Crazy ideas or just a different point of view?



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 else's perspective? Teachers: consider sitting in on a class as a student. Administrators: visit a staff development session and participate as a teacher. Perhaps changing our view will prevent us from doing something so crazy as printing out the Internet.




Cross Posted in the Tech and Learning Newsletter October 8th 2014

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