Are we missing the boat in education.   We are simply not keeping up with the changes in – let’s call it – “information transmission”.

Books are, bluntly, too slow; by the time an “expert” book is published, the information in it is old compared to the instant publishing on the internet.  TV is changing as we speak – being pre-recorded by people  who haven’t the patience for or interest in ads (the very people who can afford the advertised goods) so advertisers are more hesitant to sponsor a program.  Newspapers have been shutting down for years, with most shifting to online publication.

The world of information transmission is dramatically changing,  quickly, with more and more information accessed online – through everything from Google searches to downloading whole books into e-readers – at great savings to consumers, and with great speed.

We should be teaching  related skills – from the 3 Rs combined with touch-typing, to new critical-thinking skills – sufficient to resist the influence of everything from cults to sophisticated marketing that comes on like “information” (for example pharmaceuticals on “new” drugs),  to governments trying to sway our votes – or worse, control the internet.   A kind of Internet Awareness 101.

As it becomes easier for kids to avoid important knowledge about their world, and more enticing to merely seek entertainment, when I stop and think about it, incorporating these changes into education will be essential to the survival of democracy.