Thread: Alvin Toffler - The Illiterate of the 21st Century

I blame rap music

lol

I blame constant media bombardment with the constant message that the other guy is out to get you.

when a person is learning from an evovling platform of inconsistencies in life philosophies, they have to do go through what toffler said^^^ good is bad, then bad is good, etc...

if you are learning from a stable source of consistent truths, a persons growth, wisdom and understanding is linear.

Originally Posted by Jimmyusa

if you are learning from a stable source of consistent truths, a persons growth, wisdom and understanding is linear.

for most that is not the case in reality.

Toffler is also talking about gerentology and how the brain functions and learns differently as we age and the "stubbornness" that is seen in many once they reach a certain age in terms of learning new ideas, concepts, etc.

Video game generation.

TV shows with flashing lights, and glowing bright colors.

TV news reports and news shows with ticker tape "breaking news," blinking lights, bright colors, and side bar info.

"smart" phones, ipads, tablets, you name it.

Short attention spans. Critical thinking? Forget it.

Originally Posted by LAM

for most that is not the case in reality.

Toffler is also talking about gerentology and how the brain functions and learns differently as we age and the "stubbornness" that is seen in many once they reach a certain age in terms of learning new ideas, concepts, etc.

Hard to learn and evolve when people are spoon fed propoganda by the media, family, friends, professors, teachers, billboards, the list goes on. It takes a lot to get the clutter removed to find the facts to actually form an opinion off of or make an intelligent decision.

I blame the media. I will never forget when John Kerry and Bush went against each other and MTV had Rock the Vote and every caleb was brainwashing the youth to vote for kerry. WTF does Eminem know about politics? I am just happy that at that time our youth was still apathetic towards voting.

People just need stronger BS filters. They need to also work on bettering their search engine literacy, I heard a piece on NPR the other day talking about how successful people in the future will be those who know how to use Google and the like with precision. Those who know how to search past the adwords and "BS".

Originally Posted by maniclion

People just need stronger BS filters. They need to also work on bettering their search engine literacy, I heard a piece on NPR the other day talking about how successful people in the future will be those who know how to use Google and the like with precision. Those who know how to search past the adwords and "BS".

critical thinking skills are a thing of the past in the US education system. NCLB has improved the US education system about as much as deregulating the financial sector helped the economy. the US is moving in the opposite of just about everything recommended by the OECD and PISA in terms of reform of the antiquated US education system that was designed around the first industrial revolution.

U.S. Education Reform and National Security
U.S. Education Reform and National Security - Council on Foreign Relations

Originally Posted by LAM

critical thinking skills are a thing of the past in the US education system. NCLB has improved the US education system about as much as deregulating the financial sector helped the economy. the US is moving in the opposite of just about everything recommended by the OECD and PISA in terms of reform of the antiquated US education system that was designed around the first industrial revolution.

U.S. Education Reform and National Security
U.S. Education Reform and National Security - Council on Foreign Relations

The educational system is not the driver as to an agenda of reduction of critical thinking skills.
The driver is coming out of a right wing conservative religious agenda.
Nothing scares the hell more out of a right wing conservative religious ideologue then teaching children critical thinking skills that cause them to question their parents fixed beliefs and that can lead to challenges against established authority.
Right wing religious conservative ideologues classify teaching critical thinking skills as behavior modification.

In example the party platform of Republican Party of Texas calls for a ban on teaching critical thinking skills in Texas schools because of its "focus on behavior modification" that has "the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."

Religions hate it whenever anyone applies critical thinking processes to challenging religious beliefs.