunately seems to exlain it pretty well.

[runningralph]

faerie2,
Yes I''m still ranting about women and indiscriminate breeding because in my line of work I''m confronted daily with more examples of young women toting little big eyed babies around with no man on the horizon. It''s an unending spectacle. The over sixty women didn''t breed with any man that came down the street. They tried to find one with some prospect. No wonder IQ''s are frending down.

[erasmus6]

"Then there are people that have a lot of education, but are very limited in common sense" posted by Sebastian27

Yes, people can get really high grades in school and yet have no common sense. Just because you can memorize a lot of stuff doesn''t make you intelligent. If you don''t have common sense, you don''t have nothing. They say you are either born with common sense or you''re not. Some will say that you can learn common sense to a certain degree. I disagree.

[toolmangler-2009]

don''''t think kids are ignorant today by any means but I do believe with the technology they have access to the classroom environment itself needs to be updated to compete. I think kids are bored with it the way it is right now and I think it''''s about time for some sort of an update.
Posted by kennergirl at 12:49 PM : Feb 27, 2008



Main Entry: ig7no7rant
Pronunciation: ''ig-n(?-)r?nt
Function: adjective
Date: 14th century
1 a: destitute of knowledge or education an ignorant society ; also : lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified parents ignorant of modern mathematics b: resulting from or showing lack of knowledge or intelligence


kennergirl - with respect I disagree. They are in a large way, ignorant of what made this world the way it is, They are very intelligent about clothes, music, state-of-the-art electronics and cars, but if you ask them what Descartes meant by the statement "Cogito Ergo Sum" (even if you tranlate it for them).they don''t have a clue. It is uaually the geeky looking (outcast) that learns the deeper meanings of life, but by the time they have matured they have "tuned out and turned on" as Leary wanted them too. Yes there are those that avoid the pitfalls and become the major players of today but far too many opt out of responibility and become Moneygrubbers and thieves that prey on the rest because of a lack of caring for anyone but themselves.

[mrmusicguy]

I was deeply offended by this report. How can you call this generation the "dumbest"?

I am a 13 year old boy in the eighth grade. My parents are average, middle class citizens. By no means, am I a guiness or prodigy. 30 or 40 years ago, would you have heard of a full (30+ students) taking a college level Algebra II/ Trigonometry class. So that must make me dumb, right? So, students are dumb because we dont know dates and historical figures? Well, I can guarantee if you went and surveyed 500 people on the street (at random), you would find half wouldn''t know the correct dates or someones importance in history?

[sebastian27-2009]

There is a difference between educated and being smart. Many young people are smart, but only in what they interested in. They may are may not be educated are educable. On the other had, some people are uneducated as in formal education, but they are very smart. Bill Gates was one of those.
Then there are people that have a lot of education, but are very limited in common sense. These are the ones that have difficulty adjusting to the world in which they live. Some are absolute failures, thought they may have several college degrees.

[ianlou]

Posted by libsrweak at 03:42 PM : Feb 27, 2008

Hey! These are quotes from Dwight D. Eisenhower. A very famous and respected Republican President who led our nation and the free world to victory in WWII.
Sorry he still isn''t up to your NeoCon standards.

Do a web search on Eisenhower + Quotes, what you will find will probable make YOU go screaming into the night.

[libsrweak]

Most of the 9/11 hijackers were SAUDIS, you know, from Saudi Arabia. Bush is often seen kissing and holding hands with their leader while we pay them billions and they "educate" the next generation of hateful Islamic terrorist bigots.


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Posted by gunownerdan at 04:07 PM : Feb 27, 2008
+ report abuse


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and most saudis are...................muslims..if you would had paid attention to what i said..
islam does not discriminate..it will take citizens from all nations..it will take followers of any color..

to say that all muslims are evil is moot..its pretty much like saying all gun owners are redneck inbreeds or all liberals are fa ggots (i use my cyber name to catch attention but do not necessarily mean all liberals are weak minded). there are efforts from all moderate muslims to address the issue at hand..

[gunownerdan]

in regards to your ''war-mongering'' issue..how far do you want these jihadist to ram that 747 up your arse before you can be convinced that there are people out there that wants to destroy you and your lifestyle.
Posted by libsrweak

Most of the 9/11 hijackers were SAUDIS, you know, from Saudi Arabia. Bush is often seen kissing and holding hands with their leader while we pay them billions and they "educate" the next generation of hateful Islamic terrorist bigots.

[libsrweak]

Posted by ianlou at 02:20 PM : Feb 27, 2008
+ report abuse


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hunger??cold?? humm what about food stamps..public housing?? in this country you stay hungry or cold because you decided to put yourself in that position.

and in regards to your ''war-mongering'' issue..how far do you want these jihadist to ram that 747 up your arse before you can be convinced that there are people out there that wants to destroy you and your lifestyle.