Okay, let’s take cursive writing out of the mix. We ‘Baby Boomers’, defined as births from 1946 to 1964, always had the feeling that the prior generation, the war and depression folks, thought we had no idea of life and its intricacies. We were the "hippies", less than knowledgeable boomers that they feared would be the ruin of America.

Baby boomers have changed the face of the U.S. population for more than 70+ years and continue to do so as more enter their senior years, a demographic shift often referred to as a “gray tsunami.”

Of course, we ‘Baby Boomers’ think perhaps generations of Millennials and subsequent American additions are labeled the "Unluckiest Generation"  due to slower economic growth and more recessions since entering the workforce than any other generations in history. They have also been weighed down by student debt and childcare costs.

But wait! Generation Z and Generation Alpha become less aware of life in general than ‘Baby Boomers’ and Millennial populations. Basically, the next generations are becoming more suspect as time goes by. Right?

Obviously, the lack of knowledge of ‘cursive writing’ is a sure sign, but voting patterns, economic indicators, wages and overall awareness all lead us to believe that America  is becoming dumber and dumber. After all, today’s youth have no idea what segregation, gay struggles, polio and peace marches meant. How could they?

We ‘Baby Boomers’ scoff at how a high school senior has no idea where Iran is, or how American know-how transformed the world we know today.

But Wait!

In reality, today’s graduating students are far more advanced educationally, emotionally, socially and politically that we were. We just don’t want to admit it, or relegate ourselves to the actual lower level we lived through.

Basically, we are selling following generations short.  The U.S. is the leading educational leader by far. Just ask all the countries sending students to our avenues of higher learning.

We lead the world in technology and progressive social advances with the newer generations, but we just don’t want to admit it.

Very few ‘Baby Boomers’ knew where Vietnam was, or even the difference between socialism and communism. 

We knew segregation was wrong, but continued to quasi-practice it. Yes, we got our polio vaccinations and all but defeated measles, but time and rhetoric have a way of cancelling common sense.

We hear that today’s "kids" don’t have the same work ethic we did and frown upon social welfare, but that is far from the truth.

The problem is that there are far more methods of obtaining  rapid news than in past generations, but online social opinions and quasi-facts are not good.

Unlike generations past, today’s population is less likely to follow religious institutions, political parties and long established clubs and organizations. Even the military branches are discovering a lack of enthusiasm to serve without question. Unlike generations past, today’s population is more likely to question authority and politics and less likely to accept facts or positions on face alone. In a nutshell today’s youth and upcoming leaders, for the most part, are actually less rude, better educated and more socially aware, regardless of what we old timers believe.