Comments on Will Richardson's Blog

I found his take on things very interesting and thought provoking while being intrigued at how clearly he stated what he saw as the problems.
I definitely agree with him on “The Acceptable Use Policy” scenario. I loved the way he phrased the Do Use list at the end. It is such an excellent example of how the positive side IS there, but for some reason in today’s world we are having to continually remind people to “look for the good” in things. I wonder if the psychologists have actually found the “scientific reason” as to why, as a human race we tend to always see the darkness first? Perhaps it is just a cultural, or education factor and if so I think we are slowly changing both with the advancement of all the “new age” thinking that now so much more prevalent than before. Let’s hope it bleeds into the formal educational systems! I think once the Web is less daunting to people, their views and attitudes will change so they can look more easily past the “troubles” that are now seen too quickly.
His take comments on how the Obama Speech could be used as a valuable learning tool, no matter what it actually said was really well stated. The comment about schools role narrowing is so true while being so sad. My sons were exposed to the educational system in New Zealand ( a socialist democracy) and while there were som good aspects, I found the lack of creativity in the curriculum and presentations very frustrating. The whole effort in their higher levels seemed to NOT be geared towards helping prepare them for the world by examining and discussing what they would encounter there but were continually focused on having them pass the government designed tests (which the teachers were NOT allowed to make) to determine their abilities and aptitude to enter college.