Education in the Information Age
With the vast amount of information available on the Internet today, it is possible with a few quick keystrokes to learn something about anything you’d like. Nearly every day, my six year old poses a question that will inspire us to open the laptop and Google an answer. He is knowledgeable about things that I probably never even thought about at that age. He is by no means an expert, with a deep and complete understanding of the topic, but does have a general knowledge of so many concepts. This difference in having a breadth of knowledge or more a depth of knowledge is one that may seem more of issue today than it was in the past due to the accessibility we have in our virtual world.
It is not, however, a new concept as Frye discussed this in his articles published in 1963. He worried how print literacy was changing the “vertical” or deep understanding that was once held when readers would read a book in its entirety and study a topic in-depth. He felt that in more modern times, readers had a more “horizontal” understanding, a broader range of knowledge as I have noted with my own son. But do we really need to worry that there will no longer be experts in a given subject? Will people no longer be considered experts in a certain area because they’ve studied it in great depth?
I really feel that this is too much of a fatalist view, as have been other views throughout this course (text would be detrimental to oral language, visual with be the end of prose). I don’t feel that the changes in text culture will easily change the innate interests that people have. It just feels that some people have a natural interest in math, science, or literature, and that natural interest will eventually encourage them to study that in greater depth. A greater breadth of knowledge at a younger age will perhaps inspire our children to explore more and find what they are more interested in, much in the same way that we should encourage children to try out many sports at a young age rather than having them specialize on one (http://changingthegameproject.com/is-it-wise-to-specialize/).
This is the way our education system is designed. We don’t filter our high school students into one subject area or another and expect them to focus on that topic. They are required to take a variety of classes and get credits in each area so they are well-rounded individuals. But, on the other side, are we requiring them to know too much? Should we require a return to basics as Bolter mentions that there has been call for as of late? I think there really needs to be a happy medium. Requiring students to have both the breadth and the depth of knowledge is what presents the problem, not just exposing them to a great range of information. We cannot expect them to be experts in everything, which often seems to be the case. Instead we should expose them to a wide variety and then let them decide on their interests and what they would like to explore further.
Our education system is definitely designed on a model that appears outdated in many ways. I agree with your comment “we should expose them to a wide variety and then let them decide on their interests and what they would like to explore further”. Unfortunately, with the current curriculum this leaves little room for much exploration. I recently watched a video with James Paul Gee where he was talking about language and literacy in the digital age. He showed a post written by a gamer explaining something to do with ‘bloodlust’ , modes, and how to achieve this in games (I don’t even know what that is so excuse my lack of details). The text he showed was replete with technical terms and mathematical equations. It read like something from a quantum physics article, and it was about a game. Another gamer responded to this text with equally technically detailed strategies with recommendations to improve on the original post. These people obviously have a lot of knowledge around this topic but it is not something that is recognized in our educational system as being worthy. These people developed this knowledge outside of the standard educational system on their own and with others in the gaming community. It seems to me that people have the capacity to learn a great many things and in ways that don’t involve sitting in a classroom with thirty other people.
We expect children to grind through those twelve years learning what society has decided (a long time ago) what was important to know. Once they finish that , if they finish at all, then they can do what they like. In this late age of print and dawn of the digital, the educational mandate needs to be modified to meet the changing needs of citizens.
I do agree with you on your point Susan that we expect the students to do the prescribed curriculum, even if it is not really what’s best for them. I truly think that is why a lot of students have trouble in school. We are not gearing things enough for their interests and needs. As much as the higher ups would like to say that we are differentiating and including all students, we really are not.
Excellent points raised Jenn, the children of today have so much information at their finger tips its interesting to hear some of the questions they ask. We are indeed living in the information age. It is important for us as adults to ensure that they are processing valid information, however we must caution against limiting them as the world wide web is filled with endless possibilities.