Millennials: The Dumbest Generation or the Next Generation?

Mark Bauerlein and Neil Howe both made some good points in this video.  My first thought was that a person can usually find any research to back up his or her point.  This is somewhat frustrating for me because it makes it harder to decide who is “most correct” in their claims.  In this case, I see truth in both arguments, but it is Bauerlien’s argument that rings most true for me because I see much evidence to support his claims in the high school where I teach.   

The thesis of Bauerlein’s book, The Dumbest Generation, is that when habits and leisure time of the Millennial Generation are traced, it seems that there is a decline in intellectual habits and intellectual pursuits during their free time, even though this generation has many advantages over the generations that have come before them to acquire knowledge and skills.   Basically, the Millennials are reading much less, and yet they spend an exorbitant amount of time social networking. 

Neil Howe cites evidence that the Millennials are getting smarter, and the two that stick out in my mind are spelling B words and science fair projects of today, as compared to the 1950’s.  Bauerlein dismisses this evidence saying that we have about 10% of the Millennial generation that are superkids, and this is merely their data…not the data of the majority.  Again, what Bauerlein says rings true.  When I talk to my students, it seems that they want to do the least amount of work possible, and when they get home, few choose to read.  They are on Facebook or playing video games.  The readers, of course, stick out as the star pupils in class because they are sharpening their tools for learning.

So, I guess I am a Millennial, as I was born in 1982.  In high school, I wasn’t challenged enough in my classes to need to study extra time at home.  However, I remember doing research papers in my English classes, and having to read novels (some of which I was not interested in and chose not to read.)  My question is, how can we help these kids develop an internal gratification from learning?  Kids of the Millennial Generation are less likely to do things just because the teacher said so.  They want to know why things are important, and if there is no reason, they won’t waste their time.  I was an A student in high school (with the exception of a couple of B’s, but I didn’t show real motivation for learning until I was in college.  I don’t think this shift in motivation was because I changed significantly in my values.  It was because I chose my classes, and I was challenged in those classes.    

Millennials have so many choices when it comes to how to spend their free time, and there are so many distractions for Millennials, as pointed out by Bauerlein.  Millennials have computers, cell phones, television, dvr, playstation, the list goes on and on….so much technology, and the majority of them seem to use it just for play.  But my question is, have they been taught to do anything else with these devices?  Do teachers give them enough meaningful assignments to complete on the computer that they understand HOW they can use this tool for something other than Facebook?  That is my challenge to teachers and to the central office.  We need technology in the classroom if we are going to teach our students to be responsible users of technology.