American Millennials are among the world's least skilled

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

I think Gen X is going to be the most "traditionally" IT savvy group. We grew up with PC's. By that, I mean we literally were born and blossomed along with them in the golden age of computing. We grew up with Commodore 64's. Know what a Packard Bell was. Remember having to dial up to use the internet. Welcomed computer lab days where we could play Oregon Trail or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego off of the 5.25" floppie disks. Remember how amazing it was that you could eventually burn your own CD's and that you had to turn off your flying toasters screen saver before starting a burn unless you wanted a $1 beer coaster when you overran the buffer on it. We had to make boot disks back in the old DOS days to run our PC games. Had to blow dust off the cartridges of the contacts of the Nintendo games to make them work. Used to be able to run web severs directly off our computers when cable internet first came online and before ISP's locked things down.

And so on. We grew up with raw technology that wasn't perfect. People older than us were scared of it. People younger than us never had to deal with all the quirks. Most of them were figured out and fixed by us

^ Excellent!

 

[rcpratt]

Dullard, you are correct however ive never seen a loan that said "pay only XX for each XXX borrowed" they simply state borrow up to X at y% rate per year

Car financing companies do this ALL the time. $17/mo for each $1000 financed, etc.

example - http://www.fairfaxvolvo.com/finance_specials.cfm

 

[Anubis]

well personally I've never seen it
admittedly I don't look at things that require loans often at all

 

[ControlD]

I think everyone is missing the target with their rage in this thread (parents and schools). The dumbing down of the general population is beneficial to both the corporations taking our money and the politicians ruling over us. People are genuinely more excited to see when they can spend their money on the next iPhone than who their next president will be.

In regards to public education, my daughter is doing math in the fourth grade that I didn't learn until at least grade 6 so I don't see how the curriculum has been dumbed down all that much. Our public schools still have accelerated programs for the really smart kids same as they did all those years ago when I was in school. But, it is the popular thing to do. Rag on Common Core or whatever test people's kids have to take this week. For sure it will be a hot topic on Fox News or CNN, so people get their rage on for nothing.

We still get good young engineers where I work. I find their education level to be sufficient enough that they can be molded into what we need. Same as I was molded into my job. I find most of them to be socially ackward, but the same was probably said about my generation.

 

[vi edit]

Yeah, I had typed up a similar response but scrapped it in regards to blaming education. My daughter is in first grade and I am continuously amazed at what they are learning. She's doing math problems where you "carry the one" in her head. Doing multiplication. Reading 170 words a minute at 100% accuracy. It's insane how ramped up their learning is vs. when I was in grade school. They are a good 2 grades ahead of where I remember things were. Doing "AP" classes in high school for college credit was barely a concept when I was graduating high school in the 90's. Now it's almost an expectation.

I can't blame education and access to education. It's certainly there.

 

[Naeeldar]

I think everyone is missing the target with their rage in this thread (parents and schools). The dumbing down of the general population is beneficial to both the corporations taking our money and the politicians ruling over us. People are genuinely more excited to see when they can spend their money on the next iPhone than who their next president will be.

In regards to public education, my daughter is doing math in the fourth grade that I didn't learn until at least grade 6 so I don't see how the curriculum has been dumbed down all that much. Our public schools still have accelerated programs for the really smart kids same as they did all those years ago when I was in school. But, it is the popular thing to do. Rag on Common Core or whatever test people's kids have to take this week. For sure it will be a hot topic on Fox News or CNN, so people get their rage on for nothing.

We still get good young engineers where I work. I find their education level to be sufficient enough that they can be molded into what we need. Same as I was molded into my job. I find most of them to be socially ackward, but the same was probably said about my generation.

There are plenty of kids who are book smart (I have a few that work for me and I compare quite a bit as I'm a millennial who did not go to college). However so many of them coming into work force are not critical thinkers / problem solvers. Many seem to have a requirement for hand holding / explicit directions rather than attempting to figure it out on their own. I'd agree the overall curriculum is not the problem.

