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My step-daughter just graduated at the top of her high school class, in physical contact with an electronic screen 24-7. She knows less about geography, history, classical literature and basic natural sciences than I knew at her age in 1956.
What were her nitwit teachers putting on the screens?
Maybe I am a paranoid conspiracy theorist but I expect most teachers to be afraid of what could be done with cyber-technology if it was done properly.
The same thing my nitwit teachers were rehashing from paper textbooks. But very little of what she saw on her screen was academic-related.
My point is that any student can look up anything in seconds, if they have the curiosity to, but few look beyond the fundamental basics, which are the same as they were when they were in paper books. . They use the miracle of instancy for games and facebook, and learn nothing beyond the textbook summary of their lessons.
There are 200 countries in the world. How many can a fairly bright HS senior correctly label on a map? But he has a screen in his hand that can have any country's Wiki page up in five seconds. But, he never wonders. The operative word is "wonder". We are creating access, but not creating wonder to inspire access, so the information sleeps quietly in a dark corner., unbidden to any screen..
My step-daughter just graduated at the top of her high school class, in physical contact with an electronic screen 24-7. She knows less about geography, history, classical literature and basic natural sciences than I knew at her age in 1956.
Viscerally I agree with your thesis. I'm a history buff and an fan of literature. I'm reading lots of Robert Crumb and Alfred E. Neuman right now. Just kidding I really am reading Shelley's "The Last Man" at the moment and it is fantastic.
Playing devil's advocate for a moment by way of feeble allegory......I was raised on farms/ranches as such I'm good with my hands, I know how things work and am able to maintain and fix machinery to an unusual degree. Although we were always busy in the AM and PM with chores we had time to read daily and did so. My son is a neurosurgery resident. He's good with his hands in ways that are infinitely more important than me stick welding for example. He can't do much of anything chorewise. He'd be able to figure any of these things out but he's never changed a tire, changed the oil in a car, changed a filter in an AC unit etc.
The distinction is I can teach him to change the oil in a car in 2 minutes. He couldn't teach me to become a neurosurgeon in two lifetimes. My long-winded point is whether we like it or not kids today - even during high school - tend to specialize. What your SD may lack in geography, history, literature etc. she likely makes up for relative to the young you in some other ways. There's also something of an economic substitution effect in play. Much of what your SD does not know is 3 seconds away on her phone...........don't know where Toad Suck Ferry Arkansas is......look it up!
My SD had the opportunity to expose herself to maybe a thousand times is much valid and useful information as I did. But she didn't avail herself of, so gained nothing for having the electronics at her fingertips.
In the rich schools they're educating pupils on robotics. They're the future workforce that'll handle all maintenance and engineering of robots. In the poorer schools, the screens are a distraction. Future workforce meant for retail "hospitality" being the human face at the registers, servers using tablets to process payments.
In a poor school, possessing an electronic device might attract unwanted attention.
During a Fourth of July celebration I ran into someone who I consider to be the best of the best in education back in my hometown area. She was quitting. Said she found it impossible to teach the self-discipline necessary to learning in a classroom full of kids with cellphones.
My SD had the opportunity to expose herself to maybe a thousand times is much valid and useful information as I did. But she didn't avail herself of, so gained nothing for having the electronics at her fingertips.
In my opinion you are being far too cynical. As your SD finished at the top of her class, assuming she went to a passably decent school she's good at something.
In my opinion you are being far too cynical. As your SD finished at the top of her class, assuming she went to a passably decent school she's good at something.
She's very smart, for one thing. But she asks questions about the past, we listen to Glenn Miller and Kitty Wells youtubes and I told her about driving my 47 Studebaker. But I can tell from her questions, she would have been challenged by my HS exams. Even though I was left dumbstruck by her 150-page hardbound HS senior class individual research thesis.
She asks me questions beginning with "Why", but for some reason never thinks of those question when alone with her screen, when there are other priorities.
I think the gap is also dependent on how much education the parents have. I know a number of folks who make pretty good money with just their high school diplomas and who buy their ten year-olds smartphones and tablets to keep them busy and act as babysitters. Read an old fashioned book? You must be kidding!
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