To think people are getting noticeably stupider

[CurdinHenry]

At every level of capability it just feels like the species is in decline

MN needs a 'jaw drop' reaction.

@twoshedsjackson yes, the thought of how people will simply get around if satnav goes down is a rather interesting one.

Not that many people left who know how to use map and compass, or even possess them.

Since there have been attacks on the satnav systems in the Baltic countries, this isn't an impossibility.

Yes, someone else mentioned it’s due to lack of reading. One of my children was significantly behind with his reading compared to his siblings, I was shocked that he was actually not compared to his peers in school. But I think children are far more capable than what they’re actually taught in schools in the UK

As a secondary teacher, I confirm the kids are literally more stupid than they were even six years ago (or the ones in Scotland are, anyway).

We're having to totally re-write our schemes of work to account for the fact that a significant number of an S1 class (age 12) are working at the level we'd expect of a 7-8 year old.

I am often seen using one ! You could have an intelligent guess at what blotting paper is though ...the clue is in the name

Are they though? I agree that short form media is impacting attention spans. But people have always been thick. My parents went to work then had dinner and watched the soaps. They never read books, the paper, learned anything. Just the same monotonous shit day after day, year after year. And I've worked with plenty of the older generations who are the same. They only seem to be capable of discussing coronation Street, the weather and what they had for dinner last night.

Agree, like it's ok to use a calclator but you need to have a basic grasp of maths to have an idea of what answer that calculator may show you.

To be honest, I find calling other people "stupid" distasteful and arrogant. It's often just an attempt to present oneself as superior to others.

Yes, it's not a good look. And it says more about the person calling people stupid than it does about the people they're calling stupid.

Obviously anecdotal but my friend who is a secondary teacher in England says exactly the same. She was making me crease up doing impressions of herself trying to get 14 year olds to complete the simplest set of actions. It's not actually funny though, is it?! When kids have been let down this badly. Not by the education system, just by the world, tech, society etc.

I can see this, it’s also really frustrating for other children in the class that are actually working at the age they should be and aren’t being pushed. I do actually wish grammar schools were more of a thing in this area.

And nobody I knew growing up was like that! :-)
Work, dinner yes, but always newspapers, the news on TV, quiz shows, crossword puzzles in the paper, films, the whole family bar one of my brothers had a book on the go, we'd play card games as a family and no soaps!

That's just the circle you grew up in. Not everyones experience.

Yes, someone I know well had never heard of Andy Burnham. But she can vote!

The pp? People who vote Reform? Or both?

That was my point.

Parents?

A midwife friend, last election thought Nigel Farage seemed a happy sort and was going to vote for him. I asked is she was aware of what he stood for and she didn't. She did go look and didn't vote for him!

Huge part to play!

I think it's called devolution.

Yes, just have to look across the water...the worlds richest nation...out of 300 million people " HE" is the best person to lead them ...we are doomed !!

The biggest part. But not mentioned in pp's list. Which is telling, I thought.

Today I went to a children’s charity shop. A toddler was sitting on a plastic chair for sale and when her mum picked her up, it was obvious the toddler had an accident and a puddle of wee quickly formed in the floor. Dad quickly disappeared outside pushing their pram. Mum and toddler continued to browse the shop. After realising that the parents had no intentions in cleaning or at least tell the shop assistanf what happened, I was the one alerting the shop as in the meantime other people were stepping over the urine and spreading it around a children’s shop!! Mum saw them cleaning and continued without saying a word despite her daughter having soaking wet trousers.

Half the population is 'below average intelligence'.

The rise of SM has given people an outlet to show it off. The algorithms put them in touch with others equally as dim, it becomes their normal and they then think its everyones normal. They become even more vocal with stupidity. They can monetise it on SM. The driver ones are especially entertaining, I'm sure you have seen it, some halfwit puts a video of someone doing something completely normal, legal and saying its wrong. It's clickbait stupidity. If it can be monetised it becomes attractive especially if Being smart doesn't give advantage.

I hope you're not suggesting chronic fatigue isn't a real illness. However of course expecting the teacher to drive her child home is off the scale entitled.