In the U.S., are teenagers today as smart as their parents/grandparents were at that age?

I'm curious. Because of computers, students today have easy access to incredible amounts of information. Yet, I've read that, (until a recent improvement) they were comparitively under par on international test scores. Do any of you (including young people) have an opinion or information on why this is so?


Of course, my question is (mainly) concernining ';kids'; growing up in the United States, where I live. However, answers stemming from outside the U.S. are also welcome. Thanks for taking the time.In the U.S., are teenagers today as smart as their parents/grandparents were at that age?
This is a very difficult question. Access to information doesn't make one smarter if one doesn't take advantage of it to learn new information. As a high school teacher, I watched as students used their individual laptops as expensive cd players and gaming machines, all entertainment all the time with little or no curiosity about learning new information.





The impression is that young people are virtual computer geniuses, but the reality is that if you ask a majority of them to do academic research on the computer, they are completely lost. I think that most of the problem is a lack of intellectual curiosity and laziness. It's easy to entertain oneself on the computer, but it's hard work to learn how to do the research necessary for learning on the computer.





Also, access to new information isn't helpful if so much of it is misinformation and students are unable to discriminate what is good and what is bad information.





It also isn't always helpful if it's so easily available. I strongly believe that people learn better when they have to work for it-- when they must ask many questions and dig for answers. To do this requires the ability to pay attention for extended periods of time. In this MTV world, attention spans are getting shorter. Teachers are being trained to vary their teaching methods dramatically during the course of each daily lesson in order to maintain attention of students. Evidently, working on one task for more than 20 minutes is just too taxing for young minds these days. That in itself could explain lower test grades since most tests take longer than 20 minutes. Are students just losing interest?





I could go on and on and not solve a thing. It's a complicated issue. Good question.In the U.S., are teenagers today as smart as their parents/grandparents were at that age?
You're very kind. During school I usually just answer homework help questions for kids who want real help, not just answers. Occasionally, I find other questions that I find very interesting. This was one of them.

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That depends on your definition of smart / smarter. We may have more knowledge, or at least access to more knowledge but how are we using it? My mom does amazing math problems in her head faster than I can even pull out a calculator.





I do think that resourcefulness is one aspect of smart.





At the same time, the shear volume of information the current generation of highschool students has access to, may dilute the amount of knowledge they actually internalize.





Take for example basic geography, map reading and driving directions. Teens today mapquest.com everything rather than pull out a map, get greater a sense/perspective of where things are. I think tasks like map reading and doing math in your head help develop brain power needed for more critical thinking/analysis and better decision making ';smarts'; overall. And the amount of easy access to information and shortcuts that teens today have, underminds their mental acuity development.





They may have access to more knowlege, but they know they don't have to remember it b/c they can always ';google it';. So no, not smarter, but perhaps more resourceful, which functionally may be just as good.
According to the Flynn Effect we are getting smarter (IQ scores have been rising). Whether or not what we are learning is useful or not, I don't know, but we are getting better at taking IQ tests.
I think pretty similar. There are individual variations of course. Teenagers today have access to a huge mine of information that was not available in the past which has a potential for them to be better informed but doesn't actually make them smarter. Educational approaches have changed and will continue to do so which makes it difficult to assess.


I am from England.
teenagers today believe they have a right to be entertained more often than previous generations. A lot of time on computers is spent in the endeavor of entertainment - re: gaming, communication with peers. What are the international tests testing?