Article

2009-02-02 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Is technology producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis?

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Posted by 2009-02-02 16:05|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 No argument, my grandson (Highly intelligent) has NO concept of (Say) visualizing, I had to show him how to wind a coil of wire to make a magnet, stack plates and create a transformer, THEN he got it.

Posted by Rednek Jim">Rednek Jim 2009-02-02 16:26|| 2009-02-02 16:26|| Front Page Top

#2 No, but rubbish teaching is.

Posted by Bright Pebbles the flatulent 2009-02-02 17:17|| 2009-02-02 17:17|| Front Page Top

#3 Visual intelligence has been rising globally for 50 years, Greenfield said.
So the problem is?

Posted by Darrell 2009-02-02 17:26|| 2009-02-02 17:26|| Front Page Top

#4 I dunno.

Lemmie google it.

Posted by DarthVader 2009-02-02 17:47|| 2009-02-02 17:47|| Front Page Top

#5 Also see: The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-02-02 18:57|| 2009-02-02 18:57|| Front Page Top

#6 This is purely annecdotal, but my experience is that current college age students have far less skill and endurance in following a line of reasoning through multiple steps, far less comfort with rigorous abstractions common in, say, mathematics and far more superficial multitasking than I did/do.

But it is not universal - the young Chinese students taking classes next to me do just fine. And that may well be tied in part to a culture that is stressing discipline in extended study, classical music and other practices that build those skills.

Posted by lotp 2009-02-02 19:10|| 2009-02-02 19:10|| Front Page Top

#7 Adults have felt this way since the time of Plato. Somehow we've got the stupidest kids who keep winning wars against the smartest.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2009-02-02 19:18|| 2009-02-02 19:18|| Front Page Top

#8 Using tech that was developed a while ago, mostly by older generations.

We've been eating our intellectual seed corn for over 20 years now and some of those bins are looking pretty damned empty now. And we are not turning out the skills we need, especially in advanced areas.

Certain areas of high tech are my expertise. I *know* what skills our domestic kids have - and how they compare with those of some other countries. I'm not alone in being more than concerned about it, either.

Posted by lotp 2009-02-02 19:58|| 2009-02-02 19:58|| Front Page Top

#9 [Anonymous has been pooplisted.]

Posted by Anonymous 2009-02-02 20:11|| 2009-02-02 20:11|| Front Page Top

#10 Its not technology causing the decline. Its the crap culture and by extension, crap schools. The some of both cannot exceed 100 percent. IOW, as liberalism rises in a society, critical thinking decreases. Its axiomatic.

Posted by Mike N. 2009-02-02 20:16|| 2009-02-02 20:16|| Front Page Top

#11 Case in point. Sum.

Posted by Mike N. 2009-02-02 20:17|| 2009-02-02 20:17|| Front Page Top

#12 Both the legal and financial rewards system steer bright people away from technical fields. Why study grueling subjects when you can party and make millions in law or wall street.

There are more lawyers than scientists and engineers combined. What do these million+ lawyers add to the nation's productivity or wealth? Why shoot for $100-150K/year when you can make $million+/year at an investment bank?

Posted by ed 2009-02-02 20:51|| 2009-02-02 20:51|| Front Page Top

#13 There are more lawyers than scientists and engineers combined.

Let me qualify that with R&D scientists and engineers combined. I was looking at electrical engineering employment per the IEEE and noticed that from 2000-2005 a quarter of the electrical engineers left the field. That's even with the flood of foreigners educated at US universities and then seeking employment in the US.

Posted by ed 2009-02-02 21:27|| 2009-02-02 21:27|| Front Page Top

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