Keep on Complaining

I was talking to a woman today and she was telling me about an article that she had been reading which said schools were teaching kids how to print and the basics of writing but since the school had computers for every kid starting in grade three, writing wasn't a priority. Writing not a priority? I was shocked!

However, now that it is a number of hours later it isn't so shocking to me. This woman could have been reading some whack-a-doodle article from some nut fugger publication, but this could be a real thing in the real world. I have seen some of the writing on facebook comments by not so young people and the spelling and sentence structure is deplorable. So is mine, but this isn't about me. I can see the rational in not teaching an antiquated system of communication that no longer has any impact on the society.

We are becoming a society of watchers and listeners for the most part. Most of the good books are quickly made into movies and people feel that they know the story from watching the movie. It is very difficult to convince them that the book has so much more than the movie ever could. I have even heard some kid tell me if a picture is worth a thousand words, then a movie is a million times better. What? There is this guy I know that just loves the Lord of the Rings. I too love Lord of the Rings and when I engaged him in conversation about it became apparent that he knew the movies, not the books. Some of my favourite parts were left out of the movie and I am saddened for him and the parts he will never know.

I love movies too, but the difference between books and film is an enormous one. You can tell if someone reads by how they write. People that read just have a sense of what sounds correct, whereas non readers have a much smaller data base to draw from. Things do change and I suppose that educators have to go with the flow as it were. There is a limited budget and the money needs to be spent where it will do the most good. There is no sense in spending years teaching proper penmanship when they will grow up just selecting the font that looks the best. No sense teaching Latin so that we can know where our words came from. There is no sense teaching advanced math to the 90% of the population that will use a calculator for their needs. There is no sense in teaching how to read an analog clock when all there is to read are digital ones. Maybe there is no sense in teaching anything beyond the basics. Why not let the corporations train the population to do what they need done.

I know that I am old school, but people who were schooled in the old way managed to learn how to learn. Once you know how to learn, there is virtually nothing that is beyond your reach. I worry about the upcoming generation, but older generations have had that worry since time began.

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for

authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place

of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their

households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They

contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties

at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”

~Socrates~

I guess the world will keep on turning and old folks will keep on complaining.