By Rich Fisher
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-864429.mp3
Tulsa, Oklahoma – (Note: This program originally aired earlier this year.) On today's show, we chat with Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University and former director of Research and Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. Bauerlein is the author of a much-discussed, often-debated study that has just appeared in paperback. The book is called "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future." That's a rather polemical, sarcastic, and maybe even annoying title, admittedly, but Bauerlein does have some good points to make --- and some alarming facts and stats with which to back them up. Yes, American kids do know their technology both coming and going --- but is the current cyberculture also turning today's generation into a bunch of non-reading, non-researching, non-reflective types who lack intellectual curiosity and historical awareness? Our host Rich Fisher is compelled to "defend the kids" at certain points in this entertaining and thought-provoking interview.