OFF TOPIC - The dumbing of America

[eolafan]

This is no lie, it is the God's honest truth.

Last night while watching the horrible news from New Orleans I saw a piece on some college students trapped in their dorm rooms and their parents were trying to get them out of N.O.

Now please note that these kids were not in any iminent danger and not hurt at all, but they were sending text messages on their cell phones to their parents to try and get out of N.O., which is perfectly understandable under the circumstances.

Here is where it gets frustrating...the news reporter shows a picture of the screens of the parent's cell phone with a message from one of these kids telling of how the Miss. River had come pouring over the dikes in N.O., and the text message began with "Da riva did come over the wall".

Wow, and this kid actually made it through High School and into College with skills (or lack of) like that. This really frustrates me to no end. [banghead]

[Anonymous]

I think it's a form of language the kids use nowadays when text messaging, a different form of short hand. I was thinking the same thing when I would see my daughter instant messaging or text messaging, it's just an abbriveated(sp) way of sending the message quicker.

[SchemerBob]

Why can't they just CALL them instead of using text messaging? Wouldn't that be easier?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SchemerBob

Why can't they just CALL them instead of using text messaging? Wouldn't that be easier?

Now you may have a point there! I remember a news show about the younger generation using a more inpersonal method of communication, maybe that was what they meant? Hmm. I stand corrected on my assumptions of the "Dumbing of America"

[chad thomas]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SchemerBob

Why can't they just CALL them instead of using text messaging? Wouldn't that be easier?

And possibly cheaper. Where I work we have Nextels. From time to time everybody in our shop would get these text message ads on our phones. I didn't give it much thought. Then I saw the bill and we were getting charged more for those text messages then for outgoing phone calls !!!! Text messaging got canceled the next day.

[Anonymous]

LOL

Da riva pwns N3w 0r13@ns

[tree68]

Actually, if you think about it, text messaging might be the better mode here than real-time talking. Think about it. You have time to formulate your answer (not that that will improve the grammar or anything), and if Dad has to ask Mom a question before he texts back to Junior, he doesn't have to say - "hang on a minute while I ask your Mom." Depending on the calling plan they have, it might be cheaper, too. A lot of times you'll find outrageous daytime fees on "free nights and weekends" plans. With text messaging, you only pay for the messages you send/receive, not for the dead air in between.

[coborn35]

No, we jst u$e a dfrnt way s0 it fstr and cst les mny!

[CopCarSS]

QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan
Here is where it gets frustrating...the news reporter shows a picture of the screens of the parent's cell phone with a message from one of these kids telling of how the Miss. River had come pouring over the dikes in N.O., and the text message began with "Da riva did come over the wall".

Perhaps he was merely studying Twain-esque literature, which relies heavily on dialects associated with different locales, ethnic groups, upbringing, etc., and felt the need to express his disdain for the situation with a more colorful expression than was possible with his own dialect.

Of course, I may also have some ocean front property up for sale in Arizona, too. I decided to sell before it gets hit by a typhoon. Anybody interested? [:p]

[Big_Boy_4005]

How about no electricity to run phone systems?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005

How about no electricity to run phone systems?

If the cell will do text, I would imagine it could still do voice, unless text is handled in a different way as for bandwidth, I think I remember reading that the text can ride as a sub-carrier on the signal, and with all the damage and concern, I am sure voice lines were maxed out. Also in a situation like that, usually all 911, or public safety operations get a priority on communications. At least Nextel is setup that way.

[adrianspeeder]

Text messengers have a whole different language.

I refuse to send text, costs me 10cents a message with my plan, but I get sent a few from time to time, and half them I can't even read.

Adrianspeeder

[eolafan]

Folks, the message I saw last night on the news had nothing at all to do with a "special" text messaging language. I have a 23 year old son who uses this "cypher" language for his messages and I have never seen anything like what I saw last night. I believe these kids are ones who should never gotten into or out of High School with their lack of language skills, let alone College!

