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Kids are expected to know more earlier on in life than they did in my generation and my parents generation. My kindergartener has homework every night. I didn’t have any.
I also think kids today do more sitting around than my and my parents generation. We didnt have the internet sucking up our time and it seems like it was safer 50 years ago. So many rules for kids today. You hear news about kids getting killed and abducted and you don’t want to let them outside alone. That means you keep them inside. Electronics are inside so they end up accessing them. Do all these electronics make people dumber? I really don’t know but no think they provide constant entertainment and people and kids have trouble entertaining themselves without them when the time comes.
Pet peeve of mine. It SHOULDN'T be that electronics make anyone dumber. Like, we've got Google now, folks. We've got video tutorials on how to do anything. We have maps at our fingertips to tell us how to go anywhere. We've got answers to any question that might pop into our brains, at the click of a mouse. Recipes, the ability to do any conversion or math equation or translate any language into any other language. MIT has put all of their course content out there for literally FREE to anybody who wants it. I taught myself how to build computers. My son has taught himself stop motion animation, Java coding, how to play guitar, and some Russian and Korean, just because he felt like it.
But he still texted me to ask how long he should boil an egg.
I remember a time before the great ubiquitous internet and everybody having all the answers right there. I remember just not knowing stuff and not knowing how to find out. Having access to this feels so powerful, you know? We should be godlike in our intelligence.
But I guess in a way, we kind of outsource the work to computers that our brains used to do. I remember having lots of phone numbers memorized. Now I don't. My cell phone remembers them all for me. Stuff like that. And of course there's a lot of misinformation out there, and some people will suck that up and cling to belief of it.
My parents both have master's degrees and I only have a bachelor's. In all likelihood, I will never go back to school --- my field only really cares about your experience and skills, not your credentials.
In terms of raw intelligence, we're all probably about the same. But I think I have a greater curiosity about the world and am more interested in listening to strange, unintuitive theories, whereas they're better at making their knowledge lucrative and have better entrepreneurial skills.
My wife and I are older with four kids. Our youngest son is 16. He is preparing to take the SAT test. He just took a practice test and scored 1480 which is excellent. (98th percentile) He is not sure yet if he is even going to college but I wanted him to take it to have it under his belt in case he does. He is also a great kid, helps me a lot around here (12 acres to maintain) and never gets into trouble. A lot of the credit goes to my wife who homeschools him. He is leagues ahead of me from when I was 16 which was 47 years ago. I was wasting a lot of time when I was his age.
Do you feel that you are/were smarter than your parents, and are your kids smarter than you?
Yes, I feel smarter than my mom especially when it comes to computers and electronics. However, my mom is smarter than me in some cases. It surprises me sometimes because she didn't finish high school. Maybe, its because of her age and experiences in life
People tell me that I'm smart... I'm the only one in my work organization that doesn't have an advanced degree but I've climbed the ranks just as well. I am the go to person in my circle of friends/family to help solve problems... all sort of problems.. whether financially, turn a wrench, swing a hammer.. whatever.
But I don't think I'm that smart.. just driven.. disciplined.. resourceful.. street smart.
Heck... I am C-B student. Low B in college.. I hated college. Studied my rear end off only to be disappointed with less than stellar grades. Can't remember anything... I still can't do basic math in my head. I didn't even want to go to college although I am glad my father convinced me to try and ended up refusing to give up. Considered a trade and/or enlistment prior.
I'd say both my mother (Nurse) and my father (Electrical engineer that can fix anything) are smarter than I. As for my children, I am absolutely convinced my elder son (age 13) is smarter than me. It drives me nuts that he doesn't have to study that much and still gets high A's... Things come so easy to him... Not sure about my younger twins (boys age 7)... little worried about one of them as he seems to be struggling in school. He may have some learning disabilities but it is too early to say.. but the school has placed him in a good environment to get the extra help he needs.
I am more educated than both of my parents, however my dad is smarter than me with his IQ, life skills, and just always had a very good grasp of knowing what is going on without being explained much. It was important to him that he has the ability to stay current, be on top of changing technology, culture and psych. Two factors that helped him immesenly is he travels the world, has a wife that is 20 plus years younger so SHE keeps him on his toes, as she is educated with a masters in advanced sciences.
My mother is well read, great with languages and engaging with people. But she was never willing to learn or do anything that takes her out of her comfort zone, so she can come across as very limited to certain populations. She also struggles with the fast paced natured of learning, being current, and other important life skills.
You say it was safer when we and our parents were growing. I do not think it was so. We have the Internet know and we know all the true and fake news from that. Those times we did not have the access to all the news, that is why it seems there was not such bad news. As for our kids. I agree with the author. My kindergartener is so smart for his age. He also has some homework but he does it in daycare. I remember in my daycare we ate, slept, and played. My son goes to the child early education Brooklyn littlescholarsnyc.com and that have a schedule of different activities and classes. They even learn languages. Time is changing, people become smarter.
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