The Dumbest Generation

June 2, 2008
From the title forward, Emory University English professor Bauerlein's curmudgeonly screed lets the generalizations run wild. Dismissing the under-30 crowd as "drowning in their own ignorance and aliteracy," Bauerlein repeatedly laments how "teens and 20-year olds love their blogs and games, and they carry the iPod around like a security blanket." Rather than descend into a "maelstrom of youth amusements" (i.e., "rapping comments into a blog"), Bauerlein would have youngsters delve into the great books. (Nip ignorance in the bud, he reasons, because once adulthood sets in, "It's too late to read Dante and Milton.") Bauerlein's considerable research is obvious, but has he ever read a well-edited blog or interviewed an intellectually curious and tech-savvy student? Instead, he writes in a black-and-white myopia that comes close to self-parody; indeed, if it's true that "Twixters 22-to-30-year-olds don't read, tour museums, travel, follow politics, or listen to any music but pop and rap, much less...lay out a personal reading list," one can't help but wonder why Bauerlein, as an educator, doesn't take some responsibility.

May 15, 2008
These two thoughtful, well-written books both decry the sorry state of literacy in this country and its myriad implications. Bauerlein (English, Emory Univ.), former director of research and analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts, is no stranger to the evidence of the decline of reading in America and its cultural consequences in our society. He focuses on the "new attitude, this brazen disregard of]books and reading" among young people. Journalist Jackson is more inclusive in her devastating account of how all of usnot just studentshave lost the capacity to pay sustained attention to anything longer than a PowerPoint presentation, claiming that she sees "stunning similarities between past dark ages and our own era." Much of Bauerlein's book is reminiscent of Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind", and readers will probably take similar issue with some of Bauerlein's elitist pretensions (e.g., that kids read "Harry Potter" because other kids read it, not because they like it). These are well-informed and well-argued books, however, and both are highly recommended for all libraries.Ellen Gilbert, Princeton, NJ

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