However, if we are being honest this is not a totally rare problem across many generations it just seems more prevalent with the younger gen these days.

 

[vi edit]

Are you familiar with bumper bowling? It's where they put guard rails up on the lanes and prevent the ball from going in the gutter.

I feel like kids these days grow up in that protected "bumper bowling" environment. There are so many laws, safety features, rules, protections, ect put in place people can't make many hard mistakes on their own any more.

We've idiot proofed to the point where we make it easier to raise idiots.

Drugs are down. Drinking is down. Violent crime is down. We've really plucked a lot of "bad" stuff out of our kids lives and they have no good basis on how rough the world can be. That's something that I think is compounding generation after generation.

 

[ControlD]

There are plenty of kids who are book smart (I have a few that work for me and I compare quite a bit as I'm a millennial who did not go to college). However so many of them coming into work force are not critical thinkers / problem solvers. Many seem to have a requirement for hand holding / explicit directions rather than attempting to figure it out on their own. I'd agree the overall curriculum is not the problem.

However, if we are being honest this is not a totally rare problem across many generations it just seems more prevalent with the younger gen these days.

Yeah, I do see a lot of that in our younger engineers for sure. Not all of them, but lots of them need specific tasks in front of them or they will simply sit at their desk doing nothing. Over time the good ones can get over this, but some never do and have to be replaced.

 

[JM Aggie08]

X2

People only get stronger through hardships, this generation is the king of the First World Problems.

If something goes wrong the solution is found under "settings" or you buy a new device.

Any chance that the folks raising the millennials are to blame? The ones who have coddled their children, the ones that have set these expectations?

 

[Naeeldar]

Yeah, I do see a lot of that in our younger engineers for sure. Not all of them, but lots of them need specific tasks in front of them or they will simply sit at their desk doing nothing. Over time the good ones can get over this, but some never do and have to be replaced.

Millennials are not any different from other generations - they can still learn they just haven't had to or have been protected from some things or are not the best with constructive feedback.

Anyway I think it's true of many generations but the way our culture is today or some aspect of it - is driving up how wide-spread it is.

 

[TheSlamma]

Any chance that the folks raising the millennials are to blame? The ones who have coddled their children, the ones that have set these expectations?

Without any doubt, how do you think they don't face any hardships? But you still have to make a choice sometime in your life to be a victim or not. (I had two parents with drug addictions so by 18th B-day I was crossing state lines to get away and go make something of my life, I refuse to be a victim.)

The post in this thread about the microbiologist who is a waitress needs to tell her parents to pound sand and get on with her career/life. Instead she is taking the easy way of just staying at home and in the long run it's going to hurt her for LIFE.

One trait I also continue to see with Millennials in the workplace is they are so busy telling you what product is better or how things 'should' be instead of doing them. You know what that tells me? they are unwilling to work outside of their comfort zone. Trust me, I wish things in this world were different too, but due to my adaptability I can work in perfect, less than perfect or even in complete crap situations.

 

[Jeff7]

...

We still get good young engineers where I work. I find their education level to be sufficient enough that they can be molded into what we need. Same as I was molded into my job. I find most of them to be socially awkward, but the same was probably said about my generation.

You don't say. :awe:

 

[ControlD]

You don't say. :awe:

lmao. Good point.

 

[xeemzor]

sounds like you aren't applying this perspective to your sister...for some reason. I guess you know what she should be doing, right?

Thanks for the condescending tone. It's attitude like that which is problem. People are initiated by the success of others and try to drag them down so they can feel better.

I wasn't wealthy but grew up in a wealthy area. Throughout high school and college I was constantly bombarded with terrible advice. No one seemed to have a clue as to the challenges that I constantly faced. Administrators were far more concerned with maintaining their own positions of power rather than helping kids succeed. For better or worse my family was completely absent from my college and career plans.

