Attention young students -- your LiveJournals and Blackberrys are causing you to fail history and things like that

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Or so it is semi-claimed in "A Very Long Disengagement", which just appeared in the Chronicle for Higher Education. Read, debate and discuss -- personally I always see articles like this as yet another in the endless series of 'those kids today with their hula hoops and etc.' pieces that are composed by people who forget when they were teenagers.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 18:39 (twenty years ago)

And bah on my forgetting the end italics tag.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 18:42 (twenty years ago)

your livejournals and blackberrys are causing you to fail at html tagging, ned.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 18:46 (twenty years ago)

*weeps bitter tears*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 18:46 (twenty years ago)

don't weep, (self-claimed) bah-man. have a cheerful new year!

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 18:51 (twenty years ago)

i wonder about their survey--who, where, when.

also: how many adults could answer the questions in relation to how many teens/students? i don't think the discrepency would be that great.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:21 (twenty years ago)

it would be interesting to know the percentages that could find the Pacific Ocean etc, a decade or two ago, when these technologies didn't exist. I actually do think the numbers wouldn't be as grim.
It doesn't surprise me though - one of the things I've discovered teaching American college kids is that they tend to have an instrumental view of education (ie something is worth learning about only insofar as it's useful). One of the things about the internet is that knowledge doesn't have to be mentally retained in the way that books encouraged.

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:25 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone in college own Blackberries? No, no one in college does!

― GET EQUIPPED WITH BUBBLE LEAD (ex machina), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:28 (twenty years ago)

ned are you reading a&l daily again

― $#@!!!!, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:30 (twenty years ago)

A&L? Not familiar with the acronym. (As it is, Kurtz muttered about said article in NRO world.)

A fair amount of what's in the article I actually kinda love. The point about not knowing Fitzgerald is supposed to be either grimly humorous or some kind of shocking commentary, but it just makes the presumed standard the author wants to defend all that much more in question.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

The Chronicle has things in it besides classified ads???

― Allyzay must fight Zolton herself. (allyzay), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:43 (twenty years ago)

http://www.aldaily.com

they obsessively link to chronicles of higher education, i think theres some kinda crew love between em

― $#@!!!!, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:44 (twenty years ago)

The Chronicle has things in it besides classified ads???

I think they only run the articles as a joke.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:44 (twenty years ago)

lol @ ned criticizing for lack of content

― $#@!!!!, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:50 (twenty years ago)

Yay me!

My first encounters with the Chronicle were in my grad student days. For the most part I larfed.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:51 (twenty years ago)

Aldaily is owned by the Chronicle.

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:55 (twenty years ago)

are h.s. dropouts allowed to read it

― $#@!!!!!, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:58 (twenty years ago)

i do have a GED

― $#@!!!!, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:58 (twenty years ago)

The Chronicle is pretty useless, unless you are looking for a job in academia.

― Lars and Jagger (Ex Leon), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 19:59 (twenty years ago)

Or one can accept the political philosopher Leo Strauss's formula that "liberal education is the counter-poison to mass culture," and stand forthrightly against the tide. TV shows, blogs, hand-helds, wireless ... they emit a blooming, buzzing confusion of adolescent stimuli. All too eagerly, colleges augment the trend, handing out iPods and dignifying video games like Grand Theft Auto as worthy of study.

Oh, good Lord. This is such total & willful ignorance. Can someone please slap this man with a print-out of his own text?

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:02 (twenty years ago)

chronicle of higher neducation

― $##@!!!, Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:13 (twenty years ago)

Sweet memories

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:15 (twenty years ago)

It doesn't surprise me though - one of the things I've discovered teaching American college kids is that they tend to have an instrumental view of education (ie something is worth learning about only insofar as it's useful).

This is one of the things that annoyed me most about college and I'm kind of sad that I bought into it somewhat. I could tell that other people in my department badgered my advisor into pointing out the easiest courses that could be used to fulfill requirements outside their major while taking the minimum number of classes. I sometimes regret not picking up a minor or second major, but what I really regret is not going ahead and taking all of the courses that sounded interesting.

Acting like college is a vocational school or that it's just a certificate like high school is probably the attitude that causes the most damage. It can be, but has the potential for a lot more.

I think that kids are being trained for a different way of absorbing and interacting with information (and people) and it's going to take universities a while to catch up. Some smaller colleges are already doing pretty well since they have smaller class sizes and more personal interaction. I was at a school with about 25k students and made little effort to go to some of my huge lectures since I could pick up more from the recitation discussions and reading the damn book.

― mike h. (mike h.), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

composed by people who forget when they were teenagers

OTM. Socrates, 2400 years ago: kids of today love luxury.

― StanM (StanM), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:27 (twenty years ago)

(er... the bit in italics should have been "endless series of 'those kids today with their hula hoops and etc.' " by the way)

― StanM (StanM), Wednesday, 4 January 2006 20:31 (twenty years ago)

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