Mark Bauerlein
Encyclopedia
Mark Bauerlein is an English professor at Emory University
and the author of 2008 book The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30). Bauerlein earned his doctorate in English from UCLA in 1988 and has taught at Emory since 1989. Between 2003 and 2005, Bauerlein worked at the National Endowment for the Arts
, serving as Director of the Office of Research and Analysis. While there, Bauerlein contributed to an NEA study, "Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America."
Bauerlein explains how his experience as a teacher led to his writing of The Dumbest Generation:
The Dumbest Generation has generated controversy among teachers, academics, and young people, sparking an ongoing debate about whether today's youth really are "bibliophobes" who exhibit a "brazen disregard for books and reading," as Bauerlein characterizes them.
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
and the author of 2008 book The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30). Bauerlein earned his doctorate in English from UCLA in 1988 and has taught at Emory since 1989. Between 2003 and 2005, Bauerlein worked at the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, serving as Director of the Office of Research and Analysis. While there, Bauerlein contributed to an NEA study, "Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America."
Bauerlein explains how his experience as a teacher led to his writing of The Dumbest Generation:
“Because in my limited experience as a teacher, I’ve noticed in the last 10 years that students are no less intelligent, no less ambitious but there are two big differences: Reading habits have slipped, along with general knowledge. You can quote me on this: You guys don’t know anything.”
The Dumbest Generation has generated controversy among teachers, academics, and young people, sparking an ongoing debate about whether today's youth really are "bibliophobes" who exhibit a "brazen disregard for books and reading," as Bauerlein characterizes them.
List of works
- Whitman and the American Idiom (1991, Louisiana State University Press)
- Literary Criticism, An Autopsy (1997, University of Pennsylvania Press)
- Pragmatic Mind: Explorations in the Psychology of Belief (1997, Duke University Press)
- Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906 (2001, Encounter BooksEncounter BooksEncounter Books is an American conservative book publisher. It is an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc. Encounter Books draws its name from Encounter , the now defunct literary magazine founded by Irving Kristol and Stephen Spender....
) - The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) (2008, Jeremy P. Tarcher/PenguinJeremy P. Tarcher Inc.Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc., founded by Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1973, in Los Angeles, California, is a book publisher and imprint of Penguin Group focused primarily on mind, body and spiritualism titles...
)
External links
- Bauerlein's faculty page at Emory University
- Transcript of a conversation with readers of the Boston Globe, May 14, 2008
- Posts by Mark Bauerlein at The Valve, A Literary Organ (dated 2005-2006)
- Video of a CNN debate between Bauerlein and recent Emory Goizueta Business School Graduate David Feldman, Sept. 28, 2008