On People Who Don't Want To Learn To Do Stuff They Really, Really Should Learn

A Vision of Students Today

I'm ambivalent about the message this video attempts to convey, assuming I'm receiving the intended message. On the one hand, it's a strong indictment of the phenomenon of educational anonymity and apathy in the traditional, obsolete mega-lecture course, and you wont hear me defending such courses. Thankfully, those courses are no longer relevant to my college career, by the grace of my fields of study and matriculation status. Effective education engages this student and creates experiential learning opportunities. And yeah, a lot of college courses do a poor job of preparing students for the real world. I can dig all that.

But: is all academic and intellectual laziness the fault of poor instruction? Speaking as a recovered slacker and near-washout, um... no, it is not. There was, perhaps, a correlation between my enrollment in massive (and massively uninteresting) core courses and my steadfast refusal to do anything whatsoever academically, but here's the thing: I'm in boring courses that impart few pragmatic, real-world lessons RIGHT NOW, and I'm working my rear off anyway. I am unimpressed by the plight of those who don't seek to read, to listen, to learn. We talk in class about how so few students read the newspaper, and discuss whether that means newspapers are therefore irrelevant, but that's a flawed conclusion. World news is relevant, and whatever the media, those who desire to be informed will seek it out. Granted, University faculty should try to get students to care, and so should high school teachers, elementary teachers, parents, and the students their beautiful lil' selves. Blithe intellectual laziness is a societal ill, but also an individual choice.

It's Not About the Technology" (Kelly Hines)

As I commented to Ms. Hines, she makes excellent, salient points regarding the critical responsibility of the modern educator to evolve, adapt, and learn continual throughout their career (much as I assigned the same responsibility to every student, above -- avoiding intellectual laziness is the responsibility of everyone responsible in the world, I suppose, but especially for those who deliver or seek knowledge full-time).

But, per my response, I honestly believe (thanks to anecdotal evidence and personal experience) that its difficult for American teachers to use the classroom as their sandbox. Blame NCLB, if i helps you sleep at night, but how can you be innovative when the state tells you (I'm going to quote myself, because I'm just so dern astute) "not only what to teach, but how and when to teach it... and never WHY to teach it." Until Ms. Hines' stance becomes the default in educational administration and legislation -- when, in lieu of the push for standards and homogeneous standardization, teachers are given the benefit of the doubt to teach -- even game 21st century educators are hamstrung.

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher? (The Fischbowl)

No.

...

Okay, I'll elaborate. Let's start with this quote:

"If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write."

Boy howdy, I couldn't have asked for a better theme to incidentally develop, segueing into Mr. Fisch's post -- intellectual laziness is just not okay, especially for teachers. Mr. Fisch's comment IS extreme, but sometimes we need the intense application of language (be it hyperbole, profanity, or just explicit and succinct statement of a hard fact without regard for hurt feelings). It's SHAMEFUL that ignorance (about math, about technology, about politics or world religions or current events) is ever championed.

Here we are, in the future, trying to prepare kids for the future's future, and some people wont get with the program. Technological ignorance is a symptom of socially acceptable ignorance. Teachers: we teach by modeling behavior. I know its one more thing for your already overcrowded plate (I mean, you're already a child psychologist, and a disciplinarian, and a master of your academic field, and a surrogate parent, and a social worker, and a Zen master of calm and reasoned patience, and would it kill you to sleep less?), but it's absolutely, indisputably necessary to strive daily to be smarter.