Disposable Information
The ease of getting information has made us lazy, I think. Maybe we don't retain it as well; it has become disposable.
I mean, years ago if we wanted to find out how to fix a leaky faucet or if we wanted to know who Narcissus was, we'd have to go to the library, look through the card catalogue, maybe ask the librarian where to look, find the book, and read up on it.
You'd think that if we wanted to know something that badly -- and went through all that trouble to learn it -- that we'd probably retain it. Or we wouldn't bother finding out at all because it wasn't worth the effort.
Let me give an example: I ran across a word in a Steve Martini novel that I was reading. Cool word, I thought. I looked it up. I do that often at http://www.dictionary.com/ . The word meant a person having a homegrown, nontraditional kind of education. I didn't write the word down anywhere; now I can't remember the word and it's driving me crazy. Maybe if I had to go grab a dictionary, I'd remember?
I heard a speaker say at a workshop for 21st Century Educators that the requirements for doctors and engineers, for example, to memorize content has changed since 15 years ago. Why? Because of the ease of attaining information. If a professional needed critical info, years ago he/she would had to have had it memorized. Now, with desktops and laptops and cell phones, the answers are a couple of clicks away. And that's good.
But I still want my doctor and my lawyer and my house contractor to have lots of information in their heads. I don't want to be having an operation one day and the surgeon says, "Hey, what's it mean when the major artery dilates?" The nurse says, "I dunno." The other nurse says, "Do you want me to look it up?" The surgeon says, "Nah, I think I know what it means... hand me the scalpel."
By the way, to be honest, I consulted to Internet 2 or 3 times for information above that I didn't have readily in my head.
p.s. if anyone knows what that word for a nontradionally educated person is, please let me know.
I mean, years ago if we wanted to find out how to fix a leaky faucet or if we wanted to know who Narcissus was, we'd have to go to the library, look through the card catalogue, maybe ask the librarian where to look, find the book, and read up on it.
You'd think that if we wanted to know something that badly -- and went through all that trouble to learn it -- that we'd probably retain it. Or we wouldn't bother finding out at all because it wasn't worth the effort.
Let me give an example: I ran across a word in a Steve Martini novel that I was reading. Cool word, I thought. I looked it up. I do that often at http://www.dictionary.com/ . The word meant a person having a homegrown, nontraditional kind of education. I didn't write the word down anywhere; now I can't remember the word and it's driving me crazy. Maybe if I had to go grab a dictionary, I'd remember?
I heard a speaker say at a workshop for 21st Century Educators that the requirements for doctors and engineers, for example, to memorize content has changed since 15 years ago. Why? Because of the ease of attaining information. If a professional needed critical info, years ago he/she would had to have had it memorized. Now, with desktops and laptops and cell phones, the answers are a couple of clicks away. And that's good.
But I still want my doctor and my lawyer and my house contractor to have lots of information in their heads. I don't want to be having an operation one day and the surgeon says, "Hey, what's it mean when the major artery dilates?" The nurse says, "I dunno." The other nurse says, "Do you want me to look it up?" The surgeon says, "Nah, I think I know what it means... hand me the scalpel."
By the way, to be honest, I consulted to Internet 2 or 3 times for information above that I didn't have readily in my head.
p.s. if anyone knows what that word for a nontradionally educated person is, please let me know.
Autodidacticism?
ReplyDeleteIs that what you were looking for?
I couldn't find it on dictionary.com, but I did find it on wikipedia and other reliable sources.
Yes! Thanks Jordan.
ReplyDelete