Are We Part of the "Dumbest Generation?"

This morning, an article posted on School Library Journal.com caught my eye. The author, school library guru (and one of my professional heroines) Joyce Valenza , talks about a book reviewed in today’s New York Times. Like the Valenza, I have not read or even seen the book, but the title has made me think. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30), by Mark Bauerlein, apparently discusses how today’s young people are “dumbed-down” and superficial, largely due to all the technology in which they are fluent. While conceding that "social networking enforces some negative behaviors," Valenza counters Bauerlein's ideas in what I think is a spot-on analysis of technology and youth culture. I think anyone who works with youth (educators or otherwise) will appreciate what she has to say. Read her article at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/890026489.html?nid=3714

Here comes the part where I will get on my school librarian soapbox. If you’re not a librarian, teacher, or someone who’s interested in teaching methods, you could probably stop reading now! Bauerlein’s claims only illustrate the need for professional, certified school librarians who teach information literacy (to both students and teachers). The technological tools themselves are not the problem ; rather, it is the way in which they are used. Students who spend hours upon hours randomly searching the internet do so because they have not been taught how to utilize tools that will search and deliver the content for them. Teens who only use MySpace and Facebook for social purposes do so because they haven’t been shown its other uses. This is why it’s such a tragedy that many of California’s school librarians recently received pinkslips. Like it or not, technology is now part of our culture now, and students need guides to help them make sense of it and use it in productive ways.

The good news is that there ARE young people out there who are becoming increasingly fluent in information literacy and are using technology for purposes other than mindless chatting. Since I’m under age 30 (and apparently can’t be trusted, according to the book’s title), I guess I am a part of this group. For example, I did not stumble across Valenza’s article this morning by going to the School Library Journal page. It was delivered to me via my RSS feed that I access in IGoogle. I have several feeds, all delivering me the content I want, without having to visit every individual blog site. Another example is the hundreds of students who get their homework assignments sent to them on their MySpace, Facebook or RSS feeds from their teachers. Or students who post book reviews on YouTube and their blogs, and more. I’d be interested if Bauerlein investigated the thousands of teachers and students who are using social networking technology in wonderful, educational ways before he wrote his book. I guess I should read it!