Posted on 08/07/2013 3:58:53 PM PDT by BruceDeitrickPrice
A reporter asked me, "Would you prefer that students know information, or how to find information?"
Clearly she thought that knowing where to find information was best. Actually knowing facts was, in her mind, not important. That was the old way, the medieval approach, when children were whipped to make them memorize the state capitals and other such irrelevant stuff.
Thank goodness, she clearly believed, we have moved on to more civilized ways. Children no longer know anything. All they know is that they must go somewhere to find what they want to know.
But why would the reporter believe that this tactic is superior? After all, if you don't have the information in your mind, it's not all that convenient. You might be at a bar watching the news on television. There are reports of a big explosion in X. But you don't know what X is, so you don't know whether the explosion is 3,000 miles away or 30.
This reporter had completely embraced the latest dogma from the Education Establishment. This group's perennial pattern is concocting alibis for ignorance. Humans are not supposed to know very much. This gospel is promoted at the finest schools of education.
What is the basis for this reasoning? The internet is here! Google can find anything! Technology has transformed education! Once upon a time, people needed to know stuff. Now, that would be a waste of time. All that people need to know is techniques for finding stuff.
Anyone who has actually looked for something on the internet can testify that this can be a complicated task. The information is out there somewhere -- billions and billions of pieces of information. But you don't need all that information. You just need particular bits and pieces....
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Anyway liberals have made a big deal out of this every since.
I suppose, according this theory, that all we have to do is send out kids to school for one semester where they will be taught how to use a library and the internet, they will then be considered educated since they will know how to find most of the info in the world at that point.
I can't wait 'till I do to a doctor and he looks up my symptoms in a book and says, 'Oh, yeah, you have a tumor. Don't worry I have the exact book I need that will tell me how to remove it. If all the info isn't there I will simply go to the internet. I've never actually removed one of these before, but don't worry, I know where to find the info.".
Silicon snake oil.
Knowing, because all of this remarkable technology we use today has one Achilles’ Heel- electricity. If all you know how to do is look something up after punching a few keys, you are really going to be hurting when the lights go out. Never assume the lights will always stay on.....
Young idiots become voters, and these Meat heads have given us obama.
Knowing and knowing where and how to find info are both important. Memorization of such things as multiplication tables, how to do simple division, addition, subtraction, etc in you head are very time saving. Many of the younger generation have no idea how to determine a 15% tip on a bill without a calculator. The same goes for making change or how much is a single item when they are selling 3 for $2.10. On the other hand, knowing where to find information that you don’t use on a regular basis is important. Both were drummed into my head from kindergarten through college. Although my son often refers to me as “A font of useless knowledge!” both he and his sister have taken it to heart and in their 40s are still inspired to seek out and discuss things with which they are unfamiliar.
My own belief is that the day you don’t learn something new is the day that you are dead. Otherwise something will always come up.
Also there is this rediculous over focus on “critical thinking “. The problem is that you need to actually know something before you can think critically about it. Learning actual information allows you to have enough background information to develop a generative set of principals to reason from. Without that even us you know where to look you have no basis to evaluate what is right and what is not.
Ask her if that practice works with a surgeon during her surgery.
Does it matter than England was imposing taxes on the colonies to pay for the recent French and Indian War?
Is it interesting that France overthrew its monarch in 1789?
Is it interesting that the War of Bavarian Succession (1778-79) is considered the last "cabinet war" in Europe? These consisted of monarchs like Frederick the Great pursuing politics through diplomacy and (relatively) small military excursions. By the time of the French Revolution, national drafts, enormous armies, and nationalist feelings led to war on a much larger scale -- thus, Napoleon.
The American colonies won their freedom by fighting a rather small expeditionary force led by Cornwallis. A few years later, things might have been different.
Is any of that important? I would say yes. But if the only thing I consider doing is looking up the year of the Declaration of Independence, then I know only one thing: a bunch of guys signed a document in 1776.
Big whoop, right?
One of the highlights of “Apollo 13” for me was the moment when Tom Hanks had to figure out manually the exact trajectory that would get them back to Earth without burning up - because the computers were down.
RE: “The problem is that you need to actually know something before you can think critically about it.”
Yes, agree. This is a big lie. The first 25 times, you think maybe there is something to it. But the next 125 times you know it’s just BS. They are specifically claiming the very thing that most students cannot do and, because they are so poorly informed, are being prevented from ever doing.
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