One example that sticks out is when I talked to my college adviser in college. He advised me that I should just do what I wanted because having a college degree was all that mattered. When I asked about earnings potential, career growth, and other key items he seemed genuinely confused. It dawned on me then that the system's goal is only to continually perpetuate itself. I would have to find my own way in life because I didn't have the connections or resources that others had.

Most other people fell into the trap because they wanted to believe it. After 4 years of school many are hugely in dept with little marketable skills because they didn't do their own research. I don't see them competing with other societies that take a more practical approach to education.

Now that I'm in the workforce I have had to scratch and claw for everything that I earned. No one gave me anything in stark contrast to the earlier poorly conceived advice. Society as a whole needs to shed the idea that education will lead to success. We need to make it harder for people to get into college and major in useless topics. Just look at where the average 25-29 year old is now compared to 20-30 years ago. We need a major overhaul of our education infrastructure if we want any hope of economic survival.

 

[mmntech]

As someone that has tutored math and computer science, I don't agree with this. In my experience, people just don't think about problems the same way, which is why they have so much trouble with them. These people are teachable, but they will require lessons tailored to their mental strengths, which is often too much to ask when you're dealing with dozens of students. Those that are "wired" to think a certain way about math and its related sciences are just downright better at it.

Thinking about this brought back some memories of CS tutoring. The hardest part of tutoring is trying to provide good clues to help nudge someone along, but sometimes, it's really hard to give a good clue without being painfully obvious. ...and it's even worse when they still don't get it. I remember saying something along the lines of, "Now, we need to perform that action multiple times. What do we need to add to do that?" Loops. Stuff taught at the beginning of CS101.

People do learn differently. My point is that kids are being moved to more advanced concepts before they've mastered the fundamentals. It's like being asked to fly a jet before you've mastered landing a Cessna. It's setting them up for failure.

I did have a lot of horrendously teachers growing up. Unfortunately, Sylvan and Kumon didn't exist back then. So I didn't get any extra help. I lived in a small town so there weren't any other tutoring options available either. I really struggled with math.

You can say the same about our Companies as well. Our entire society does above.

That's why we don't do great things anymore. The one good thing about the cold war is it gave the West a kick up the rear.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Well, that seems to be what most companies are trying to do as well, so why not be your own CEO and mimic them?

Because I have 0 desire to be a scumbag/treat people like shit or be wealthy.

 

[Vdubchaos]

That's why we don't do great things anymore. The one good thing about the cold war is it gave the West a kick up the rear.

As long as it's one good thing hehe sure

cold was was just bunch of made up/fictional BS. But it did enable our government to hand over WHOLE lot of money to their buddies weapons/military companies.....in the name of fear and nuclear Apocalypse.



Where we stand TODAY, it's 20x worst than "cold war". Now they extract the money in the name of "terrorism/freedom".



Regardless, America is constantly raping itself.

 

[Ban Bot]

Car financing companies do this ALL the time. $17/mo for each $1000 financed, etc.

example - http://www.fairfaxvolvo.com/finance_specials.cfm

I followed the link and the full statement actually includes the bits I complained about the test omitting:

Truth in Lending Act Disclosure: Down payment will vary with APR and credit. For example, 0.0% APR with $2,500 down payment provides for 72 monthly payments of $13.89 per $1000 financed for qualified buyers.

"$17/mo for each $1000 financed" could be, depending on the loan structure, interest only? I will have to agree with Anubis that that sort of statement isn't complete. See my above post regarding terms.

 

[Jeff7]

The education system is fundamentally flawed for sure, because it values mediocrity instead of mastery.
...

It happens in the private sector as well.

"Low-hanging fruit" is commonly heard around here. Go for the easy stuff. Don't do anything ambitious or revolutionary or risky. Only do the easy things. Aim for the stars? Nah. You're more likely to reach your goals if you aim low.