Stay in school, kids!

Ficheall

Anything we need to know these days we can find on the internet, more or less, and with the advent of smartphones and similar technologies, almost the entirety of human knowledge is at one's fingertips. People no longer need to "remember" anything, because they can just google it.
Granted, people still need to be able to do things, like perform open-heart surgery, but they're probably working on an iphone app to remind you which artery connects to which valve etc.

People no longer need to know how to do mathematics - not alone are there calculators to do your long division, but there are websites which can do your differential calculus homework, or at the worst, connect you to someone who will answer your question for you.
The internet knows all the history and geography that you will never need to, and ppl r clERly no longr usin eng as we no it 2 comunik8.

Hopefully they'll start teaching kids how to use computers and write code, but even the scope for that must be limited.

What do you think future generations should have to study in school? Theoretically, anything which might promote lateral thinking would be great, but will there be any call for that?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

you can have access to all the calculators in the world but if you can't do simple addition/multiplication/division in your head you're a ****ing idiot

krudler

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

you can have access to all the calculators in the world but if you can't do simple addition/multiplication/division in your head you're a ****ing idiot

or have dyscalculia

Ficheall

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

you can have access to all the calculators in the world but if you can't do simple addition/multiplication/division in your head you're a ****ing idiot

I agree wholeheartedly. The world is full of idiots though.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

krudler wrote: »

or have dyscalculia

or that

FloatingVoter

What if space aliens unplug the internet ? Who will work the abacus ?

Battered Mars Bar

I'd guess that all the big tech jobs at the moment will become the equivalent of working for minimum wage in a menial factory in the not so distant future. Certainly a choice of career I would keep well away from.

The Hill Billy

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

you can have access to all the calculators in the world but if you can't do simple addition/multiplication/division in your head you're a ****ing idiot

+1

krudler wrote: »

or have dyscalculia

+potato

secretambition

Who's going to make new technology or invent new stuff if we see current technology as the limit to what we need to know and feel we don't need to learn anymore?

mattjack

FloatingVoter wrote: »

What if space aliens unplug the internet ? Who will work the abacus ?

or if one of us breaks the internet ?

CajunPenguin

FloatingVoter wrote: »

What if space aliens unplug the internet ? Who will work the abacus ?

GRRRRRRR THE WHOLE POINT OF THE INTERNET IS THAT IT CANNOT BE STOPPED WITHOUT DESTROYING EVERY COMPUTER IN THE WORLD!
So if space aliens do that, then the internet will probably be the least of our worries!

lazygal

mattjack wrote: »

or if one of us breaks the internet ?

Just try unplugging it and plugging it back in again.

Pushtrak

secretambition wrote: »

Who's going to make new technology or invent new stuff if we see current technology as the limit to what we need to know and feel we don't need to learn anymore?

The people who feel that way are obviously not the ones who will be making the new technology, et cetera. So, the people for whom the if applies? The other ones than those. Or, better stated: Some of the others than the "if" category.

secretambition

Pushtrak wrote: »

The people who feel that way are obviously not the ones who will be making the new technology, et cetera. So, the people for whom the if applies? The other ones than those. Or, better stated: Some of the others than the "if" category.

I didn't understand any of that. Sorry.

Pushtrak

secretambition wrote: »

I didn't understand any of that. Sorry.

Ok, what you wrote: "if we see current technology as the limit to what we need to know and feel we don't need to learn anymore?"

So, who thinks current technology is currently at the limit? As in, who are the people to whom you refer to there? Are they likely to be ones who will be discovering new technology?

No. The point is that there are plenty of people who don't hold this view. So, what will they be doing? At least some will be developing new technologies.

There have been people saying we are at the limit of our technological abilities for a long time. We're still going. I don't see this changing.

juan.kerr

CajunPenguin wrote: »

GRRRRRRR THE WHOLE POINT OF THE INTERNET IS THAT IT CANNOT BE STOPPED WITHOUT DESTROYING EVERY COMPUTER IN THE WORLD!
So if space aliens do that, then the internet will probably be the least of our worries!

Eh...what now?

secretambition

Pushtrak wrote: »

Ok, what you wrote: "if we see current technology as the limit to what we need to know and feel we don't need to learn anymore?"

So, who thinks current technology is currently at the limit? As in, who are the people to whom you refer to there? Are they likely to be ones who will be discovering new technology?

No. The point is that there are plenty of people who don't hold this view. So, what will they be doing? At least some will be developing new technologies.

There have been people saying we are at the limit of our technological abilities for a long time. We're still going. I don't see this changing.

My point was basically that we need people in school learning in order to be these innovators. I was basically disagreeing with the OP. I think that all kids should be given basic education in maths and science because we don't know who the most talented innovators will be and if we let them opt out too young we will miss out on the benefit of a lot of genius.

Ficheall

secretambition wrote: »

My point was basically that we need people in school learning in order to be these innovators. I was basically disagreeing with the OP.

Basically disagreeing with me? I didn't say we didn't need to learn anymore... I was asking what AHers would have children study, given the current accessibility of information.

secretambition

Ficheall wrote: »

Basically disagreeing with me? I didn't say we didn't need to learn anymore... I was asking what AHers would have children study, given the current accessibility of information.

Well I thought you were suggesting that the current subjects such as mathematics may not be essential because we have calculators and technology? I believe they are.

suicide_circus

What happens if there's a power cut?

saa

Ficheall wrote: »

Anything we need to know these days we can find on the internet, more or less

......no, no its not.

