[WEB4LIB] Re: "Generation shifts" and technology

[Alain D. M. G. Vaillancourt]

Hello!

I worked for some time as a volunteer in a non profit community ISP and
after that as a consultant in a company specialized in helping
elementary schools set up computer instruction and computer labs, using
government grants.

Boy, was I surprised at the little amount of computer training the
youngsters were getting these days!  Later still I learned that even in
more privileged private schools (always in Montreal, Canada) children
were getting only a brief introduction to computers, and there was
little or no provision for the imaginative and visual types who were
not math-oriented.  They just turned themselves off, getting only
minimal passing grades, rebelling against the non creative way computer
science was presented to them.

A few years later I see signs everywhere that nothing has changed. The
younger generations might be more respectful of checking which USB
cable should be used or other "cultural" tech things of the sort, but
they have no idea how the innards work and rarely think of exploring
new ways to use a computer.  Except for a few gifted individuals there
is no joy of discovery, there is just prepackaged information or ready
made fun.

Alain Vaillancourt

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