BAD Reads
You Can't Google Your Way Through Life
I heard a piece on NPR this morning about a new test for college students to help identify those who are computer illiterate.
Apparently amidst the brilliant, file sharing, illegal downloading computer litterati of our campuses there still exist students who don't know how to open an attachment or download a file.
All very well then, that we should teach them these important technical skills, and identify those poor students who somehow have never learned how to use an Ipod. We don't want to stun their social growth.
But what got to me about the piece was the opening, which featured a 3rd year student from my alma mater, SUNY Albany. He was suddenly discovering the library as a place to do research.
DUUUUHHHHHH!
He explained (and he was proud of this!)that he does all his research on Google, and that though you do have to check the validity of the sources, the professors generally don't, as long as you give citations.
I hope his professors hear that bit and make sure to check HIS next paper with a fine tooth comb!
Now, I am not shocked at this. Frankly, 20 some-odd years back my fellow students at SUNY-Albany (currently ranked as the #1 party school on Princeton Review's college evaluations) were finding ways to get around doing REAL work.
But I've got news for you, folks. You may think you're smart because you're getting away with it. You can print out that 40 page term paper you cribbed in nothing flat and go drinking at O'Heaney's, or The Lamp Post, or whatever bar you favor these days.
But you are DUMB.
You worked to get into college. You and/or your parents are paying a helluva lot for you to be in college. And instead of LEARNING you are pissing your time away.
So have your fun. Because in a few years, when the only place you can find a job is Mickey D's or the Gap, or when you get onto a job and discover 4 years of Google and beer didn't give you the skills you need to do your chosen career intelligently, you're going to find out it's WAYYY different out here.
Oh, and have fun paying those student loans...................................
