On a recent episode of the new cartoon comedy based on the well known SCTV skit "The Great White North," the writers of Bob and Doug tried to describe the problem high school students face in the new era of education. Their conclusion, the new teaching methods imposed by high schools and their boards of education have resulted in a dumbing down of students. Essentially Bob and Doug show that learning needs to be done from the books rather then the new teaching techniques (which where showed as rewording Shakespeare into "hip" street lingo). While the show failed in enjoyable comedy, much likes its much older counterpart, the show does hit on a very real problem.
Among the many conversations with my fellow students, it becomes apparent that our generation (which should be called Generation Tech) has become dependent on the glowing screen of a computer, and the vast amount of resources it provides. I certainly remember that, much like any other student who was researching a history topic in high school, the internet was the only way to go; books were far to "outdated" and did not provide nearly enough accessible information via links and endless amounts of text that could be easily quoted (copy and paste). Now I do not want people to think that this meant plagiarism, because that is far from it. What I do mean is, students no longer have to learn the information, but rather read, memorize and spew or in the case of papers; read, copy, and paste.
This leads into the recent article in the Globe and Mail which was brought to my attention by a friend. While I agree with some of the arguments provided, I want to offer some other reasons for the sudden "dumbing" of a generation. Margaret Wente describes that students are no longer expected to go beyond the minimum which has now resulted in minimal efforts becoming standard. The minimal efforts by some have then resulted in the extended efforts of others becoming skewed. As a result our Universities have been overrun by the increased enrolment of students whom only 60-80% deserve to be there. Which helps the explain the sudden decrease in class size come 2nd year.
However Wente does not describe why students are falling behind. As I previously mentioned students have become heavily reliant on the accessibly of information through the internet. As a result students are reading less because they can easily text search an electronic document. But the problem is not that students are using these sources, rather that they are being taught to rely only on these sources in high schools. Teachers in an attempt to access the new learning style of Tech children have been teaching them to fail. By allowing students to only provide information taken from the internet, they are teaching students to rely on techniques that will not help them in their future academic adventures.
In a discussion with one of my professors, she described how the grades of students have gradually fallen in terms of marks on papers. But in an ironic turn of events students have become better at the oral presentation of the same information. Essentially students have taken a complete reversal and have become media based in their language. It is no wonder that I could by the recent Trudeau biography for only $8 at my local Chapters.
Because students have fallen away from reading, they have lost their ability to learn the craft of writing. Not only hurting their marks but also their experiences in University. Like anything else, one needs to practice to become skilled at something; and writing is no different. The state of the current student is an out of shape writer who choses not to exercise by picking up a book and reading from beginning to end.
Z.R. Nissen
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