I’ve spent some time reading through some of the blogs from my GoogleReader, just blog cruising the past few days. Several things have caught my attention. First, there isn’t too much that is really new in a good portion of the high frequency blogs. Like Graham Wegner states in his blog entry relevant and original :
Quite often I read about an idea and then that theme seems to propagate itself in a multitude of blogs. For instance, More Prensky’s concept of digital immigrants and nativesis currently doing the rounds. My problem ? The majority of what’s being written I’ve read versions of before with very few bloggers currently breaking new ground on this well worn topic.
Now, if you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I’m not fond of this whole concept of natives and immigrants. Just recently I’ve read Prensky’s latest article Engage Me or Engrage Me. on Scott McLeod’s Dangerously Irrelevant where he introduces the topic and the discussions going on via two blogs: Chris Lehmann’s and Dennis Fermoyle’s. Both of these blogs do have some good conversations taking place. Although I agree with Chris that
… our schools do need to do a better job of engaging our students. I think we do have to find ways to integrate new tools into how we teach, and I (clearly) think that the technological tools we use outside of school need to find their way inside of schools as well. I even think that there are moments with simulations and games can play a major role in what we do in our classrooms.
I think the slam dunk in the article is
But I’m going to also say that we also have to teach gumption. We also have to teach kids how to slog through things even when they aren’t fun. And we have to teach kids what it means to see something through, and we have to teach kids that some values are not immediately fun, but are worth it long term. I used to say to my English classes, “Hey, on a warm spring day, I’d rather be outside playing Ultimate frisbee than teaching English, but we all have to be here, so let’s find a way to make it meaningful.” The flaw in Prensky’s article is that there is a difference between recreation and work.(my stress)
This is something that we seem to be forgetting in the discussion of the new technologies. Even when it is brought up, those who are proponents seem to say “Yeah, yeah. We’ll do that but what about ___________” (fill in blank with whatever tool or key phrase is hot.) We seem to be confusing “fun” with “life skills”. The more I read, the more I wonder when we decided to let the children and students decide what would be taught, how it would be taught and what was important to know.
As I progressed through life, each time I hit that ultimate next life stage, I thought “Right on, now I’ve arrived, I’ve worked hard, learned and I’m a capable person. Now someone will listen to me.” Well, I’m still waiting. Not that people don’t listen but I’m realizing that I know less and less about this cycle we call life and all of a sudden someone is saying that we can just disregard the life lessons and learning that goes on from struggle through difficult and mundane tasks. We’ll just make it all wonderful with wowing technology and they’ll learn so much more than through the mundane tasks but you don’t understand because you’re not like them so just nod and move aside. Did I miss something? How can we continue to tell kids that life is like a video game – simulation or whatever. It isn’t. Life is so much more messy, uncertain and chaotic. And when you die, you don’t get any more chances. But if you just want one drama after another – that’s what soaps are for. Really. Or the half-hour sitcoms.
I could continue on this vain but, really, will it make a difference. The lines are being drawn as we move into this uncertain and chaotic period of education. Will children suffer irraparable damage if they don’t get a whole menagerie of technological experiences? No. Despite what everyone seems to think, children will continue to be children. And last time I checked, the teenage years were always difficult and chaotic times. Questioning the authoraties of the time, pushing the lines and wanting freedom but scared to really take it. Escaping into __________ (fill in the blank with some kind of diversion) has been a way that teens have dealt with things. Are the diversions different and allowing students to soialize in a whole new way. Yep. But they’re still diversions and some kids use the web, some read, some write, some do sports and some, unfortunately fall into using drugs and alcohol. Will there be other diversions for the next set of teens? Yes. Will we have to accommodate them? Of course.
Now this doesn’t mean that I don’t think schools can continue to limp along as they are doing and we need to do some serious changing but let’s not lose sight of the fact that schools are around, really, for one reason. We need to send the children somewhere while people work. Before school, factories, mines and fields were the places of choice unless you were from a rich family then you were usually home schooled or, if you were a rebel and snuck out at night to ride your horse around, you were sent overseas to some monestary or some religious excursion. Then society decided that this wasn’t good, having children working in factories and such so it was made illegal to use children to work in the fields, mines and factories. What to do with them? We came up with schools. Yes, universal education allowed for people to move up the social ladder and achieve things they couldn’t before as it does now. Maybe school has outlasted its usefullness and we need to do something different. But right now, the best option we have is schools and the best understanding we have is to create an environment that, at some point, will challenge most of the students. The posts on the blogs I mentioned earlier are worth the read in this regard.
Now, unless I feel a real urge, this will be my last post on Prensky as I believe that this just creates more advertising. I would like to explore that idea of a digital intelligence as I believe that this has more weight than some of the other things I’ve heard. More on that later. I do so enjoy the dialogue and discussion. That’s why I blog!
Kelly
