Do the new generations make you scared for the future?

I think the movie Idiocracy had this exactly right. We will grow dumber with each generation, because the smart people control their breeding, while the morons are dropping kids like they were hot potatoes.

A good friend of mine said the same thing as @filmfann. I don’t see any way around it. A bank thief in Canada wrote his demand on the back of one of his own checks- s’pose he has kids?

I don’t really care, I’ll be dead, heheheh. It is one of the advantages of old age.

Einstein supposedly once said or wrote ”[p]roblems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” There is a lot of wisdom to this statement. I look around me and I see evidence that the level of thinking is backsliding, which bodes very badly for the solution of problems. I mean, seriously, should basic english be an issue at the college level in Canada?

I’ve met idiots of every age. The only difference now is the internet. They’ll do fine- and I hope they do better than we have.

Yes, but not for the idiocy factor. Self sufficiency and privacy are no longer respected. Anyone who just wants to be left alone is now viewed as a potential terrorist. Hopefully I’ll be dead before the nosys and meddlers get any more intrusive.

Uh huh.

Playing devil’s advocate here, I honestly believe that the Idiocracy theory is bullshit. Some of the dumbest people I know grew up in rich, “intellectual” homes, whereas some of the smartest, well, did not. In a society where children are not brought up just by parents, but teachers, television, friends with their families, and countless other influences, putting the blame solely on genetics for something that could otherwise be considered a rather subjective opinion is a horrifyingly simplistic finger pointing.

There could be a lot of factors that attribute to an area’s “collective ignorance”. Low income areas may not have a well maintained library or other education centers. Schools in isolated areas with slow or no internet connections may need to rely on other less up-to-date methods of research or communication. The list goes on, the basics being that although someone’s IQ can be influence by genetics, a person’s upbringing and exposure to information is going to be a far greater influence on whether or not they’re “smart”. Just because someone is a slow learner doesn’t mean he’s damned to be dumb for life.

That being said, I agree fully with @stranger_in_a_strange_land. I’m more worried about what kind of society we’re shaping for our kids, and what they’ll shape that into. I’m going to try and avoid any political commentary here, but I see a lot of “Rich get richer, poor get poorer” in a lot of things, especially authority.

Sorry about the rant, I hate the Idiocracy movie being pointed to as the reason for society’s downfall almost as much as quoting Fight Club with no sense of shame or irony.

My students are in their twenties. Kids at my day job are in their teens. My daughter and her school friends are in first grade.

I see a lot of intelligent people in all groups with common sense and good instincts.

There will always be idiots among them.

Well, what other generation should I fear? The previous generations already did all their damage; it’s what were living now.

The educational system in the Untied States makes me scared for the future, not the people.

Forty years ago we looked into the future and saw flying cars. Today, I look into the future and see shit flying!

Scared? Why should I worry about drug addicts and rappers running America?