PatSine

Today, Will Rich's Delicious link led me to this book review, 'The Dumbest Generation' by Mark Bauerlein by Lee Drutman. There are so many interesting points raised by the article and its lead sentence is a bit scary.

In the four minutes it probably takes to read this review, you will have logged exactly half the time the average 15- to 24-year-old now spends reading each day.

This is a continuation of the "Does the web make us dumber?" meme that's been all over the Internet possibly starting with NIcholas Carr's article in the July/August 2008 issue of The Atlantic," Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

As an educator in regular contact with students from K-12 through grad school and their instructors, I constantly see that these technology skills and uses are not evenly spread through the ages or across all of the socioeconomic strata. So, this raises two questions for me.

1. Is everyone becoming "stupider?" Or maybe it's just those blessed with 24/7 access to technology. Maybe only the iPhone owners are getting stupider... And, what about all the impetus to get more computers with Internet access into the hands of schoolchildren all over the world. Is there a tipping point so kids will get smarter for awhile as they have vastly expanded access to resources and then dumber when they jump wildly from topic to topic?
   
   
2. Or, is the problem that there is a new definition of "smart" coming? Is linear thinking the smartest way to think? Do we understand how to help students make the best use of non-linear thinking? The most intersting new application I've seen recently is Prezi which really turns PowerPoint on its head. The only problem is that the opportunities it offers are very hard to get your head around.

Once again...plenty to think about.