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I can give plenty of anecdotes that contradict the statements that this man makes based on my own observations of my middle school aged kids and their friends. I see quite the opposite. When I was in kindergarten, we played, we learned our colors, learned our alphabet and pretty much just learned how to share and be away from home. When my kids hit kindergarten, the teacher was teaching reading skills. They have started everything earlier than we did, from handwriting to multiplication tables. There are some basic things that they didn't have to do, like memorize state capitals, but then I thought to myself "It's so easy for them to look that up, why memorize it?" And, they definitely learned how to use a ruler, compass and protractor. The honors math classes are starting earlier also. It used to be that the highest math track started algebra in 8th grade, now they are starting in 7th grade. With technology, the amount of information to be learned has increased exponentially. Do you know how much more they know about DNA and Genetics than in 1981 when I had Biology II?
This generation has access to so much more information than we did. We would open an encyclopedia to get information for an essay paper. They surf the web and find more in depth information than any encyclopedia would give them.
I'm not worried at all. I observe some of these kids and find them to be engaging and ambitious with a good social conscience as well. I trust them with my future.
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