It is difficult to know where to begin with this book. There are so many directions we could go with the conversation about the cultural impact this book reflects. My initial thoughts are focused on defining the primary issues that our students face as consumers of entertainment and technology. It would seem that we need to identify to what degree our students are utilizing the social networking features of the internet to communicate with friends and the impact that creates on thier educational habits of mind.
My first question for you as teachers is to discuss the way we should go about establishing our culture at the school to address the use or abuse of technology. How can we provide a counter cultural message in the midst of what the author defines as students who are basically antithetical to reading and school work? How do we inspire the educational process in students that are non-reflective consumers of culture?
As a teacher we must determine the ways we will address the heart issues of motivation within the students. Let me know what you think.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It may be an endless and thankless task, but I think we have to continually call them out of themselves. One thing I noticed this past school year was how some of the students have adopted text talk (how r u?, etc) as their normal means of communications. I don't accept it in my class.
ReplyDeleteI underlined this quote from p. 132: "Teen blog writing sticks to the lingo of teens -- simple syntax, phonetic spelling, low diction -- and actually grooves bad habits." As much as we can, we need to address these bad habits and point the students to what is true, good, and beautiful. We need to convince them that grammar, spelling, and proper syntax are true, good, and beautiful.
I read The Dumbest Generation last year and my initial thoughts on it are here.
This topic is a concern to me as I have 2 teenagers, one of whom would text all day if I let her.
You all should certianly read Anne's initial thoughts. It is well worth the read and I agree with her that the bar must be set high for the students and parents are the one that must set that standard. Most of my job this year will be to communicate to parents that we need that bar set as high as possible and that setting a high standard will not hurt their children or prevent them from missing out on other things. I think that there is a fundamental fear for parents that if their child does too much work, it will adversely affect them somehow. They do not want their child to "miss" the high school experience because of schoolwork or reading. It is sad to me that many students and families are going to miss the point of education all together.
ReplyDeleteBeing under 30 myself, I fall into Bauerlein’s generation of those who cannot be trusted. My peers are the ones that are causing older generations to fear for the very intellectual future of America. I have seen some of my cousins and friends fall into an abyss of technology, unable to disconnect themselves from what they see as lifelines (Facebook, cell phones, etc.). Reading and learning fall by the wayside. One of the first and best ways a person can learn a desire for reading is from their parents, who ideally begin to read to them at a very young age. I remember my dad reading The Hobbit to me around age 5. However, if students reach upper grades without ever having known the joy of continually reading with their mother or father, it weightily falls upon teachers to bear the brunt of encouraging students to not only read, but to relish the process.
ReplyDeleteOne of the resounding points throughout the book that I thought important to note is that mentors and parents must not prioritize the happiness of their students and children over their intellectual stimulation. The Betrayal of the Mentors chapter discusses America’s obsession with achieving happiness. Happiness for a 16 year old typically does not involve voluntarily reading Hemingway or having a discussion about predestination. This generation will not naturally choose to invest their time in things that will cause them to stretch, instead staying within the bounds of what is well known and comfortable. It is left for the adults in the lives of teens to promote lifestyles of learning. We must encourage students that the reading we give them is not beyond their capability to understand, but that they must also work to accomplish that understanding. I agree with Anne that parents ought to be the first teachers of their children, requiring a high standard of them and encouraging them to take on the intellectual challenges of school and learning in general.
Another of the book’s echoing points is the detriment teachers, parents, and any other mentors cause by devaluing their own intellectual authority, and that of past thinkers, as noted in this quote from p. 186: “If mentors are so keen to recant their expertise, why should students strain to acquire it themselves?” This generation has accomplished nothing by abandoning classic and traditional forms of learning, literature, and most social interaction. It is the mark of our times to hold no standard, attempting to “free” individuals by allowing them to behave however they want. I find this to be merely a complacent acceptance of the “changing times,” and what some claim is the realization that books are an antiquated thing of the past. I think the hope for this generation is adults who hold them to standards for learning and for how they spend their free time.
Emily, this is well said and I am particularily challenged by the exhortation towards mentors. We should not be so quick to shed our roles as teachers in order to be their friends because these students are searching for someone to proclaim some sort of depth and ultimately Truth to them. They are looking for experts, authorities, and wisdom from the older generation. Ironically, we downplay our role to provide this for them, encouraging them to "follow their heart" for guidance. We should spend some time working on these thoughts during our inservice time at the beginning of school.
ReplyDelete