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Wow, what a pessimistic attitude, and probably reflective of the narcissistic newer generation. I for one agree with the OP in that my parents were taught more about the world and American history than was being taught when I went to school. Still I have a vast knowledge of such things compared to what my kid is learning.
As a Boomer myself, it's pretty hard to look back on the 60s, 70s, and 80s and cry "Narcissist" at any other generation. Terms such as "counter-culture," "Me Decade," and "Greed is Good" are about Boomers, not Millennials.
It's also pretty hard to claim that we had any greater respect for our parents' knowledge in our youth than Millennials have. In fact, I'd argue that Millennials pay more attention to us than we did our parents (which has been their big error).
If Millennials are Narcissists, it's because they mirror us, their parents.
It depends on what you are doing in life, I suppose.
Having worked Intel here and there through my life, I knew a lot of things that comrades in my time didn't know, didn't realize, know a lot about the past that many don't know now. Why, in the case of the latter? What's the point?
Well, skipping over knowing how things were done for success (such as Entebbe) for a moment, there is the point of getting into someone's head and seeing the world as he or she knows it, has learned it.
For example: even though she has the right to refuse search of her house, an elder black woman who has a handful of buff white deputies on her poach asking to search for her grandson, probably believes that she can't say no (there was some court case like that).
Of course, at times at least, there is a significant moral risk to approaching life like that. Means I'm devious, I am looking for an aspect of another's life that I can use to an advantage.
How and why I take advantage may be the deciding point, though. Such as understanding what motivates the criminal customer to participate in that "market".......and then find ways to destabilize that market. To me, that's fun!.......and from that aspect, there really might not be any "bad" to it.
Still, though, it does feel just slightly dirty to able to know the other's viewpoint when you are sitting across the table from them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by el_marto
Ahh so what, us young'uns don't need to memorise all that old stuff now that google exists. Google has rendered entire university degrees redundant. We learn about what's relevant today and if we should happen to need a Shakespeare quote or whatever then it's only a couple of clicks away.
Errrr, not quite. Ignoring for a moment that Google returns a lot of stuff that is junk...errrrrrrr......opinion but not fact, there is more to knowledge than just repeating it, at least past the undergrad level.
One of the things I learned in my first Masters degree is that my superiors don't want me just to gather up and report on the information that is out there. They want a recommendation from me on how to solve the problem.
And let's face it, if one can't state how to solve the problem, they aren't being relevant these days.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 08-04-2014 at 06:38 PM..
This must be where the "common sense" comment comes in.
Well-read grandpa would say, "Sounds like it's time for a quarantine."
Couch potato would say, "Hey, let's get those guys over here and study them. In fact, let anyone with an illness in because we don't want to be the bad guys."
Guess that falls under sensible application of knowledge.
As a Boomer myself, it's pretty hard to look back on the 60s, 70s, and 80s and cry "Narcissist" at any other generation. Terms such as "counter-culture," "Me Decade," and "Greed is Good" are about Boomers, not Millennials.
It's also pretty hard to claim that we had any greater respect for our parents' knowledge in our youth than Millennials have. In fact, I'd argue that Millennials pay more attention to us than we did our parents (which has been their big error).
If Millennials are Narcissists, it's because they mirror us, their parents.
It's good to see a Boomer being honest about this. I've known a few who would admit this, but most would rather just pass the blame.
There are a lot of new things added to older ways and culture, but there are still some fundamental baselines.
I like to work and meet new people from around the world. Some I get along with very well, culturally we may have a lot of differences, but we have similarities as well. Such as: honor, trust, commitment, cleanliness, dedication, courtesy. Some cultures have people of all walks though, so it isn't limited to race by any means. People I do not get along with are conceited and self-centered, again doesn't matter what race or ethnic background they come from.
As a Boomer myself, it's pretty hard to look back on the 60s, 70s, and 80s and cry "Narcissist" at any other generation. Terms such as "counter-culture," "Me Decade," and "Greed is Good" are about Boomers, not Millennials.
It's also pretty hard to claim that we had any greater respect for our parents' knowledge in our youth than Millennials have. In fact, I'd argue that Millennials pay more attention to us than we did our parents (which has been their big error).
If Millennials are Narcissists, it's because they mirror us, their parents.
