Playwright Matthew Gasda presents an interesting analysis of student literacy and lack thereof in the AI era. It's at the very least worth taking seriously in conjunction with other informed views.
If it's true that you can't expect kids raised with iPads and smartphones to make a sustained argument in print, or to follow one for that matter, then these devices should have never been introduced. I mean, now you tell us.
But then there's also the matter of education being a formality that everyone has to go through, which was supposed to be a step towards greater democracy but which hasn't turned to be that. As Gasda writes, "Because the American education system from kindergarten through graduate school has become about securing diplomas and employment, long-form writing has been transformed from a core demonstration of learning to an impediment."
That tendency precedes our current technological environment, although the phones aggravate the problem. With the disappearance of industrial and agricultural jobs, the emphasis has been on getting everyone through college, with a professional job presumed to be at the other end. In effect it's meant that jobs that don't require much in the way of thinking nonetheless can only be gotten by people with educational attainment. But if the demand is that all kids be book smart, then the easiest way is to define book smarts down.
His advice to treat children like they have a soul is a good and necessary one, of course. I don't expect to see it applied at large scale.
2 comments:
It's a huge leap for those of us raised and educated before the advent of computers, never mind smartphones, to understand that young people today have no idea that these devices are so new to humanity. I liked Gasda's suggestion that reading and writing as we did and still do are to most kids like asking them to perform farm chores like they might have done in 1875. The fact is I think most people would be better off having nothing more expected of them than farm chores and an occasional merry square dance.
That's the thing about education as a formality that everyone has to go through in order to get a diploma that will secure them a cushy office (or better still, a work from home) job. I don't think I ever heard the argument about education leading to greater democracy, but I imagine that was another selling point for the universities who appear to see their mission as providing entertainment to people who take on huge unpayable debt in the form of college loans. That way they get the money while anybody hoping to eventually have a family or a home of their own gets the short straw.
When it comes to treating children like they have a soul is something that should be done far earlier in life than when they get to college. I agree it's unlikely to see that at large scale when we already have young parents who'd believe they have better things to do rather than read to their children or teach them skills or go for walks (having your kid on the back of your bike doesn't count) or God forbid, take them to church. (Okay, I admit we didn't do that last thing ourselves.)
"Improvement makes straight roads, but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of Genius."
~ Wm. Blake
It's a shame that people under a certain age don't realize that smartphones and for that matter computers haven't always been there. Because it keeps them from questioning how they got there and what the purpose is. In terms of origin, these are military technologies. They didn't find their way into daily civilian life by themselves. Decisions had to be made, and there's a relevant question of who made these decisions and on what basis. Likely it's someone(s) who has a vested interest in ending the agrarian lifestyle you refer to.
Education as an aid to democracy might sound nice, but in practice it seems to be an excuse to dismiss those with different politics as uneducated and incapable of practicing democracy. The truth is that there are many jobs that don't, by their nature, require higher education, but which have been professionalized in such a way that a diploma is still expected and often demanded. That results in colleges trying to give the youngsters interested in these careers the proper social background, which is an exercise in futility. Of course they get paid either way.
The thoughtful raising of children requires that thoughtful people become parents. And I don't think that can be measured with metrics like IQ. Smart is good, but it's not the only consideration. Of course I believe (almost) all parents have good intentions in regards to their children, but they themselves are getting bad advice.
Nice bit of wisdom from Blake.
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