"Gen Z is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents.
"...our kids are less cognitively capable than we were at their age. Since we've been standardizing and measuring cognitive development since the late 1800s, every generation has outperformed their parents, and that's exactly what we want. We want sharper kids."
"Across 80 countries, if you look at the data, once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly. To the point where kids who use computers about five hours per day in school for learning purposes will score over two-thirds of a standard deviation less than kids who rarely or never touch tech at school," Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath reveals. Source
Two-thirds of a standard deviation in IQ is 10 points. That is the IQ difference between the (historical) United States and Tanzania or Uganda or between Japan and Romania.
Emotion trumps thought
A subject that is very briefly touched upon in the linked article is that the Internet and "algorithms" reward emotional engagement to the extent that it is commonly thought that "feelings", if felt intensely enough, are adequate replacements for math, technical knowledge and...well...intelligence.
"I feel like that wall is thick enough."
"I feel like the concrete has had long enough to cure."
"My steet-smarts tells me that phosphate is used in such small amounts for water-treatment that it really isn't needed."
I feel sorry for Gen Z. They have been told that they are the very brightest stars to ever have shone in the firmament and that they are the unstoppable vanguard of the future. They believed what their teachers and coaches and academic advisors told them. They really didn't want to hear "old people" telling them "If it sounds too good to be true, somebody is lying to you."
Its like Idiocracy and Wall-e had a baby, minus the fiction.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is AI will think for them, and eventually do for them, so they will be ok when we’re all gone.
I used to read quotes like "It is a blessing that nobody lives forever" and "Every old person dies in a foreign land" and not understand.
DeleteAlas, things now change so quickly that you can die at the age of 35 and die in a foreign land.
I get it now.
I didn’t understand those either. I wish I still didn’t.
DeleteAs Col. Cooper quoted,
ReplyDelete"The past is another country. They do things differently there.".
Was the data broken out by race? The racial makeup of under-20s isn't what it was when we were under 20, and race matters, on average. Half that 10 point drop in the US is likely due to immigrants.
ReplyDeleteAlso not surprised computers make kids dumber.
About 11% of US students are English as Second Language students. For 11% of the population to tank the average IQ by 10%, every one of them would have to score zero in both verbal, math and logic portions of standardized tests.
DeleteTo account for half of the 10% drop, every one of them would have to score IQs of 50 (ish)
Joe you're a numbers guy and that's why you're a daily read.
DeleteHow do you factor in a stable home life and family's that care about learning and maybe even have a stable economic basis as shown by decent diet and a home.
One of our food security projects here in NH is local food banks making sure that we send low income kids home with a packed lunch for the weekend and summer support.
Hard to care about math and Shakespeare when you're hungry and school is your poor as it is a real meal.
Our church got involved in ESL back in the 90's when we found out how teachers in our church were spending their own money to buy school supplies for their kids. That evolved into the Backpacks 4 kids' movement.
What accounting of the moneys spent yearly for "education" that creates what seems crippled feelings not thinking people?
Ben Franklin was quoted as defending public education "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance".
Stupid sheeple (MY Feeeelllings folks) make better slaves for technocracy. Even Orville's 1984 pointed out the dumbing down and confusing of language prevents revolt as "liberty and rights" become unclear. He called it "Newspeak".
A great many of the ESL kids will score 60ish, so could well account for several points of the 10.
DeleteAnonymous 1:34 care to share a link for your information provided?
DeleteIQ of 50 SNIP Profound intellectual disability
An IQ of 50 typically indicates profound intellectual disability. Individuals with this score may have significant challenges in daily functioning and require substantial support in various aspects of life. This score is well below the average IQ of 100, which is considered the baseline for typical cognitive functioning.
Odd how I've never seen profound disability in my teacher friend's classroom in the past decade or so.
Maybe we get the "Smart" ones.
While I'm not surprised at the conclusion, it would sure be nice to have data and some discussion of other reasons for the change instead of a puff piece that appears to be making an assumption.
ReplyDeleteA scholarly piece this article isn't.
Jonathan
Its funny, I have 3 kids, 19-22... they don't know the same things I did, but they do know other things I never did. I think a part of the 'skew' may be generational in the sense, we're still using the old measuring stick?
ReplyDeletePart of my job is to review applications submitted for a prestigious award. The applicants are mostly seniors in high school, and part of the requirement is a service project. Applicants have to add a column of numbers, usually 5-6 numbers, to compute the total hours for their service project. More than half of applicants fail to add the numbers correctly. I gently point out that every single one of them has a smart phone, and that it includes a calculator. Some "forgot" that, others stare blankly. You can lead a horse to water...
ReplyDeleteI agree that illegal immigrant children may slightly affect the numbers. My wife taught 8th grade English (now retired after 37 years) and she often had to contend with her kids who couldn't write without a lot of work on her part. It is as if electronic phones and games have taken over the young brain and now wants more entertainment than learning. Some of her children were ESL (English as Second Language) but many of them were intelligent, they had a slight disadvantage of learning a new language immediately. Many of them overcame that - remarkable how fast that can be picked up.
ReplyDeleteGeography is a lost art. As are American History and Literature. We were taught this in junior high and lower high school grades. Not any more. :^(
"They have been told that they are the very brightest stars to ever have shone in the firmament and that they are the unstoppable vanguard of the future."
ReplyDeleteThey >are< the unstoppable vanguard of the future - their future; us old'uns will be gone by then (perhaps by Gen Z's incompetence as their future takes over).
"us old'uns" had already replaced the generation that knew the difference between subjective and objective case in nouns and pronouns. I learned that in 1950.
DeleteHere in the west U.P. of Michigan there are a lot of people of mostly Finnish descent that are members of a very conservative church. They do not allow children to have iPhones, or computers and there are very few TVs in their homes. Those kids are very smart, dominate girls and boys high school sports, and are very hard workers and most get summer jobs. And they are generally much more polite and happy and pleasant to be around that most other kids. And I am not part of that group so I'm not personally biased. . ---ken
ReplyDeleteFamily has a LOT to do with children's education and life skills. I bet those kids can make change and run a checkbook (pay Credit cards on time) and so on.
DeleteI feel is the polar opposite of I know.
ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that screen time is bad for the brain.
ReplyDeleteRoger that.
Delete