Session 7 Readings

I don't think I ever understood the concept of holding on to the past when your only true option is to be in the present. The choice you have is to accept and adapt to what's around you or suffer trying to make it something it isn't. I guess people don't realize that's what they're doing. When something becomes 'important' to someone, they fail to realize that it's important in a given context and the context can absolutely not remain constant. You also cannot predict with 100% accuracy what the future context will be. Maybe people just get tired when they start to get older and they can't keep up so, they just revert to doom and gloom predictions of the downfall of society. Did you ever notice that people think that the one thing that works for them is what should work for everyone else? If that were true everyone would be exactly the same... diversity is how we adapt and survive as a group! Anyway. Tangent.

Obviously, if education is going to continue to be preparation for life, then it needs to actually prepare people for life in the actual world they live in. Which means that adapting techniques to include technology is a given. i tend to think that even if the faculty members who resist the change will not really matter much in the long run. It's always the pioneers who have the hardest time, but if they didn't have a hard time then they wouldn't be motivated to make the necessary changes that prevent future generations from suffering in the same ways. I always wished that my education was more self-guided and collaborative actually, so I envy the next generation who will get to have that experience.

I guess the questions posed by these readings is more along the lines of how to use the new technology most effectively, which is not as obvious as the inevitability of its use. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out and what additional research comes of it - for instance, the idea that brain structure is somehow actually different for the youngest generation is compelling.