July 9, 2010

How DO We Build an Internet That Encourages Serious Learning?


"It could be that the real debate will not be books versus the Internet but how to build an Internet counterculture that will better attract people to serious learning."

So concludes sharp-minded Op-Ed NY Times columnist David Brooks, in "The Medium is the Medium".

Regarding the importance of books in children's lives, Brooks refers to:

"Free Books Block 'Summer Slide in Low-Income Students"

"Family scholarly culture and educational success: Books and schooling in 27 nations

Brooks notes that the Internet keeps one well-informed. "But the literary world is still better at helping you become cultivated, mastering significant things of lasting import. To learn these sorts of things, you have to defer to greater minds than your own. You have to take the time to immerse yourself in a great writer’s world. You have to respect the authority of the teacher."

Here are some readers' reactions to Block's article:

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/opinion/09brooks.html


So, my dear Watson, how DO we build an Internet that encourages serious learning?

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1 comment:

  1. wow..never thought i would see david brooks on a facebook page...but his ideas on the internet are stimulating some thought...

    politically not so much...:]

    ReplyDelete

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