Clueless generation

[TexasFreedom]

I gotta share this story I heard earlier.

A buddy was out & this college girl asks him for help. She is trying to buy something on her phone with her credit card for the first time. But she can't seem to figure out how to do this. She didn't understand how to put the expiration date in there. The card expired 07/23. She did not know that '07' means July and that '23' means the year 2023. She thought we were living in the year 19. Not 2019, but just 19. She had no idea what 'twenty first century' meant. He thought he was being tricked, but she really didn't have a clue.

This is a college girl, and no po-dunk school, a 'real' college. I'd be tempted to go to her house and slap her parents. How can this next generation do anything without knowing how to do a single thing? How can parents let their kids go out into the world like this? Insane.

 

[jontte]

idiocracy here we come..

 

[JackDW]

Product of the current public school systems. Any question why my kids were home schooled When the got to college, they were far, FAR more advanced then the kids that came from the public school systems. Need more evidence, try listening to AOC. How can anyone that unintelligent get elected to congress and the elite in Washington pile all the praise on her STUPID statements.

 

[grayghost668]

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,,I don't think anyone is really that stupid

 

[Arcticdude]

To see just how stupid people really are, just look at what they're electing today. AOC has to be the dumbest dimwit ever. Even for a Democrat she's beyond stupid.

 

[jontte]

stupidity seems to be the norm today....
that's why we have so difficult living today...sorry dudes and dudettes.it just is.

 

[DrPrepper]

At work on Friday, I had a girl in her early 30s ask me, “ Can I eat shrimp on a vegan diet?” It took me a few seconds to respond to her ( everyone else was trying not to laugh). She then asked if shrimp had mouths. She also wanted to know how they were born. If I hadn’t been in such shock, I would have played with her and told her that shrimp are born from shrimp plants

 

[Kevin L]

This stupidity issue is nothing new.

When my father (RIP) was in college, he did an interesting school project. He typed up the Bill of Rights, and passed it off as a petition (in a crowded shopping center), and tallied up statistics on peoples' responses.

Something like 40% of the people accused him of being a Communist, most people didn't know what the document was, and less than 10% recognized it for what it was.

I would argue that I have the equivalent of a college degree in human stupidity....simply because I was an EMT and a paramedic for almost 12 years.

I guess our modern lifestyle is so automated and so benign that stupid people don't get weeded out by accidents and/or violence like in the past.

 

[TexasFreedom]

I guess our modern lifestyle is so automated and so benign that stupid people don't get weeded out by accidents and/or violence like in the past.

And there you have it Kevin. YOU are part of the problem because you are saving people who 'need' to die and are doing their best to get there... then you stop them! You evil guy you.

 

[KateMTx]

And there you have it Kevin. YOU are part of the problem because you are saving people who 'need' to die and are doing their best to get there... then you stop them! You evil guy you.

I can totally see some of the gen-Z kids I interview on a daily basis not understanding how dates work or what "2019" means. It's frustrating trying to find competent people to work and quite scary when I think about how these are our next generation of doctors and nurses. I guess there have always been dumb people but I feel like modern technology enables them.

 

[tmttactical]

I can totally see some of the gen-Z kids I interview on a daily basis not understanding how dates work or what "2019" means. It's frustrating trying to find competent people to work and quite scary when I think about how these are our next generation of doctors and nurses. I guess there have always been dumb people but I feel like modern technology enables them.

Modern technology and lowered expectation. When you remove the need to succeed, then you remove most of the desire to succeed. Kid sitting on the bench gets the same trophy as the kid hitting home runs.

 

[Petoski]

This stupidity issue is nothing new.

When my father (RIP) was in college, he did an interesting school project. He typed up the Bill of Rights, and passed it off as a petition (in a crowded shopping center), and tallied up statistics on peoples' responses.

Something like 40% of the people accused him of being a Communist, most people didn't know what the document was, and less than 10% recognized it for what it was.

I would argue that I have the equivalent of a college degree in human stupidity....simply because I was an EMT and a paramedic for almost 12 years.

