Vanishing skills
A college math tutor complains that students not only don't know algebra, they don't know basic arithmetic--they can't add 2 + 2.
At stores, the cashiers can't always figure out how to make change (that is, how much change a customer should receive) if the cash register is not computerized and doesn't indicate how much change to give.
At an office, college students employed part-time as clerical staff mess up the filing system because they don't know how to alphabetize.
And spelling and proper grammar are rapidly becoming lost arts--everybody's too busy texting and tweeting to bother with such details.
Have we become so dependent on calculators, computers, or computerized equipment to do arithmetic, databases to alphabetize at the click of a key, and word-processing programs to correct our spelling and grammar (assuming that we care), that we no longer remember--or, if we're under 50, may never have learned--how to do these things without technological help?
At stores, the cashiers can't always figure out how to make change (that is, how much change a customer should receive) if the cash register is not computerized and doesn't indicate how much change to give.
At an office, college students employed part-time as clerical staff mess up the filing system because they don't know how to alphabetize.
And spelling and proper grammar are rapidly becoming lost arts--everybody's too busy texting and tweeting to bother with such details.
Have we become so dependent on calculators, computers, or computerized equipment to do arithmetic, databases to alphabetize at the click of a key, and word-processing programs to correct our spelling and grammar (assuming that we care), that we no longer remember--or, if we're under 50, may never have learned--how to do these things without technological help?
posted by Shira Salamone at 1:03 AM
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