Our Children Are Getting Dumber
When I was a child, amidst the craze for consoles and video games, our grandparents used to tell us we’d end up becoming idiots. In my case, that was highly likely, since I was born an idiot and have only perfected the technique of my stupidity over time; through arcade games, my brain discovered what I’ve dubbed “circular stupidity,” that is, a loop for fools. But I’m not here to talk about my own foolishness, but rather the plague of dimwits sweeping across the West, according to the latest PISA report.
The United States and Europe continue to see declining performance, particularly in math and reading. Some experts blamed the pandemic for the educational gap affecting new generations; six years later, there is no trace of the pandemic left (except in mental health clinics), and Western children are getting dumber by the day. On the other side of the scale, all those children from the East (Singapore, China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan) keep improving their results, especially in math, though I am not suggesting for a moment that we should slit our own children’s eyes.
The current PISA disaster no longer distinguishes between the privileged and the disadvantaged; everyone is becoming equally thick.
For decades, the Left has harped on about academic inequality, claiming that disadvantaged children get worse results because they have fewer resources, rather than encouraging them to study hard and exercise their right to social and economic mobility. Now we see the consequences of trying to close that gap: the current PISA disaster no longer distinguishes between the privileged and the disadvantaged; everyone is becoming equally thick. The Left, remember, always levels down. (RELATED: Schools Should Teach, Not Screen Every Child for Mental Illness)
I confess that the decline in mathematical and scientific proficiency worries me little. Beyond basic rudiments and general concepts, math works just as well with the help of any electronic device. The same cannot be said for reading. The crisis reflected in the PISA report is profound: children no longer understand what they read, and what’s more, they don’t read at all. And obviously, the two are connected. (RELATED: Ignorance Is Not Bliss: The Dumbing Down of America)
However, amid the ethical debate surrounding AI, what we need is greater analytical capacity and a stronger ability to think critically, which are in fact two of the major benefits of deep reading. Anyone who tells you that reading keeps you from being stupid is lying. I know, and so do you, plenty of well-read idiots who are often far more pernicious than the fools who have never cracked open a thick book. The benefits of reading also depend on the kind of material you read. That said, reading undeniably engages the brain in a way that differs vastly from any other form of acquiring knowledge; in other words, it helps you learn to analyze deeply and to test your own comprehension of what you are reading. So, simply by reading this article, you’ll be a little smarter by the time you finish. You’re welcome.
PISA reflects an educational problem that, when it becomes a long-term trend, as it has now, effectively turns into an economic, technological, and geopolitical problem. The West’s educational decline, contrasted with the rise of Eastern powers, ought to prompt our leaders to conduct a serious and urgent analysis of the situation. I imagine, however, that most of them are too busy ensuring teachers use the correct pronouns when addressing children with fluid sexual identities.
It is very easy to say that children are becoming dim-witted because of AI and screens. But, as I say, grandmothers in the 1980s used to say the same thing, and it was only half true. You don’t even need a PISA report; kids today insist they read a great deal because they read thousands of instant messages, tweets, and short social media posts. Yet the kind of reading that yields real benefits is not found in an aphorism, but in a thesis or a long-form narrative. Perhaps the problem is more cultural than purely practical. I don’t think we can significantly cut down our children’s screen time, but maybe we can convince them that if they don’t balance those hours with hours of reading, they’ll end up becoming morons. After all, this generation of children was the first to understand that if they don’t offset hours of junk food with hours at the gym, they’ll end up fat (the option of simply eating less junk food never even crosses their minds).
The outlawing of meritocracy deserves special mention, a trend imposed by the postmodern Left in schools and universities, aided by the Right’s inability to dismantle it for fear of losing the student vote. I witnessed this firsthand, particularly under center-right governments across Europe.
To outlaw meritocracy is to condemn children to stupidity. And imposing it as an electoral argument, as the progressives did, is something rather similar to child prostitution. These should have been the two arguments the moderate Right hurled at the opponents of meritocracy, but they didn’t, because they are always scared stiff, making foolish electoral calculations.
And finally, a huge hug to everyone who pushed for the technologization of classrooms, those who did away with paper books, those who innovated with pedagogical techniques that were less traumatic and demanding, and more inclusive, to all the parents who pressured schools to make things more pleasant for their overprotected children, and to all the idiots who have succeeded in turning the West into a factory of incompetent fools. Perhaps the grandchildren of the West’s most brilliant scientists will end up, in a generation or two, delivering takeout on scooters in Singapore and working as babysitters in Taiwan.
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