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Originally Posted by Bagor
You deviate from what I would consider clever. Again speed or efficiancy does not equate to cleverness. The individual is not responsible for the efficiancy, the machine/software (or the individuals that designed it) are. Comprehension equates to cleverness IMO. Just because someone like Phanuthier (an individual) can help to provide a tool that makes a task quicker does not make the end user himself cleverer. They exercised significantly less brainpower to obtain the same result.
And what make you think that people that plotted graphs on pen and paper stopped short of the interpretation process?
Ask a 14 year old nowadays some quickfire mental arithmetic questions without a calculator. Ask them can they remember the phone numbers of 10 acquaintances without their cell phone.
A monkey these days can plot a graph. It's takes a certain degree of knowledge to understand the fundamentals behind the workings of the graph.
Technology IMO no doubt has huge benefits. It's also responsible IMO for a lot of dumbing down of society.
And re. entitlement. Phanuthier (and I'm not directing this to you personally), we've already had the conversation regarding entitlement to marks in university. Some students feel that simply because they've paid a fee that they're entitled to pass a degree or get good grades regardless of ability or work put in.
Remember the student story: "I don't understand why I didn't get an A because I sat in the front row for all the lectures" story I told a while back?
Was honour students poster presentations last week. More of the same.  |
Resp point 1 : Going back to my post just above, I would have to say that this would be common around all generations. The past generation (yours?) have engineers/architectures that have never been out on the construction building a bridge, but they can design it. Could you make the same assertion then? How about those using a slide rule rather then doing numbers by hand, does it make them understand or better then a calculator? Every generation see's new technology that assist people in doing their job, the key (like I said before) is be able to both understand what you are doing (i.e. not take the assisting tools for granted) as well as understand (that point might not be directed to me, but I am still responding to it.
Resp point 2 (memory, arithmetic) : first off, memory. Despite lazyness of (any) child/young adult, I actually think the memory of this generation and ability to learn is better then any other generation, and this trend should continue. Computer games, Xboxs and PS3's and new technology and tools (i.e. all the crap available on a iPhone) do force young people to learn, remember and process large amounts of information in short periods of time. I think back to the post Dion made a page ago about his nephew, I think if you challenged a young person, you would be surprised by what their mind can do. I have also read that playing these widget games also helps improve their dexterity and the surgeons now may be better then ever because of computer games. (I am not a gamer myself, haven't touched a computer game in 10 years)
As for arithmetic... it depends. I know what you are getting at there, but I have a few stories...
1. Back in grade 9 (about 12 years ago) my math teacher absolutely HATED me and failed me on a geometry test, even though I got all the answers right. It was simple "find the area of a triangle" and I would just write out the answer, without needed a calculator or write out medial steps; she said I was full of BS. I could do arithmetic faster in my head then she could in her calclator. She refused to do it and said if I didn't buy a calculator, I may not make it into math 10 (was it a threat? dunno). She did EVERYTHING on her calculator... 5x9, 12x11, 3x7...
2. Grade 11 physics... circuits, 2 resistors in series, each 1kohm, what is the total resistance... teacher pulls out her calculator, "1+1=..." - me and my friend burst out laughing (he fell out of chair laughing) and we got kicked out of class.
3. Back at UofA, me and a few of my friends had a tradition to go to a bar every thurs night, and me and one of those friends usually made a challenge who could predict the total on the bill (usually there would be 20 items or more on it, and we would doing it in our heads) - I was usually faster because I rounded and compensated, he was usually more accurate. On the drive between Edmonton and Calgary, a few times I would get bored and I would try to see how many license plates I could remember, both remembering them visually as a set, trying to group to try and remember them, or as 6 random numbers/letters.
4. Bit of a dorky thing to say, but back in high school when I did math competition - no calculators allowed.
Resp point 3 (the student entitlement) : I do think thats rediculous, but would that same student have asked something stupid like that in the previous generation? I think these types of attitudes are not generation specific; my dad has told me about a few slackers who would try something like that when he was at UofA. Despite MJM (MJK?) experience with grads from Alberta universities, I don't think you'd see this kind of stuff from the students I went to school with.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
What happens when the most entitled generation to date hits a recession?
Probably the same thing that happened during the last recession when essentially the same thing happened, and what will happen when the next one comes. Honestly is anyone on this site hoping their kids have a tougher life than they had? I had things pretty good growing up and it would be a big challenge to give my kids an easier life. But if I do have kids, I'm going to try and give them more than I had, while still trying to instill values in them. So yeah, my kids will likely feel more entitled than I was. Just like I had a much higher sense of entitlement than my parents did when they dealt with the first tough recession of their working lives.
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I am wondering that myself