[AlcoRS11Nut]

I use language like that on texts cause it saves time. If I normally wrote like that I wouldn't have passed 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

It's all newspeak to me. Anybody read 1984 lately? Doubleplus good info.

[selector]

Is there a song with that line in it? Maybe it was a spoof on a song that they know? I can't believe that colege students would spell that poorly unless they were in a panic or were not really that hard done-by.

[Anonymous]

must've been the people there on athletic scholorships upset because basket weaving 101 was cancelled.

[Anonymous]

The Director of Biomedical Communications at Northwestern University Medical School surveys Americans about scientific knowledge. 20% of adult Americans believe the Sun revolves around the Earth. 90% don’t know what radiation is. Two thirds don’t know DNA is the key to heredity. He calls the lower half of high school graduates an embarrassment.

This country seems to have written off public education.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/science/30profile.html

[mloik]

QUOTE: Originally posted by garyaiki

This country seems to have written off public education.

Well, maybe some, but not me.

[Anonymous]

Working as a supervisor in a manufacturing facility, I can thoroughly relate to the "Dumbing of America" The kids we get in the 18 to 25 year old range simply astonish me. They have no math skills without a calculator, limited spelling and writing skills, CANNOT multitask, cannot work without direct supervision and have no motivation. Granted, there are exceptions to every rule, but we often go thru 40 to find 1 good employee. I has greatly improved my disciplinarian and firing skills. Or should I say "sharpened"?

[Anonymous]

Hurricanes are 1337 (Or Leet.. short for elite) and pwns.

Thus

1337 Katrina PWNs NO!!!

Sorry.. too much gaming and need for very fast concise short messages.

On the side, I use ASL (American Sign Language) and you wont believe what we do to complete sentances written in regular english. We butcher em.

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

The way college-age kids talk these days does not surprise me. And I will agree that there is a general dumbing down of people in our society. I graduated from high school in 1974 and there were kids in my graduating class who could not read beyond a 3rd grade level. Geography is no longer being taught in our schools to the extent that it was taught when I was in grade school and middle school. It saddens me that we have people in the south and out on the east coast who would not be able to tell you where Denver, Colorado is, or where the Black Hills of South Dakota can be found. I once had a police officer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana ask me if my home state, South Dakota was located somewhere in Africa!! :-(

[miniwyo]

Its just a slang that we use in this day and age, it is our text version of eubonics, and actually I have seen everyone on this forum use it at one time or another. a few examples are LOL, LMAO, ROFL, ect. I guess it is true as said before it probably stems from the fast pace of online gaming and the need to communicate fst with other players,

[Anonymous]

In defense of kids (my wife is a teacher...)
1) Back in the good old days (1973, when I graduated from HS) a child could come to first grade and be taught how to read. Nowadays, they teach reading and counting in pre school. Are kids dumber? No.

2) Same good old days... I learned how to type in 7th grade. (This bit of inspired genius on the part of my parents was a last shot at getting someone to be able to read what I wrote... because I flunked Palmer Penmanship for two years running!) My kid learned how to type at the tender age of eight on a computer.

3) Geography point: In 1980, whilst merrily blowing your tax dollars earning a geography degree, I spent a grim semester drawing maps. If you think it's easy, try freehanding a scaled map of the coast of Maine... tracing NOT allowed. In 1992, my eight year old called up the same map on the Net... and proceeded to use data manipulation to enhance the coast of Maine.

4) In 1974 I joined the US Army. This was right after Vietnam, and the Army was widely reported as taking anyone who could walk and breathe at the same time. (The walk and chew gum test was a career ender for a lot of volunteers.) In 1988 I commanded a company of recruiters in Arizona. The standard for enlistment was a High School Diploma and passing the physical. Those kids weren't dumb... and they were making probably their first adult decision in their lives.

I don't doubt for an instant that stupid people exist. (I collect a lot of them for a living.) And the argument that Americans, or people in general, are becoming stupider has been going on for years. In 1968, my father worried about my choosing Spanish as a foreign language... he wondered why Latin wasn't offered at the High School level.

