I was discussing with one of my colleagues the other day about the new pedagogical renewal occurring in our province these days. One of the great disadvantages of this reform is that as old textbooks become outdated, the need for new ones increases. However, new textbooks are not being approved as quickly as the old ones are being made obsolete. As a veteran teacher, my colleague has seen pedagogical reform before and tells me that as early as the 60s, the mentality was such that books themselves were becoming obsolete and that we did not need new textbooks. And this was before the age of the Internet.
There are several problems with this mentality, especially in this age of information. The first one is that if we are to use the Internet almost exclusively, we have to change our perception that everything we read is fact. The advantage of books is that not everyone can publish them (the expense of self-publishing aside) and therefore most things in print meet a certain standard of accuracy. With the Internet, where everyone and their cat has a blog, anyone can publish anything. There is no censoring and much debate as to whether censorship should be taking place on the Internet. Our students lack the ability and are not being taught the skills they need to evaluate critically everything they come across. In the past, this was not entirely necessary (although beneficial) but if books become obsolete it becomes absolutely crucial.
The second problem is there even if everything on the Internet had the same degree of accuracy as the hardcopy world. You can find something really great on the Internet and the next day you'll be surfing Highway 404 (Page Not Found). Have you ever tried visiting all your old bookmarks? So few of them actually work after a year. Even my own webpage, after updating it time and time again doesn't resemble what it does when I first created it. How can I see how I have grown and changed as a person if I can't look back and grimace over the early years (as I can with my hardcopy journal). The ephemeral nature of the Internet does not allow us to effectively study the past, and we have all heard the adage about those who do not learn their history being condemned to repeat it.
One of the great advantages with this digital age, however, is the ability to live in the moment. We know what is happening in our world at any given moment because as soon as it happens, it's on the Internet. People are more hesitant to do things that they think might get negative publicity (unless you believe all publicity is good publicity). This global village makes us feel like neighbours with people halfway around the world, which is fundamental to the peace process.
Regardless of what happens, I hope we learn the skills necessary and adapt to the difficulties that these problems present.
"Censorship, like Charity, should begin at home; but unlike Charity, it should end there."-Luce
