--by Jennifer Nails
Last school year, I taught a poetry elective at the private school where I am now the librarian. During a class on “freedom of expression,” students came up one at a time and “ranted” about a topic that they felt strongly about.
Last school year, I taught a poetry elective at the private school where I am now the librarian. During a class on “freedom of expression,” students came up one at a time and “ranted” about a topic that they felt strongly about.
A string of students began talking about how they felt that
sometimes school is a waste of time.
Why
do we need to come to school?
Everything that we need to know, we can find online.
Everything that we need to know, we can find online.
As librarian this year, I feel similarly to how I felt that
day in class. Why do we need to come into
the library to research our senior thesis projects? We can find everything we
need online.
In her response to a 2013 Oxford University study that states
that 47% of occupations are in danger of automation, Anya Kamenetz posits that there
are still three major skill sets that computers are incapable of performing:
Giving a hug
Solving a mystery
Telling a story
Based on my experience as a teacher and librarian, I will
break each of these down.
Hug: There is something to be said for human
interaction. When teens visit the library to take advantage of community programming
or to browse and mingle, or when high school students participate in group work
at school, they are practicing interpersonal skills which are impossible to
simulate via their laptops.
Mystery: If students are able to “find all of the answers online,” they must also practice generating the questions. Once graduation passes, they will step gingerly into the “real world” where they must navigate their way toward not only the right answers and choices, but also toward the right questions to ask along the way; in the “real world” self-motivation is the key.
Story: Yes, the Internet is an ocean of information, and no 21st century library would be complete without access, but students must also master the skills necessary to decode that data, to weed through to find meaning and purpose.
Mystery: If students are able to “find all of the answers online,” they must also practice generating the questions. Once graduation passes, they will step gingerly into the “real world” where they must navigate their way toward not only the right answers and choices, but also toward the right questions to ask along the way; in the “real world” self-motivation is the key.
Story: Yes, the Internet is an ocean of information, and no 21st century library would be complete without access, but students must also master the skills necessary to decode that data, to weed through to find meaning and purpose.
Hello Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteThank you for talking about this subtopic. While my high school teaching experience is limited, I have noticed many teenagers are tech savvy in ways that are not necessarily guaranteeing them success or readiness for college. This is where the "mystery" skill set is needed. We need to debunk the myth that technology automatically enables one to find all the answers online. College students struggle in their first years of college because it's hard to ask the right questions. Librarians can help teens find the accurate keywords for their research, sort through the biased or problematic websites (like wikipedia), and organize their information (citation, printing, zipping, collating, etc). The hugging analogy extends to interactions with information professionals. Patrons shouldn't have to wait until there's a problem in order to reach out to us. Often, I've had to be proactive in asking a librarian in order to save searching time.