A Vision of Students Today

This post is going to comment on a video on Youtube created by mwesch called "A Vision of Students Today." It's very thought-provoking, in part because the actual message of the video is ambiguous. One thing is clear though in the video - our generation is going to inherit some of the greatest problems any generation has ever inherited and the education that we are currently receiving in our colleges and universities is not preparing us for them. But what is at fault here? The education system itself because it is outdated and not in tune with the multi-tasking, Web 2.0 style life that we are living today? Or is it technology's fault for having given us some sort of jaded apathy towards life? Or is it both?

I can only speak for myself, being a freshman within the college system and here are my thoughts: I have been guilty of some of the things mentioned in the video, including not cracking open books that I have paid a lot of money for, bringing my laptop to class and not using it for class things, and not reading as many books as I would like. On the other hand, I don't like Facebook, I don't like Flickr, I can't see myself wasting time uploading pictures and tagging them, if given the chance, I will take lunch and Starbucks with a friend over Facebooking anyday. Yet on the other, other hand, I have managed to connect with very old, long-lost friends over Facebook and being connected to the internet means that I am always one click away from finding out information about whatever puzzles me at the moment. With this, I can only come to one conclusion and that is that neither classical learning nor technology are the bane nor the cure-all for all our problems. Rather, I think everything should be taken in moderation and in "smart" moderation - that means each method should be used only to enhance your learning and living experience. That means not spending your life among the bookshelves nor spending your life on your Facebook page. Rather, use either when appropriate and advantageous - I can only hope we have the common sense to do so.