And for really stupid people, all I have to do is turn on CNN, watch people on the Gulf Coast with water lapping up around their homes... saying dumb things like, "All I want is my electricity back."

Erik

[CopCarSS]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CANADIANPACIFIC2816
It saddens me that we have people in the south and out on the east coast who would not be able to tell you where Denver, Colorado is...

Argh!!! The pain! The agony! They don't know where Denver is?!?!?!? I could understand not knowing where Djibouti, Andorra or Kazakhstan is (well...maybe), but Denver? I'm assuming we're talking about American kids, right? Of course, I recently heard on the radio that 1 in 4 American kids thinks the Great Lakes are a feature on the face of the moon.

But still...Denver? What'd we do to deserve the pain of non-recognition?

Chris
Denver, CO

[mersenne6]

Well said Erik. I agree with you - it's all too easy to focus on the extremes and forget that that is exactly what they are. The far more interesting question is what is typical and my experience with typical mirrors your own. I've volunteered some of my time for free tutoring at my local schools (mathematics). While the occasional Joe and Josephine Tentpeg do show up, more often that not what I'm confronted with is a student who is confused, knows that he or she is confused, and has taken the initiative to try to do something about it.
The lament about the lack of quality of the current generation has a long history. I seem to recall it was Socrates who said "The current generation of youth is going to the dogs."

[chad thomas]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CopCarSS

QUOTE: Originally posted by CANADIANPACIFIC2816
It saddens me that we have people in the south and out on the east coast who would not be able to tell you where Denver, Colorado is...

Argh!!! The pain! The agony! They don't know where Denver is?!?!?!? I could understand not knowing where Djibouti, Andorra or Kazakhstan is (well...maybe), but Denver? I'm assuming we're talking about American kids, right? Of course, I recently heard on the radio that 1 in 4 American kids thinks the Great Lakes are a feature on the face of the moon.

But still...Denver? What'd we do to deserve the pain of non-recognition?

Chris
Denver, CO

Denver??? Never heard of the place. I thought Denver was the last name of a country singer.[:D][}:)]

Oh yea, now I remember. Denver is where the mountains stop and the flat states begin.

[Anonymous]

I think I can come up with an alternate theory regarding why they were using text rather than voice comms - in a crisis like that the phone network often becomes overloaded (it happened during the London bombings - the phone companies took the sensible precaution of reserving a chunk of bandwidth for essential users such as fire, police, ambulance, etc). Texting uses less bandwidth and can often get through where a phone call would fail (you can also often send texts despite there being too little signal strength to call someone).

I agree about the dumbing though - we see the same problem here. Anything remotely technical (or that you need some knowledge to understand) is seen as being too much like hard work and less important than whatever micromind "celebrity" was seen falling out of a club drunk at 2am. With this sort of attitude in the media, is it any wonder people seem ever more clueless?

[SALfan]

Denver? Spent a month there during a one-week training course. (No flames, guys, just gently pulling your leg). That's the problem, I do know where it is - wish I didn't. My organization has a training facility there (Aurora, actually) and for two or three years went so often I got sick of it.

[CSXrules4eva]

QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan

Folks, the message I saw last night on the news had nothing at all to do with a "special" text messaging language. I have a 23 year old son who uses this "cypher" language for his messages and I have never seen anything like what I saw last night. I believe these kids are ones who should never gotten into or out of High School with their lack of language skills, let alone College!

Well, I'm out of high school and in college now. I graduated high school last year with a 3.5 gpa. While I was in high school I was a member of Youth -in -Government, Administrative Asst, Middle States Committie, Interact Club, SADD,and FBLA. I was the Asst Captain on the ice hockey team. I received two awards and 200 bucks from my school district. I am also a member of the Springfield Twh School District Alumni Association. I am currently in my second year of college and I have a GPA of 3.9. I've been on the dean's list for four semesters in a row. AND, when I am over the computer or textin' peps I will use short cuts and slang stuffs.