There is no excuse
If you are between the ages of 20 and 35, live in a 1st world nation, and are of the socioeconomic standing that you can afford to go to college or purchase a computer/iphone, you need to know how to use the internet. And not just to update facebook. You need to know how to use the internet wisely and smartly. It's becoming something you can't avoid anymore. If you want to get by in the world, if you want to get ahead of your competition, if you want to be functional in an increasingly paperless world, you need to be able to use the internet.
And if you are going to TEACH teens, you MUST MUST MUST be able to use the internet, to be able to explain HOW to use the internet, and prove that you are competent BEYOND wikipedia and facebook. You can't expect kids to use the internet wisely if you yourself can't tell them how to do it. And we are being expected more and more to be able to move our classrooms into the 21st century. If you can't do that, fucking get out.
I am really done with having to explain to people in this program how to log into websites, or how to copy and paste links, or hell, how to use the school website or use Boolean operators on Google. HOW DID THEY MAKE IT THIS FAR? These people are my age, how did they survive being a teenager in the age of Myspace without being able to use basic HTML? Did none of them have Livejournal or AIM accounts? Have they never even LOOKED at the $200+ phones they are carrying around and realized what an extremely powerful piece of hardware they have and use as a throwaway TOY?
I think what the most frustrating part of all of this is that they are all frequent users of Wikipedia, Facebook, Google, iPhones, ect, and they view these things as just that. Toys. Diversions. Temporary help or distractions. You realize that my first computer had less memory on it then an iPhone does? These things are POWERFUL machines, powerful tools that we can use to better ourselves, to make ourselves more educated, more marketable, more world-savvy, more sensitive to the universe as a whole.
Or we could use it to play Angry Birds.
At any rate people need to stop asking me how to copy and paste because this shit is starting to become tragic instead of mildly funny.
And if you are going to TEACH teens, you MUST MUST MUST be able to use the internet, to be able to explain HOW to use the internet, and prove that you are competent BEYOND wikipedia and facebook. You can't expect kids to use the internet wisely if you yourself can't tell them how to do it. And we are being expected more and more to be able to move our classrooms into the 21st century. If you can't do that, fucking get out.
I am really done with having to explain to people in this program how to log into websites, or how to copy and paste links, or hell, how to use the school website or use Boolean operators on Google. HOW DID THEY MAKE IT THIS FAR? These people are my age, how did they survive being a teenager in the age of Myspace without being able to use basic HTML? Did none of them have Livejournal or AIM accounts? Have they never even LOOKED at the $200+ phones they are carrying around and realized what an extremely powerful piece of hardware they have and use as a throwaway TOY?
I think what the most frustrating part of all of this is that they are all frequent users of Wikipedia, Facebook, Google, iPhones, ect, and they view these things as just that. Toys. Diversions. Temporary help or distractions. You realize that my first computer had less memory on it then an iPhone does? These things are POWERFUL machines, powerful tools that we can use to better ourselves, to make ourselves more educated, more marketable, more world-savvy, more sensitive to the universe as a whole.
Or we could use it to play Angry Birds.
At any rate people need to stop asking me how to copy and paste because this shit is starting to become tragic instead of mildly funny.