Letter to the EditorSir,
The restatement of the importance of teaching history in schools [editorial 12/03/09] is welcome not only for the excellent reasons outlined by Mr Gove, but also because it hones some of the most important life skills needed in the digital age. History teaches us to evaluate the quality of source material, to handle rival views, and to evaluate arguments. In a world when many young people take the first entry in Google as gospel, these are essential skills if they are to learn to sift the wheat from the chaff when researching on the internet.
Mark S. Steed
Principal
Berkhamsted School
Herts.
I completely agree and alongside this a source which is available and not being tapped into in this digital age are the information professionals - aka the librarians. A professional who has certainly had plenty of experience sifting the wheat from the chaff and whose main occupation revolves around electronic content. Let us be the providers of instruction!
ReplyDeleteI must say, that although this minority of young people take the first entry of Google as gospel, they do need to learn how to separate the high quality from the low. However, it is clear that more often than not, the first entries of Google surrounding a topic are Gospel. Rarely does one have to search through the deep realms of the internet to find what they are looking for. For example, when your words of "In a world when many young people take the first entry in Google as gospel, these are essential skills if they are to learn to sift the wheat from the chaff when researching on the internet." are searched in Google under the 'I'm feeling lucky' button. To no surprise, it takes you directly to this very blog.
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