TED Conversations

Shawn James Jr.

intern, TED

TEDCRED 10+
Associate

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

Is the generation in education getting less intelligent than the ones before them or smarter?

I often hear people say that the generation after them are not as smart as they were growing up. By people I mean the adults like my parents and grandparents. What is your input on the issues with education? Do you believe the education system is falling apart?

+7
Share:

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.

  • thumb

    Thomas Hotz

    • 0
    Jul 6 2011: This is a very hard question for me to answer. There's a difference between intelligence and being smart. Intelligence is your wealth of knowledge. Smart corresponds how hard-working you are or how efficient you are with your time. I think it fair to say that generations before us worked harder, but nowadays there's such an abundance of knowledge that anyone with a real interest in something is going to absorb it. With every new generation comes an iteration of intelligence, or in other words, knowledge is passed on generation after generation in some form. But I don't know, I almost believe that every single person is the most intelligent person in their own life. Put a man in another man's shoes and life becomes stressful. This is very subjective question to answer.

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.