A Picture is Worth 1000 Words . . .

This picture is from a Pinterest board and it is about multi-tasking. I think the pin and the picture tell us a lot, unwittingly revealing the weaknesses in education and learning today. What do you see in the picture, and what is missing?  On the school desk sit  a computer and a microscope out front. These are the key tools in learning today.  Anything wrong with that? 

The books seem to be an afterthought. The computer replaces the literature book, the lecture, the dictionary and the Bible. The microscope, the protractor and the athletic memorabilia reflect the emphases--typically referred to as STEM--science, technology, engineering and math.  These subjects are marvelous and crucial, but not so that we should neglect Shakespeare, handwriting, art appreciation and history. But that is precisely what is happening. 

Now here is a desk where I feel would feel more comfortable. 

The tools of our trade.

A problem in today's learning culture is the fact that the computer teaches two great disservices:

--the absence of the ability to concentrate.  Students jump all over the place with the internet.  They are constantly clicking back and forth between whatever they are supposed to be doing and what they want to be doing. It's just too easy to check your email or twitter or facebook or whatever.  We are learning to have attention deficit. I say students, but it is true for me, too. Emphasis on multi-tasking has robbed us of our ability to work through one subject, one task, one book and the ability to concentrate.

--the second great disservice is students  (and adults) expect everything to be instantaneous.  We have moved from a rotary phone world to a remote control world to a high speed internet world!  We are losing patience; we can't wait; we can't wade through slowly any problem or project.

How can we change this?  Well, there has to be some recognition that there is a problem, and I think that admission is far away! I hope the pendulum will begin to swing back toward the humanities and toward the revaluing of time.