AP Language Summer Assignment
Chapter 1:
1. In chapter one of The Dumbest Generation, Mike Bauerlein makes several statements about our generation and comes to a conclusion that helps set the groundwork for the entire book. His analysis of today’s youth states that the current generation is lacking when it comes to intellectual knowledge. He provides evidence that states that today’s under-thirty population in the United States does not have adequate knowledge, and their lack of knowledge with affect them greatly in their adulthood years.
2. As with most of this book, the main supports that Bauerlein uses for his conclusion come in the form of statistics. As chapter 1 progresses, he cites more and more surveys, polls, and studies …show more content…

population in the terms of age, race, gender, region, income, and education. When the SPPA numbers first arrived, and researchers compared them to results in 1982 and 1992, we found that most participation-for example, visiting a museum-had declined a few percentage points or so, not an insignificant change in art forms whose participation rates already hovered in the single digits. The existing percentage of people reading literature stood much higher, but the trend in reading literature, it turned out, was much worse than trends in the other arts. From 1982 to 2002, reading rates feel through the floor. In 18-24 year olds reading rates dropped from 59.8 in 1982 to 42.8 in 2002.
3. The main assumption that I came upon in this chapter is the idea that slightly falling book reading rates actually translates to less intelligence. I do not completely agree to the fact that fewer books are being read now (than were twenty years ago) is a direct cause of lower intelligence.
4. In chapter two, Bauerlein states with numerous sources, mainly surveys and his own opinion, that our generation has stopped reading books and it is a direct cause of our lack of intelligence. He uses some of his own opinion to try to prove his point. His opinion is not a great source though as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. He does seem like he is trying to not be biased and