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> Young people who can’t use keyboards How is this different from previous generations? The examples listed (not knowing how to use a keyboard, not knowing ho

by imron 8y ago

> Young people who can’t use keyboards How is this different from previous generations? The examples listed (not knowing how to use a keyboard, not knowing how to double click and not knowing what a 'cell' in a spreadsheet is) were all extremely common among my classmates back in highschool (and this is talking about the 90's here, so computers were in fairly widespread use at this point). The new digital divide is just like the old one.

hocuspocus 8y ago
In the 2000's I had to write physics and chemistry lab reports, typically 4-5 pages long, with enough formulas that I ended up ditching Word and MathType for some basic LaTeX. In maths I had to write Excel macros and Mathematica scripts. I know that education in Japan is probably a bit more disconnected from reality compared to the pragmatism we see here, but still, the goal of high-school is to prepare students for college no?
- dorchadas 8y ago
  > but still, the goal of high-school is to prepare students for college no It depends on who you ask. In the school I work at, in the Rural South in America, many parents and students say the goal of high school should be to teach the students how to do a competent job and take care of themselves after school. So they complain about having to learn Algebra II and other "useless" stuff, while they don't even know how loans and interest and debt and such works. Or how to book a hotel, things like that. School has, basically, become expected to teach students both job training and basic life skills that, a few generations ago, parents and companies would have explained. It's become basically free training, and, honestly, it defeats the purpose of education; universities are the same way.
  - pbhjpbhj 8y ago
    It depends on who you ask because school serves different purposes for different people. School is a service that someone can use as part of their education.
dorchadas 8y ago
I'd say there is a slight difference, because nowadays people expect the kids to know how to use those things. Even when I was in high school in the late 2000s, it wasn't expected that kids necessarily be good at computers; especially in the rural South where lots of people didn't even have high-speed internet (and a good portion still don't have consistent internet access at home). But, now, these younger people, the ones who are increasingly called 'digital natives', are expected to be good with technology, to know how to type and use the basics of technology and stuff. When, really, all they're good at is downloading apps, and really have no clue what goes on/what they're giving up (cue the number of kids who just download the first free VPN program that works on their phone, without a regard to security or what it does to their phone and stuff).

by imron 8y ago

hocuspocus 8y ago

In the 2000's I had to write physics and chemistry lab reports, typically 4-5 pages long, with enough formulas that I ended up ditching Word and MathType for some basic LaTeX. In maths I had to write Excel macros and Mathematica scripts. I know that education in Japan is probably a bit more disconnected from reality compared to the pragmatism we see here, but still, the goal of high-school is to prepare students for college no?

dorchadas 8y ago
> but still, the goal of high-school is to prepare students for college no It depends on who you ask. In the school I work at, in the Rural South in America, many parents and students say the goal of high school should be to teach the students how to do a competent job and take care of themselves after school. So they complain about having to learn Algebra II and other "useless" stuff, while they don't even know how loans and interest and debt and such works. Or how to book a hotel, things like that. School has, basically, become expected to teach students both job training and basic life skills that, a few generations ago, parents and companies would have explained. It's become basically free training, and, honestly, it defeats the purpose of education; universities are the same way.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  It depends on who you ask because school serves different purposes for different people. School is a service that someone can use as part of their education.

dorchadas 8y ago

I'd say there is a slight difference, because nowadays people expect the kids to know how to use those things. Even when I was in high school in the late 2000s, it wasn't expected that kids necessarily be good at computers; especially in the rural South where lots of people didn't even have high-speed internet (and a good portion still don't have consistent internet access at home). But, now, these younger people, the ones who are increasingly called 'digital natives', are expected to be good with technology, to know how to type and use the basics of technology and stuff. When, really, all they're good at is downloading apps, and really have no clue what goes on/what they're giving up (cue the number of kids who just download the first free VPN program that works on their phone, without a regard to security or what it does to their phone and stuff).