And i love the sentence, “The pursuit of knowledge in the age of information overload is less about a process of acquisition than about proficiency in tossing stuff out.” Yes indeed! This is true for my AP students as well as my regular students, that they are not good editors to toss “stuff out”. The dire thing here is that when they don’t know what to toss out, then, with too much to figure, they fall back on what they already know, hear at the dinner table, remember from 5th grade.

The flood of information causes our students to regress in understanding, in imagination, in moral and critical awareness. We know that being overwhelmed causes regression, and we’ve all experienced that.

Why, then, not realize that this is the effect on most students now with the information overload? There is no lack of psychological critique of the internet, but none of that do i find much incorporated in the edublog sort of sites. It’s all so “upward and onward”. That is a fantasy and a wish of our adult investment in the internet, in the “new world”, that we ask our kids more and more to bear. I think some psychological and moral evaluation of that might be good.

Anyway, i do think this notion of the editorial and educational expertise we need to teach is NOT to learn something, but to learn what to throw away. That is, of course, a terrible situation, utterly negative, to be in. We do not like political candidates, news reporters, teachers or preachers or spouses or children to be negative, to be critical, we want positive and… But thanks to the flood of info the greatest virture for intelligent use with the internet may be negative as this post suggests.

If this is so then we are, pehaps, making a great psychological and sociological shift to the individual as the focus of critical intelligence. That seems to go dead against the whole hoopla about “connection” — but, in these days of flu and worse, “connection” worldwide does not seem entirely a good thing.

A critical evaluation of the varieties of “connection” and in education all seem to me to be called for. And there’s lots and lots to toss out. It would, however, be sad to me to find that the best thing we can teach our children is what to throw away.

A good challenge in this blog that i want to consider far further, and thanks to Will and all the commentators for company.

What I see as a more pressing problem in my daily work as an English teacher at a college of education in Denmark is the number of students I have met over the past ten years who are not interested in reading. To be fair, many of my students do read and take great pleasure in it. These students can be counted on to hand in thoughtful and interesting assignments and to give valuable contributions to class discussions. They know stuff, and they know how to communicate their knowledge and insights.

But the number of students who don’t read on a regular basis seems to be increasing, and it’s a mystery to me how people who want to be teachers can be so disinterested in what must be (am I wrong?) the very basis for learning. I try to point them in directions that have relevance for their future teaching careers, one of which is their own proficiency in English as a foreign language: how about reading something – in English – on the teaching of English? How about following blogs on education? How about reading one of the English-language newpapers on the Internet to stay on top of what’s going on in education, in a particular country/region, in movies, in literature? The list is endless.

So far I have failed. They read what they have to read for class, but we can only cover so much ground. The result is that when we’re discussing lesson planning, for example, they come up with ideas for activities, themes and texts that are practically indistinguishable from those used when they themselves went to school. They have no idea of what’s going on out there in the world; consequently they don’t know how to connect activities in the classroom to the outside world. And the inertia and conservatism among school teachers that many comment on in blogs on education will continue to flourish unless we can instill in our future teachers a passion for learning, exploration, innovation and – not least – critical thinking.

So seen from my corner of the educational system, the problem about getting kids to read is not merely one of helping individuals to lead fuller lives as informed citizens in the twenty-first century; it’s one that – if it goes unsolved – has the potential to undermine the educational system from within: some of the non-readers wind up as school teachers. How can they help their students to see that reading is the be-all and end-all of the Information Age?

Oh well, I’ll try again with the next batch of students. Right now those I have are getting wound up for exams in June, so they don’t have the time to – read.

I just finished watching a TED video of Patrick Awuah talking about leadership and his work at Asseshi University in Ghana:
“We must believe that these kids are smart; that if we engage them in their education; if we have them discuss the real issues; if we give them skills to engage the real world – that magic will happen.”
And the student responses: “I AM THINKING NOW” and “CAN WE CREATE A PERFECT SOCIETY” – by creating an honor code – creating a good society – and the understanding on the part of the students that they have the power to create it.

THE POINT –
First: I came across this by my reading of blogs (Christian Long’s in this case).
Second: Education = developing leadership = serving humanity

That says it all!

I think the difference could be that he had the freedom to choose what he wanted to read for my class. It’s a simple equation: to become a better reader, you read, and the more you read, the more you enjoy it. However, that only works if you are reading something that you are interested in.

I, too, skim entries in my blog reader to determine those I want to go back and spend more in-depth time with. I am looking for those relevant entries – things that might resonate with me or provide some insights for my work. I don’t feel guilty about that at all. That’s a skill: scanning, determining relevance and deciphering value. If I don’t read your blog post on any given day, don’t take offense. Rather, realize that even for me to have your RSS feed in my aggregator is a compliment to what you have provided through your blog.

What it comes down to is that if nothing else, if they go from school to work to homework to sleep and then back to school, if reading is not encouraged in their home, regardless of anything else, my students will have 15 min of reading every single day.

Also, in refrence to those who think one reason students don’t read is that they don’t enjoy the book. I may be lucky up here in BC. As of a few years ago there are no recommended books. You can have your class read anything that you want, with the permission of your school and now and then the district, as long as your students learn the same things. The book is not the curriculum, it is what you examine while teaching the curriculum.

A friend of mine is teaching “Ender’s Game” this semester, another is teaching “Obasan”. I’m teaching “Animal Farm” as a way to help them examine the means and reasons for propaganda and rhetoric.

I feel that when choosing a novel for your students you should always ask the question “Why?”

If you feel that students don’t have enough time to stop and read in their lives, then give them that time in your classes.

Now, about your attack on blogging. (HERESY!) Just because I skim it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have depth or quality. Most likely it’s because it doesn’t have RELEVANCE. I think you border on committing the same faulty logic that you feel the essayist does. Blogging is no doubt a superior communications medium. ;0)

Thanks for the comments, as always.

I agree…the stuff my kids are asked to read at school is just horrible. And what kills me is this everyone has to read the same thing mentality. I remember when I taught lit, there were a few things we all read, but the first thing I did was go to book sales and giveaways ans stock up on all sorts of “choice” books that they could free read if they didn’t have anything else. This lasted about two years until the board told me to stop since all of the titles weren’t “approved.” Nice.

Resisting the temptation to summarize, often I find the notion of information overload over-simplified (this is why the need to forget is so important!).

We make choices as teachers, as parents, as citizens, as individuals as to what we read, when we read, how much we read, etc., but are we never not learning? Its hard to pinpoint all of the tiny elements that our brains associate when called to perform a task, recall information, tell a story.

So perhaps information overload is a product of people aiming for speed and efficiency. Perhaps much of the tension experienced by schools, teachers, parents, is that we are moving too quickly, that we need to slow down the pace so we can deeply examine what’s going on around us.

We, as a culture, are reeling from our need for speed.