A nod from someone on the older end of the Millennial edge.
I read things like this thread and I always see some irony: people hurl these accusations about Millennials being selfish, shallow, and stupid based on...what? Brief observations? Things they see in the media? A bad encounter? A group of people goofing off with their friends?
I have friends, family, and acquaintances who cover the end of Gen-X to the lower edge of the Millennials. Some of them are complete morons. Most of them are not. A lot of them are deeply socially or politically involved (it's worth noting this ranges from a few of my friends who walked door-to-door against Prop 8 to my younger cousin, an NRA member who is outraged he can't carry a gun on his college campus). My younger brother can do calculus in his head and tell you about its ancient origins, and he can do it all while listening to ear-splitting heavy metal. One of my roommates can identify animal tracks in the sand while relating his sister's experiences in the Middle East, where she's been reporting on war and political unrest for the last eight years.
Here are some better generalizations about my generation:
We don't care what you look like, we're more concerned with what you do.
We're less concerned with facts and more concerned with concepts. This is not to say that we don't value learning, but we think understanding why the United States joined WWII is more important than knowing the exact date we landed at Normandy.
We are, admittedly, a little teed off at the absolute wreck of an economy we've come of age in.
But we are also respectful of and interested in what the older generations have to share, as long as they can do it without being dismissive or belittling of us. We don't have the time or the patience for that kind of disrespect.
My parents graduated from one room country grade schools in the early 1930s. Until their deaths in the 1990s they could easily recite, and discuss the significance of, entire multi-stanza classic poems that they remembered from grade school. Several times my son was studying a specific book or poem in AP English Literature or AP English and my parents would be able to easily discuss it with him, although they had studied the same thing in 6th or 7th grade sixty-some years earlier. I wonder if most/some/many students today remember that many details the day after they crammed for the final exam in a class, let alone 65 years later.
Both my parents only had eighth grade educations but could easily and articulately discuss almost any topic under the sun. I was constantly astounded by their general knowledge of literature, history, science and current events. My father was a published poet and my mother's long letters were almost like poetry. Their overall writing skills (use of words, grammar, everything) was probably equivalent to top HS graduates today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by randomparent
I think it's great that your parents held on to that knowledge, but it can't be generalized to an entire generation. As a family historian, I have a stack of letters written by my g-grandmother's twelve siblings. I can't say their writing was particularly erudite, despite having an equivalent level of education.
Perhaps, you are right. Maybe it is more the basic knowledge and intelligence of my parents than something that was common to everyone of their generation.
My mother's great-grandfather was an excellent writer as well. The family saved all of the letters that he wrote to his family when he was in the Civil War and they were also extremely well written. I believe that he also had an 8th grade education and worked as a medic in the Civil War. When he returned home after the war he acted as the neighborhood doctor (prescribing medicine, fixing broken bones, etc.) until a real doctor came to the area.
Last edited by germaine2626; 08-04-2014 at 09:23 PM..
I think it's great that your parents held on to that knowledge, but it can't be generalized to an entire generation. As a family historian, I have a stack of letters written by my g-grandmother's twelve siblings. I can't say their writing was particularly erudite, despite having an equivalent level of education.
but my family's experience is more like Germaine's. So maybe the odds are more to that favor than you might think.
Perhaps, you are right. Maybe it is more the basic knowledge and intelligence of my parents than something that was common to everyone of their generation.
My mother's great-grandfather was an excellent writer as well. The family saved all of the letters that he wrote to his family when he was in the Civil War and they were also extremely well written. I believe that he also had an 8th grade education and worked as a medic in the Civil War. When he returned home after the war he acted as the neighborhood doctor (prescribing medicine, fixing broken bones, etc.) until a real doctor came to the area.
This anecdote also serves to show that even very talented young people often did not graduate from high school in generations past. Unless their parents were of a social class that sent their sons to school, most bright young people of lesser means were not fortunate enough to find benefactors to further their education. Rather, most people were autodidacts who read broadly and retained what they read.
My mother is one of the best-educated people I know, and she left school at 15 in post-WWII England to work in a factory. They had just raised the school-leaving age, as her two older brothers left when the age was 14. They became cabin boys on ocean liners. All of them were very knowledgeable about a broad variety of topics. Education does not require schooling for those who are motivated to learn.
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