Today’s front page story on Western Australia’s daily newspaper, The West Australian, tells us that the state’s Education Minister, Ljiljanna Ravlich, doesn’t think we need to learn too much because we can always Google whatever we need to know. Brilliant.
Quoting from the article: Ms Ravlich said the advent of Google meant important dates were at students’ fingertips. It was more important that students knew the context in which events took place.
“I think you can overplay the importance of dates, it’s important to understand the context in which history was made,” she said.
“I’m one of these people who have also recognised that time has moved on and any young person, if you ask them to find something, it will probably be at their fingertips.”
Questioned about a straw poll by The West Australian which revealed a lack of knowledge of key events in Australian history, she said: “You can ask many students a range of questions about the internal workings of a computer and chances are they wouldn’t know anything about that.”
You can read the full article here.
At this stage it seems that she is referring specifically to learning dates in history but if we follow the argument through, all we really need to teach our kids is how to read and write well enough to use the internet. After that it’s up to them.
I must say that I agree with some of the intent of what she has to say. I think it is very important to know the context and significance of historical events and not just dates and places but I do feel that leaving the education of our kids to Google is an abandonment of our responsibility.
The internet is a wonderful resource, if used correctly, but I think teaching goes beyond ‘finding answers’ when we need to do so. There’s a big difference between seeking out an answer when we’re asked to or when our curiousity creates an interest, and learning things that form the basis of how we see the world and live our lives. If we don’t have a reasonable level of input in the first place we’re not going to have an interest in using Google to seek further information.
We need a basic working knowledge of a wide variety of issues to help us shape our own thoughts on a range of matters.
Educators have battled for years to ensure that even if students have calculators they still understand the basic processes of mathematics. A calculator doesn’t negate the need to understand maths and the internet shouldn’t be allowed to replace a broad education.
Posted by Rodney Olsen
Technorati Tags: Education – Google – Ljiljanna Ravlich
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Hi Rodney,
I saw the headline and bought the paper to read this story. I’m wondering what Ms Ravlich means by ‘context.’ Wouldn’t the context of a historical event include the time period during which it occurred and the chronology?
It seems like the idea of having kids memorize facts is almost looked down upon these days. Perhaps because “back in the day” there was a set of information everyone was expected to know. With the rate of change being what it is these days (where things are outdated as soon as you learn them), perhaps we need to take on a “teach a man to fish” philosophy in more ways than we’re comfortable.
I keep hearing rather negative things about this lady, and wonder if she really cares about education at all?
There is nothing wrong with old fashioned basic education.
The internet should only be an enhancement.
The true victims are the children who have to admit at 22, they don’t know how to read, and don’t know the basic steps into adulthood. This I am seeing second hand, and from far away, but it exists.
I think the problem with asking say a teenager learning about WWWII to Google for the relevant info is that many teenagers these days do not read history unless it is for school;so they google WWWII and get thousands of sites/pages and don’t know which ones to use. If they don’t know something about their subject how do they seperate the wheat from the chaff? They can’t
You have GOT to be kidding!