Ficheall

secretambition wrote: »

Well I thought you were suggesting that the current subjects such as mathematics may not be essential because we have calculators and technology? I believe they are.

Apologies - poorly phrased on my part, perhaps. I was attempting to illustrate certain attitudes. I'm doing a maths phd, so would definitely not say that learning maths is a waste of time.

endacl

Is it just me, or does the op sound like an outline scripts for a prequel to WALL-E...?

Ficheall

saa wrote: »

......no, no its not.

An awful lot of it is.
eg. http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/its_its.htm

What information do you use on a daily basis that you might not find on the internet?

Ficheall

endacl wrote: »

Is it just me, or does the op sound like an outline scripts for a prequel to WALL-E...?

Whisht - no spoilers, I've not seen that yet :P
But aye, extrapolating could definitely lead one to a WALL-E esque scenario, I suppose...

secretambition

Ficheall wrote: »

Apologies - poorly phrased on my part, perhaps. I was attempting to illustrate certain attitudes. I'm doing a maths phd, so would definitely not say that learning maths is a waste of time.

Sorry, I think I understand now. Basically, I think that kids are immature and if we let them opt out of important subjects too early on, a lot of potential will be missed out in.

I think that googling only gets you so far and once a person finds a web page with info, they need a bedrock of knowledge to process that info. if they are in any kind of skilled field.

bnt

This kind of thing has been the subject of science fiction stories many before in different forms - the typical scenario is that most but not all people stop learning past a certain point. The idea being that there would always be a class of people able to do all the highly technical things - but we just won't need everyone to be educated. I'm not sure I agree with this - but it's a possibility.

So, if you have any ambitions to be more than a cog in the machine; to write the software instead of just run it; to be one of the people making decisions, instead of having your fate decided for you; to be a shepherd, rather than a sheep ... you need to learn as much as possible, just because you can. :cool:

cocoshovel

The Hill Billy wrote: »

+1

-1

+potato

-notdownsyndrome

endacl

Oh.... and where would a kid learn to read the internet.....?

Mr Benevolent

I like potatoes.

Pottler

Our current world is heading rapidly towards the point of reverting to a wild west mentality whereby those who have power and wealth are leaving those without to battle it out for the crumbs. The middle/educated classses are swelling to the point of saturation and it is getting harder and harder for those there to get by. This will accelerate and in 5 or 6 years time the middle classes will be the worlds strugglers. The rich will still be rich, but the underclasses(and those middle-classers who have slipped down the greasy pole into the underclass) will have swelled and become more desperate. To have money will mean that you are a target for those without and security will become a commodity that is most in demand. Schools should teach the kids to fight like brassers in a kebab shop at midnight so they can sell their violent skills to the rich as body guards.*
.
.
*this post may have degenerated into sh1te towards the end, but ye get the gist. Beer and paragraphs do not mix, apparently..:) But the point is valid-
tl/dr:teach your kids how to be big and muscular so they can become hired security for Mr and Mrs Doshbags.

looksee

Ficheall wrote: »

An awful lot of it is.
eg. http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/its_its.htm

What information do you use on a daily basis that you might not find on the internet?

How many kids are going to voluntarily read grammar monster when they could be speaking gibberish on facebook? It has already been firmly established that it isn't polite (or cool) to comment on someone else's grammar, and the garbled nonsense that passes for language in chat rooms is now appearing in newspapers and written material that should know better.

It is obvious that there is more to education than learning reading, writing, sums and facts. People need to be able to figure out for themselves what is rubbish and what is useful on the internet - and in other forms of media. As facts become more easily available the emphasis should turn to problem solving, analysis, philosophy, creativity etc.

Pottler

looksee wrote: »

How many kids are going to voluntarily read grammar monster when they could be speaking gibberish on facebook? It has already been firmly established that it isn't polite (or cool) to comment on someone else's grammar, and the garbled nonsense that passes for language in chat rooms is now appearing in newspapers and written material that should know better.

It is obvious that there is more to education than learning reading, writing, sums and facts. People need to be able to figure out for themselves what is rubbish and what is useful on the internet - and in other forms of media. As facts become more easily available the emphasis should turn to problem solving, analysis, philosophy, creativity etc.

Yes, but the question still remains, is our children learning?

looksee

Pottler wrote: »

Yes, but the question still remains, is our children learning?

I would of taught so.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Ficheall wrote: »

Anything we need to know these days we can find on the internet, more or less, and with the advent of smartphones and similar technologies, almost the entirety of human knowledge is at one's fingertips. People no longer need to "remember" anything, because they can just google it.
Granted, people still need to be able to do things, like perform open-heart surgery, but they're probably working on an iphone app to remind you which artery connects to which valve etc.

People no longer need to know how to do mathematics - not alone are there calculators to do your long division, but there are websites which can do your differential calculus homework, or at the worst, connect you to someone who will answer your question for you.
The internet knows all the history and geography that you will never need to, and ppl r clERly no longr usin eng as we no it 2 comunik8.

Hopefully they'll start teaching kids how to use computers and write code, but even the scope for that must be limited.

What do you think future generations should have to study in school? Theoretically, anything which might promote lateral thinking would be great, but will there be any call for that?

Philosophy, for a start. All the infromation may be there, but it's useless if you don;t know how to use it or how to think.

Pottler

looksee wrote: »

I would of taught so.

Me two. I don't think kids nowadays air as well educated as what we where when we was young. Standards is slipping. Just as well they has thins like spellchecker to keep standards up. I spellchecked this and it's all good -not won spelling miss shake to be frowned.