To Learn Twice

An insightful post  by Dominic Manola on a disturbing meeting of individuals that were discussing "the impact of social media during a school crisis". It isn't just disturbing that we have to have meetings about school crisis, it is the fact that it turned into another one of those "the problem with kids today is technology so ban it and the problems will go away" meetings. Here is what history has taught us: 1. Once a modern invention/idea/convenience has taken hold in common culture (indoor plumbing, books, electricity, radio, TV, credit cards, Internet) and as displaces, enhances, or fills a void that was there before schools must eventually respond to its arrival. 2. Schools, which were built to resist change, will resist the change - driven by paranoid adults and experts (and those invested in the old) - usually by discrediting, banning, and citing that the innovation is doomed to fail (see inkwells vs. ballpoint pens 1815-1950 ). 3. Society will quic...

Recently, my 8-year-old and I had a conversation about his recent trip to the school library where he was shocked to learn that there was a special section of books that he could not check out and take home. The conversation went something like this: Son: “What is an encyclopedia and why is it so special that we can’t borrow one?” Me: “They are books that contain information and facts about things you might be interested in. You go there to get started learning about something” Son: “Like Wikipedia” Me: “Exactly!” Son: “Who would be crazy enough to print out all of Wikipedia?” After I recovered from my dumbfounded look, I was reminded how perspective and experience define our understanding of the world. From the view of a child today, a printed encyclopedia is crazy. When I was a kid, the encyclopedia was an amazing book where you could learn about “anything.” Same book, two interpretations of value based on experience. When was the last time you took a look at the world form someone e...