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Have kids gotten smarter?

post #1 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:07am
Thread Starter 
Or did we just relabel the slack jawed idiots "normal"?

My son is one of three or four kids in his class of about 30 considered "exceptional", and is in all sorts of specialized, individualized programs. In all my years of schooling, from elementary school through all of high school, I was the top student, and I was in the top 1% of my graduating class in college. I was never called "exceptional", nor did I know any "exceptional" kids during all that time. Were we just a stupider generation? Would it be too much to expect a cure for cancer, a solution to the crisis in the Middle East, and the invention of the holodeck, from my kids' generation?
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post #2 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LA Guy View Post
Or did we just relabel the slack jawed idiots "normal"?

My son is one of three or four kids in his class of about 30 considered "exceptional", and is in all sorts of specialized, individualized programs. In all my years of schooling, from elementary school through all of high school, I was the top student, and I was in the top 1% of my graduating class in college. I was never called "exceptional", nor did I know any "exceptional" kids during all that time. Were we just a stupider generation? Would it be too much to expect a cure for cancer, a solution to the crisis in the Middle East, and the invention of the holodeck, from my kids' generation?

I dunno, I was "gifted" but I'm a few yrs younger than you. Gifted had the merit of sounding so lame that you would never be inclined to repeat it and neither were your parents.

As for today's kids well we'd have to weed them off Ritalin to see if there's anything in there but I'd guess no better or worse, but definitely with a different focus. I doubt less than a very small % of boys under 10 ever read a whole book but they can gather info quickly and go through multiples sources at the same time. I used to sit down with a book and shut out the world, little brats chat while they google, facebook, listen to music and text.
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post #3 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:31am
I always hope that each generation is smarter than the last. Each generation must find ways to condense the cumulative lessons learned and teach that to the next generation as quickly as possible. That way the new generation can focus on generating new knowledge. Standing on the shoulders of giants. . .
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post #4 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:33am
I was "gifted" or some shit in elementry and middle school, even though my grades sucked. Do you know what it does for you? You do extra work, that's it.
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post #5 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:34am
Kids of the old days were not coddled like they are now. Now every kid gets a trophy.
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post #6 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eason View Post
I was "gifted" or some shit in elementry and middle school, even though my grades sucked. Do you know what it does for you? You do extra work, that's it.

True. I just remember I needed to do all kinds of extra work a year early so that I would be able to take things like calculus and physics during my senior year of high school.
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post #7 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:37am
I remember my 8th grade teacher gave me and another kid an "assignment" of teaching class for a day on some random subject. Very clever, Mrs. Wilson, very clever indeed.
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post #8 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eason View Post
I remember my 8th grade teacher gave me and another kid an "assignment" of teaching class for a day on some random subject. Very clever, Mrs. Wilson, very clever indeed.

lol
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post #9 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:39am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milhouse View Post
True. I just remember I needed to do all kinds of extra work a year early so that I would be able to take things like calculus and physics during my senior year of high school.

We all took Calculus and Physics in High School, and none of us did any "extra" work. We just did the work that was expected of everyone.
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post #10 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:41am
Thread Starter 
Meh. I'm probably just getting old and cantankerous.
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post #11 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:46am
from grade 1-6 I was in accelerated english (they called it spelling). We used to use books from a grade-level above our own. I will not tell you guys what they named it, because it's extra homo.
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post #12 of 130
12/1/09 at 3:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LA Guy View Post
We all took Calculus and Physics in High School, and none of us did any "extra" work. We just did the work that was expected of everyone.

I'm really working to remember here. . .

I think 3 years of high school mathematics were required for a diploma. Algebra, geometry, and algebra 2.

Trig and calculus were offered. But to fit in 5 years of mathematics in 4 years meant doing extra work before high school to "skip a grade" and do the entire freshman year of coursework during 8th grade.

Similarly, I think 2 science courses were required for a diploma. I can't remember what they were. I took two biology courses, physics, and chemistry. Physics 2 got canceled my senior year because we didn't have enough people sign up for it. Again, without doing extra work in 7th and 8th grade, it would not have been possible to fit in 5 science courses.

I think maybe 20 people took calculus each year. Many failed.
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post #13 of 130
12/1/09 at 4:04am
In elementary school I was 'gifted'.

We spent like an hour of week in our own little gifted room. There was a computer in there

The only other thing I remember about it was doing these cool matrix puzzles.

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post #14 of 130
12/1/09 at 4:06am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Milhouse View Post
I'm really working to remember here. . .

I think 3 years of high school mathematics were required for a diploma. Algebra, geometry, and algebra 2.

Trig and calculus were offered. But to fit in 5 years of mathematics in 4 years meant doing extra work before high school to "skip a grade" and do the entire freshman year of coursework during 8th grade.

Similarly, I think 2 science courses were required for a diploma. I can't remember what they were. I took two biology courses, physics, and chemistry. Physics 2 got canceled my senior year because we didn't have enough people sign up for it. Again, without doing extra work in 7th and 8th grade, it would not have been possible to fit in 5 science courses.

I think maybe 20 people took calculus each year. Many failed.

iirc, Senior Calculus, Algebra, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics were all needed to get into Engineering or Science, so (at my school, at least), people took those classes in droves. But things may be different now (I graduated from high school in 1993.) Of course, I'm also surprised by how many students manage to fail freshmen math.
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post #15 of 130
12/1/09 at 4:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LA Guy View Post
Of course, I'm also surprised by how many students manage to fail freshmen math.
But at least they know how to play with a fancy TI graphing calculator.
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