But what do they do with it???

[egarrard]

http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8996871%255E421,00.html
AUSTRALIAN studies yesterday confirmed what children have long since suspected - kids today are smarter than their parents.

For people finding themselves outplayed, outsmarted and outwitted by their offspring, the good news is they're probably perfectly normal parents.

The latest findings come from psychologist Ted Nettlebeck, from the University of Adelaide, who has spent much of the past decade studying the so-called "Flynn Effect".

The Flynn Effect refers to a discovery made by Professor James Flynn, whose research in the mid-1980s revealed that every generation had a higher IQ - with the gap in IQs being up to 15 points.

But as Professor Flynn later established, the children's heightened "intelligence" was not the result of genetic upgrading - rather, it was their environment.
I don't see this happening. Do you?

[JCYC5]

I'm smarter than you, Nyah Nyah! :Blah :Blah :Blah

[bejohnson]

Originally posted by egarrard
I don't see this happening. Do you?

I think this statement sums it up.
But as Professor Flynn later established, the children's heightened "intelligence" was not the result of genetic upgrading - rather, it was their environment.

I believe that the kids that are brought up in a loving and caring enviroment are smarter than the kids that are neglected by their parents. The problem is we have too many neglected kids and woefully few kids whose parents take an active interest in their children's social and educational development.

[Silent_Death911]

Yup! I see it happening in my own home. I'm the smart one. :KICKASS :Blah

[Sidebinder]

I would say it is an understatement mostly. I do believe the enviroment thing though. However, most of todays adults aren't as smart as today's kids. I would say that alot of them are on the same page, smarts wise. But todays youth picks up on it faster and more rapidly. For example, stick an adult and a 15 year old in a vaccant room for 15 hours with a computer and see who comes out with more knowledge. Probably the 15 year old cause they will most likely learn it faster.

[wazman]

I'm smarter than my father. Definitely.

My mother? Oh yeah.

I'm still pretty stupid, though.

[Maniacmous]

Honestly...I'd believe it...like most youth, I've often thought of myself as being more intelligent than my parents (and in some cases...I've been proven correct). I think the results are far overstated though...I mean, does each new generation hold the potential to be smarter than the last - yes; at the same time though, a lot of people refuse to live up to their potential and/or do stupid things to screw over that potential, leaving, I believe, each generation approximately equal as a whole.

[eire1274]

Originally posted by bejohnson
believe that the kids that are brought up in a loving and caring enviroment are smarter than the kids that are neglected by their parents. The problem is we have too many neglected kids and woefully few kids whose parents take an active interest in their children's social and educational development.
I interpreted "environment" a little differently.

Kids of the last several generations are exposed directly (through encounters day to day) and indirectly (through media, e.g. TV, Movies, etc.) to technology, stuff they grasp at an elemental level where the generation before had to learn it from scratch. This lends a groundwork knowledge which makes understanding new technologies that much easier.

Take the technology behind a telephone: essentially, sound is converted into an electrical signal which is transmitted over a wire to a switching mechanism that connects it to another wire and another telephone where the signal is converted back into sound. 50 years ago, that defenition would still be met with a lot of blank stares, and grudging acceptance, in other words, "yeah, it works, but I don't think I'll ever understand how." I read that description to my 5 year old and he corrected me that the switching mechanism is a computer. He's 5! Probably saw a phone company commercial and soaked the info right up.

30 years ago, how common was the usage of the word DNA? Now, any kid who's seen Jurassic Park or hundreds of other movies can give you an abbreviated lesson in genetic manipulation.

The mind is more ready to grasp and study the unknown at an early age. When I was 7, I was the VCR programmer, not because I was necessarily more experienced with electronics, but because my brain was more ready to go through the learning process to understand the thing.