Do you think that our society is getting dumber? Compared to 20 years ago? Any reasons?
by 
Silverxxx
ANSWERS: 6
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I wouldn't say dumber exactly, but there is a growing trend towards willful ignorance. We are PROUD to be uneducated, to be able to ignore facts at will just because we don't like them.
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Certainly not dumber. We've shown considerable progress in terms of civil tolerance, technology, and other such innovations. Maybe certain individuals are very dumb, but as a whole no.
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Society is not dumber but,it lacks interest.People don't want go get out of their comfort zone and explore things.
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I read an interesting article about increasing IQ in the Observer: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2008/may/11/art1 According to James Flynn, IQ is increasing at a rate of 3 points per decade in both the developing and the developed world. It makes interesting reading
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I think there are a number of factors that causing people to appear dumber: 1. So-called educational experts fooling around with teaching methods, at the expense of children. 2. The increased pace of life and/or necessity for both parents to work, leading to less time spent with their children. 3. The prevalence of more visual media which seems to discourage many from every picking up books, which to me are still a major source of new knowledge. 4. The media bear some responsiblity too - they wield huge power and influence in determining what they believe is stuff we should know, and yet an awful lot of this is complete BS (e.g. reality TV shows, newspaper space being given over to the latest exploits of so-called celebrities, many of whom are famous only for being famous).
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that decreadse in "tests concerned with volume and heaviness, showed a marked reversal in geometric reasoning" IQ is more than geometric reasoning. Reading through your other comments, I think the issue is becoming more a case of what we value as knowledge - you said that you values knowledgem but what exactly was the knowledge you value as compared with today's teenagers? To me the changes in the education system (and I can only speak of UK) have involved a shift from memorising facts to interpreting facts. Instead of learning the dates of all major battles, for example, students understand how to interpret sources which describe the battles, and draw conclusions for themselves as to how the battle was conducted. The same in English - instead of learning vast chunks of Shakespeare , they interpret their findings, in ways that I was not aware of at their age. Interestingly, I took a national based exam for 16 year olds in UK in 1979, and then took it again in 2002, and my results, even taking into consideration the change in syllabus, my own maturity etc, was the same.
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