Quote:
Originally Posted by Dozer523
No this is NOT the dumbest generation. And they are movin' FAST!
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Based on my personal experiences, I agree with Dozer here. Learning does come faster and often at earlier stages of life...which sometimes presents problems developmentally...but different doesn't necessarily mean wrong, bad, or destructive. I think the fact that they don't have to remember everything...but know where and how to retrieve it...yet must know how to learn is an important point to remember in a high-tech world. IMO, there's not too much difference between that and having to maintain all those TMs/FMs with pertinent sections you've tabbed for quick reference when you needed the info.
I've watched my own youngest son who is in college work on papers while back home. He usually lies or sits on the floor with his laptop so he can have more room to lay out all his high-lighted notes, reference books, etc. He will have the Word program open for the paper he's working on, several web browsers with info he's looking to include or for further research if he finds something he's failed to fully explore, and 2-5 IM windows where he's monitoring/corresponding with several friends/groups at the same time. He always asks me to read and proof his papers, and they are very well done and correctly cited.
He also draws and paints, spending hours with no e-stimuli when working on such a project, and is a voracious reader of classical literature and history. He also has an amazing memory...unlike his father.
I am a bit surprised that the MacLean's article failed to mention some of the corrective brain-functioning programs such as Rutger University's Fast-Forward program which uses specially developed software programs to stimulate specific brain language functioning processes and correct developmentally delayed language skills.
FWIW, I'm of the crowd which remains generally skeptical of both the "sky is falling" and the "panacea" approaches to life and the 'new'...especially from the academic, scientific, and political worlds. Guess I'm becoming a FOG after all.
Richard's $.02
