(2004-01-26) Amateurism And Students

Eric Mac Knight connects how Amateur culture supported by new technology changes the dynamic of Educating Kids. Remember the calls for "relevancy" in education, for giving students "RealWorld" tasks? Those calls, which seem almost quaint in the current circumstances, have been answered resoundingly. The former roles of teachers have become progressively irrelevant... It would be impossible, after all, to make a group of fully-empowered, technologically savvy teenagers sit in desks in rows and copy lecture notes--for very long, at least. The capacities unleashed in our young people by these new technologies will force the democratization of education. We will have to consider in this new light the old questions: What does it mean to be an educated person? What is an education for?