Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30

Emory professor Mark Bauerlein argues in his book that Millenials are the dumbest generation ever.

“Don’t trust anyone under 30.” This is Mark Bauerlein’s advice in his book, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future. The book is a well researched, but ultimately incomplete, examination of how today’s young Americans—or the Millennials, born between 1978 and 1996—may make up the “dumbest” generation ever. Bauerlein, a professor at Emory University, notes that test scores have dropped significantly in recent years, college students are taking more remedial courses, and interest in reading and the arts that has taken a nosedive. He argues that a large drop in reading levels among today’s youth, coupled with their apathetic attitudes toward academics and a much greater interest in new technology, are to blame for this crisis. Unsurprisingly, Bauerlein predicts a bleak future for our country.

Overall, Bauerlein has the facts to back up his argument: Test scores and reading levels have dropped in recent years among students not at the top of their classes. But Bauerlein doesn’t adequately take into account many of the reasons why Millennials are “dumb.” He fails to acknowledge that many of the reasons for the country’s “dumbing down” are not the fault of Millennials. In fact, it can be traced to huge problems with public education, revealed in the debate over the No Child Left Behind Act; a shortage of qualified teachers; the growing inequality gap; massive cuts in school funding; and less emphasis placed on the arts, social studies, and civics and government in favor of improving test scores in math, science, and reading. Bauerlein either briefly mentions or outright ignores these problems, which have largely been perpetuated by members of Bauerlein’s generation.

But the biggest issue Bauerlein ignores is the rising costs of higher education. Bauerlein implies that today’s college students are “too dumb” to finish college—that they are so unprepared for the rigors of college study, or too lazy to keep up with their classes and homework, that it is near impossible for them to attain a four-year degree. While the reasons for dropout rates are varied and difficult to assess, he fails to consider the 35 percent jump in college tuition over the past five years. In 2003 alone, tuition jumped 24 percent at some state schools. Furthermore, federal aid has done little to keep up with skyrocketing tuition costs and the rise in the number of college students, thus less aid money is available.

Millennials know that a college education correlates highly with an increase in income, but due to the rising costs of higher education, more and more of them are being forced to take out private student loans. These loans can have more than twice the interest rate of federal loans, as well as disastrous penalties and collection fees for defaulted loans. It makes perfect sense then that today’s college students are the most in debt of any previous generation, accruing thousands of dollars worth of student loan and credit card debt before they even graduate. So maybe the reason why so many Millennials are struggling to finish college isn’t because they are too dumb, but because they are too poor and in debt.

According to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Aid, over the next ten years 4.4 million students from households with incomes below $50,000 will not attend a four-year college and 2 million will not attend college at all. Just think of the number of lawyers, teachers, doctors, scientists, diplomats, researchers, or even future Noble prizewinners our country will lose because college is becoming increasingly unaffordable for so many young Americans. Furthermore, recent studies show that many qualified high school students—nearly half of qualified students of color—don’t even choose to attend college. Many expect this is due to the cost of education.

Bauerlein also argues that Millennials are more interested in updating their MySpace page then in keeping updated on politics. But he never mentions how Millennials have used networking tools on the Internet to influence politics. In recent years, Millennials began using YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and even self-created websites to endorse certain candidates (like the Generation Dean movement created in 2003 by Michael Whitney), raise money, further an issue, or intensify get-out-the-vote efforts. This new movement has revolutionized political campaigning and American politics more than anything else in recent history. This is largely due to Millennials.

Bauerlein repeats a tired old argument that Millennials don’t really care about politics and civics. He says this despite the numerous studies proving youth engagement in politics today is greater than it was for previous generations, that youth voter turnout has increased in every election over the last eight years, and that an enormous number of youth activist organizations have popped up in recent years building grassroots movements for various social and political causes. When it comes to civic engagement, Bauerlein couldn’t be more wrong.

Take, for example, the 2008 presidential election that, according to some estimates, saw an increase in youth turnout at levels not seen in four decades. Furthermore, Barack Obama wouldn’t even have had a chance at the presidency if it weren’t for Millennials. It was Iowa’s Millennials who helped him canvass to victory in the first caucus where the number of young Democrats participating jumped 135 percent from 2004. Obama, who was a huge underdog going into the Iowa caucus, won this demographic by a margin of four to one, and that win gave him the momentum that carried him to the Democratic nomination, and eventually to the White House. Dumb, politically apathetic Millennials played a huge role in electing the nation’s first black president.

Finally, Bauerlein says we shouldn’t trust anyone under 30. More accurately, we shouldn’t trust anyone over 30. Today we see that inequality has reached levels competing with those seen just before the Great Depression and inequality around the world is even worse. Furthermore, global warming threatens the survival of our planet—scientists warn that in just 10 years some of the effects of global warming will be irreversible. Bauerlein’s generation has done little to address this problem until now. And let’s not forget about the worldwide economic crisis, an inflating national debt, millions of lost jobs, a broken healthcare system, a failing education system, a Social Security and Medicare crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the list could go on.

To be sure, some Millennials may have lower test scores and struggle to finish college, and some may be more interested in technology than in academics. But let’s face it: We aren’t as bad—or as dumb—as Bauerlein makes us out to be. In fact, we are quite the opposite of how Bauerlein portrays us. We volunteer in higher numbers and are much more tolerant than other generations. We also care deeply about important issues like the environment, healthcare, education, inequality, poverty, and genocide. And we are more politically engaged then other generations were in their youth.

In the last sentence of the book, Bauerlein writes that “if things do not change [Millennials] will be remembered as the fortunate ones who were unworthy of the privileges they inherited. They may even be recalled as the generation that lost that great American heritage, forever.” I guess Millennials are the “fortunate ones” who will inherit a trillion dollar deficit and a broken health care system. And Millennials will also inherit such “privileges” as a severe climate crisis and increasing inequality and poverty. It appears that instead of losing that “great American heritage,” Millenials will be the ones that will have to try to restore it.

Lauren Yingling is a freelance writer and proud Millennial. In 2005 she graduated from the University of Delaware. She can be reached at lymd22@yahoo.com.

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