I guess our modern lifestyle is so automated and so benign that stupid people don't get weeded out by accidents and/or violence like in the past.

How long ago was the college project? If it was less than 10% then I wonder how many it would be now?
The other day I had the unfortunate experience of walking in the living room while my girlfriend was watching love island on the tv. My God what tripe. One of the women didn't know what a hotdog or a beef was.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/love-islands-ellie-jones-branded-12822987

 

[Arcticdude]

And many people think the answer is to throw more money at the schools and at the teachers. We've been doing that for years and the kids continue getting dumber every year.

 

[tmttactical]

A kid being taught by dumb teachers, raised by dumb parents ans we should expect better results? The dumb do not improve the next generation. In the long ago past, natural selection removed most of the idiots. Now we pay them to sit at home and breed. Dumb only produces dumber.

 

[Arcticdude]

We're spending record amounts of tax dollars on public schools and teachers, and we're getting record stupidly coming out coming out of those public schools.
My sister is a teacher in a public school. She's in it for the money, benefits and the time off. She's a good teacher, as long as she doesn't really try teaching the kids.
The public school system is more interested in receiving more tax dollars per student, than it is on results. After all, the more dumb kids it produces, the more that will end up on government welfare.

 

[TexasFreedom]

Amen on everything you guys are writing!

I'll throw out a counter-idea. Defund schools by 80%. Take 50% of the remaining budget and properly teach the 20% of the kids who want to learn & can. Use the rest to provide USB ports & wi-fi for the rest of the useless/unwilling/problem kids to plug in their phones and do whatever.

Honestly, I think the average test scores would not change.

 

[Kevin L]

I see everyones' points, and largely agree with them.....but still I have to play the devil's advocate.....if for no other reason than to explore areas outside my comfort zone.

These kids seem to be utterly lacking in education and knowledge that was important when I was in school, so I think they're dumb.

At the same time, I'm an older person who struggles to understand computer stuff (I'm not alone here. There are actually pads and laptops geared toward senior citizens, like the Grandpad), and they think I'm stupid because I struggle with things like Twitter, Wattpad, Blogging, and so on.

I learned business skills like how to type on an IBM Selectric typewriter, how to set type for a printing press in industrial arts, how to organize and use a Rolodex, and also how to use Gregg Shorthand.

All obsolete. I may as well be a steam engine repair mechanic.

So I wonder how much of this stupidity is actually stupidity....or if it is our older person's perception of stupidity seen through the lense of our obsolete education.

I get concerned when--by asking Suri any questions--we get instant answers, as seems that the computer does our thinking for us....and when I made my point to a young punk, he asked me if I still used a bow-drill to start a fire, or if I just used a cigarette lighter instead?

I didn't have an answer.

 

[TexasFreedom]

Kevin,

There is a huge difference between stupid and obsolete. Obsolete still means there were skills learned, the person is capable and willing to work and learn, and he was useful at one point.

What we have in the youth today is worthless. Zero work ethic. Near zero morals. Skills limited to whining and playing video games and other useless self-entertaining 'skills'.

An obsolete guy can transpose his skills to a new field. You can dump him in the outback of Australia and he'll manage to survive & get back to civilization. If you do the same with a fit, healthy youth, their first day would be wandering looking for cell service, crying, and whining about not having A/C & toilet paper. By the 3rd day he'd be dead. That punk you mentioned might only last 2 days. And it'd be no loss to the world.

 

[KateMTx]

A kid being taught by dumb teachers, raised by dumb parents ans we should expect better results? The dumb do not improve the next generation. In the long ago past, natural selection removed most of the idiots. Now we pay them to sit at home and breed. Dumb only produces dumber.

It's exactly like Idiocracy.

 

[Kevin L]

It's exactly like Idiocracy.

Yes....only Idiocracy was actually a rip-off of a classic science fiction story from the Golden Age of Science Fiction called "The Marching Morons" by C. M. Kornbluth.

The story was quite a bit darker than the movie. If you're a fan of Idiocracy, you absolutely must read "The Marching Morons."

It can be found for free in downloadable PDF on the Internet.

I hope you read it.