The Death of Education
August 24, 2007 | Filed under Family & Friends, Online
In fifth grade, one of my many projects of the year was an investigation into the dairy farming industry in Australia.
For my research, I called up all the dairy and cattle associations in the country, and asked them to send me all the brochures and information they had. I also spent hours in the public library poring over books and encyclopaedias. I even managed to locate a video about milk pasteurisation in Australia.
The finished project was amazing, if I do say so myself. Colourful, with pictures cut out from the brochures I received. Informative, with all the facts I pulled out from various sources in the library. Well received, because I had put everything in my own words, and made the work my own. Most importantly, was the fact that I’ve managed to retain all the knowledge – to this day, I can tell you off the top of my head that the four stomachs of a cow are called the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum.
So with that in mind, I wonder how much my brother actually learns and retains from doing his school projects on the Internet. I love the Internet, but the fact remains that it is primarily a shallow medium. You scan the web, you don’t read it. How could anyone possibly retain everything they read on the Internet when they’re not properly engaging with the information offered?
It’s not just my brother either – there are millions of school kids around the world entirely relying on Wikipedia for their information. Heck, high school and college students do it too. We’re the tl;dr generation.
The Internet may very well signal the end of effective and long-lasting education and knowledge.
15 Responses to The Death of Education
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*pokes the gross generalisation*
You’re MOSTLY right, but there are some people (like me) with little to no life who enjoy researching completely random topics for hours on end on the internet out of boredom.
Wikipedia is generally my first point of call, but I’ll always look elsewhere to back up the information given on Wikipedia. I’ve already been told that most of the professors at the uni I’ll be attending don’t accept Wikipedia as a source.
Nellie on August 24, 2007 #
Wikipedia is my I’m-bored-and-want-to-learn-about-something-new source. Either that or I’m just looking for a quick reference.
What I used to look up in libraries and encyclopedia I just look up on the internet. I don’t see too much of a difference. Sometimes I even use the library online reserves…so it’s almost the same as going to the library. But I can see what you’re saying when people might just rely too heavily on it and just scan everything….just because it’s so easy to.
Usually when I’m interested in something I take more time that I should looking stuff up, haha. It’s sad when it’s not even school related.
marilyn on August 24, 2007 #
LOL… there are still some teachers which state not to use JUST the internet for resources. In other words, bibliography.
Mish on August 24, 2007 #
YOU.DID.WHAT??
I’d have gone crazy, or pestered my dad to do something about my project… seeing as I didn’t have Internet at the time.
I remember one project in English where I had to write about smoking, and I reprased a wikipedia article and the teacher was thrilled with it… and I felt like a thief.
On a side note I’m soo glad I don’t have such projects anymore… besides, I’d just copy it from somewhere on the net. I have absolutely no patience, let alone interest in such things :p
Vera on August 24, 2007 #
I don’t agree. While a lot of our generation may seem to skim information and not really absorb it as much that is very much due to the fact we are flooded by it. Children these days by the age of 8 have been exposed to more information than their grandparents were in their lifetimes. Sorting through all that information takes time and patience. While I agree that they may not read as deeply as they should, I don’t agree that the Internet is damaging to knowledge acquisition in our youth. People are still very much learning how to use it and how it can be used.
Robert on August 24, 2007 #
I have to disagree some what. Education has changed to allow people to use the internet, but that’s the way the world is now. If I have to research something for work, I don’t call up Microsoft and ask them to send me a pamphlet on C#. I go to their website and read what I need. I think it is important that kids learn how to use the internet, and how to find sites that are acceptable sources in research.
Kimmie on August 24, 2007 #
Wikipedia isn’t much different from an offline encyclopedia. It’s great for general information but definitely insufficient if it’s the sole source of a research project.
But, online research pwns offline research in some areas. If you’re looking for specific words in documents – it’s so much easier to search for them (there’s no need to flip through documents and go page by page). To be able to search for “comfort women” (random) and pull up every article in a Korean newspaper that mentions the term since the 1920s , in one minute, is amazing. You’ve just saved 24 or something hours…
I’ve never had a problem retaining information that I’ve picked up online.
Chantelle on August 24, 2007 #
Sometimes the internet is just really helpful. I had a test on 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, since I despised both books I got some stuff of the internet to help me understand it. ;)
Emsz on August 24, 2007 #
I must confess to being guilty as charged. I do use Wikipedia, but usually that’s just for a quick reference and base understanding (physics, for instance, and maybe historical subjects), though, since it’s not allowed as a source on our bibliographies (it used to blocked by the school’s filter, but they stopped now). Essentially every university/college around here says they will not take work citing Wikipedia as a resource.
They do make sure that you use at least 3 offline resources for research papers here, though. I do remember more that I read from books rather than online stuff, mainly because I will read books aloud to myself if possible, which helps me remember better. Using the internet and researching “properly” on it will test your ability to sift through information, though, since there’s so much of it.
Sumaiya on August 25, 2007 #
This reminds me of a visit to the library, where I sat down next to two middle school-aged students copying and pasting blocks of text from Langston Hughes’ Wikipedia article onto a Word document and hitting print..
Sabrina on August 25, 2007 #
My sister, who just graduated from high school, had a senior project she wanted to me to help her on when she was in school. I asked her what research she had done and she replied “a few searches on google”. She hadn’t once stepped into a library to do her research. Broke my poor little heart.
Of course, as her big sis, I had to educate her on the importance of proper research that takes place in an actually library also…for hours. Internet research has it’s place in the process too, and can be very helpful, even for me. But actually reading a book, and further confirming the sources you find online is a very important part of it all, too. For me, at least. It also proved very helpful for my sis.
Kiera on August 25, 2007 #
Now, that is what I call looking for an argument. It is perfectly possible to “scan” books, to read them superficially, just as you can the internet. There are lots of bad books, full of wrong and poorly researched and plain misleading information: and there are lots of bad internet sites too. But for sure, there is some extraordinary stuff up now on the internet. To name a few: look at the Library of Congress site (www.loc.gov), where there is masses of material relating to the history of America right on your desktop, which, in pre-net days, you had to go right to Washington to get (if you were lucky..). The National Library of Australia and the British Library have got similar amazing collections online. Just to name one off the top of my head — you can see every page of Ned Kelly’s Jerilderie letter and look at the transcript of it at the State Library of Victoria site, http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/collections/treasures/jerilderieletter1.html
You can see you have got me onto my hobbyhorse. There is more and better information, more available than ever before — and so less excuse for ignorance, and more opportunity for real knowledge, than ever before. If some people are lazy, or just dumb, don’t blame the internet.
Great blog though, Amanda!
Peter on August 25, 2007 #
Not only that but the with the information provided on the web, there’s challenging articles that may contradict each other because they’re of biased and different points of views.
Using the internet as another source of information, you need to use your discretion and definitely ask a more experienced person in that field. ^_^
Very good true points, and I bet you did well on your project!
Teelia on August 25, 2007 #
In the ‘good old day’ everybody did research in the library and called / wrote companies for information. But these days many kids don’t even know what a library is..
According to them ‘everything is on the Internet’ unfortunately they don’t realize that a lot of the info on there is false
Chans on August 25, 2007 #
Um, well, I use Wikipedia frequently to help myself with school assignments, but that leaves me more time to actually read about the things I’m interested in. So, I do not think I learn less … I just learn about other stuff. Which might not be so bad.
Zala on August 26, 2007 #