In my opinion at least part of the problem with education is that students are not
required to learn actual facts the way that they used to be. There is no time for
such frivolity. Our efforts must be concentrated on "The Test" and how to help
students pass it. This means more and more time is spent on reading a selection and
answering questions about the selection. While this is a necessary skill, it is far
from the only skill. Sometimes you just have to learn some facts and then learn how
to analyze them. Also, it is assumed that because of the Internet, students have
easy access to the facts when they need them, so why should they have to be able to
recall them on their own?
Marsha ReddLibrarian, Kelloggsville High School Grand Rapids, MI
marsharedd@hotmail.comEducation is not a goal; it is a life-long process. Everyone
is a student. Everyone is a teacher.
----------------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 13:01:45 -0400
> From: enizalowski@NVCS.STIER.ORG
> Subject: [LM_NET] OT (sort of): The Dumbest Generation? Don't Be Dumb
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>
> This was the title of an article from the newest issue of Newsweek (June
> 2nd). Here is the opening paragraph:
>
>
>
> "Really, don't we all know by now that finding examples of teens' and
> twentysomethings ignorance is like shooting fish in a barrel? If you
> want to exercise your eye-rolling or hand-wringing muscles, take your
> pick. Two-thirds of high-school seniors in 2006 couldn't explain an old
> photo of a sign over a theater door reading COLORED ENTRANCE. In 2001,
> 52 percent identified Germany, Japan or Italy, not the Soviet Union, as
> America's World War II ally. One-quarter of the 18- to 24-year-olds in
> a 2004 survey drew a blank on Dick Cheney, and 28 percent didn't know
> William Rehnquist. The world's most heavily defended border? Mexico's
> with the United States, according to 30 percent of the same age group.
> We doubt that the 30 percent were boastful or delusional Minutemen."
>
>
>
> The article focuses heavily on a recent book by Mark
> Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University, entitled "The
> Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and
> Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)"
>
>
>
> So what is the opinion of the online school media community?
> Is this generation dumber in comparison to others? What's the cause?
> Can it be traced to television, computers, video games, the Internet,
> the new communication technologies? What, if anything, can be done
> about it?
>
>
>
> Ed Nizalowski, SMS
>
> Newark Valley High School
>
> Newark Valley, NY
>
> enizalowski@nvcs.stier.org
>
>
>
> "For all the chatter about the Age of Information, what we are really
> entering is the Age of Biology, and it is bigger than anything we can
> imagine. . . . . We didn't invent nature. Nature invented us. Nature
> bats last, as the saying goes, but even more important, it's her playing
> field. We would be wise to learn the ground rules and how to play them.
>
>
>
> Ken Ausubel, Ed. Nature's Operating Instructions. [from his
> Introduction]
>
> Currently reading Soldier X by Don Wulffson
>
>
>
>
>
>
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