EducationChapter 2

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein• Do you agree with Einstein? • Why or why not?

“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught.” – Oscar Wilde

• What are the things worth knowing that can’t be taught that Wilde is referring to?• Can you think of a time you learned something important without

being taught it?• If “nothing worth knowing can be taught,” then what does that say

about what we are teaching in schools?

“The greatest danger of traditional education is that learning may remain purely verbal.” – Mirra Komarovsky

• What does Komarovsky mean by learning being only verbal?• Think about the classes you’ve taken. Has most of the learning you’ve

experienced in those classes been verbal?• What activities do you enjoy doing in class? Hands-on activities?

Reading? Group discussions? Writing assignments? • Are these activities mostly verbal, or do they use other skills?

“The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don’t know what to do.” – John Holt

• What is Holt saying the purpose of education is?• Hint – Holt is saying education isn’t there to teach us HOW to do

everything. If education isn’t supposed to teach us HOW to do thing, then WHAT is it we should be learning in class?

Examining Our Own Beliefs• Purple Card: Agree• Pink Card: Disagree

• Be prepared to share your answer. If I don’t get “volunteers,” then I will create “victims!”

• Schools should abolish compulsory attendance.

• Tests are a good way to measure a student’s mastery of course material.

• Most students’ formal education has little connection to real life.

• Most “real” learning takes place outside of school.

• Students should feel free to disagree with their teachers in class.

• Schools have many negative influences of students.

• Technology, including computers and the Internet, hurts education.

• Being an “educated” person and being an “intelligent” person are the same thing.

“How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’

Research Papers”By David Rothenberg

Previewing the Reading• Who is the author?• What does the author do for a living? • Where is the reading from?• How old is the reading?

Read the first sentence in each paragraph.• Can you guess what the topic of the reading is?• Can you guess what the main idea is?• Does Rothenberg think the internet has good or bad effects on

education?

Check the Vocabulary Footnotes• Read through the footnotes so you know what these unfamiliar terms

mean BEFORE you come across them in the reading.

As you read:• Make a list of Rothenberg’s major criticisms of students’ use of the

Internet in writing papers.• Take note of (write down) any reasons you find why Rothenberg

thinks that some of the fault for his students’ papers declining in quality is his own.

Main Idea• In the essay “How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’

Research Papers,” David Rothenberg maintains that…

• You have 10 minutes to write the main idea of the reading by completing the sentence above. • Be prepared to share your answer!

Rothenberg’s Criticisms of the Internet• ALL research is done online (papers cite only websites, not books or journal articles)• Much of the material cited is out of date (old)• Students include a lot of quotations they don’t know the author of• Sources students use may not be accurate or may be propaganda (advertisements)• Students include graphics they cut and paste from the internet that don’t add to the

content of their paper• It’s easy to get sidetracked and/or frustrated searching for information online• Makes it too easy to end up with a paper that’s vague and superficial• Since many websites don’t list authors it makes it hard to determine if something is

original or plagiarized • Creates a decline in students’ attention spans and their ability to reason for themselves

Why is the problem Rothenberg’s fault?• Need to teach students how to take time to understand new

language, ideas and arguments and how to blend information from different sources together to come up with their own ideas.• Needs to help students to learn how to determine is a source is

credible or not.• Needs to help students gain confidence to trust their own ideas more

than what they find online.

Purpose• PIE

• Persuade • Inform• Entertain

Audience• Who does the author expect to read his work?

Rothenberg’s Purpose & Audience• What is the major purpose of Rothenberg’s essay? What or How does

he want his readers to think or feel after finishing the selection?• Who is Rothenberg’s audience, and how does the nature of the

audience relate to his central purpose?

• What examples can you find in the essay to support your answer?

Determining Your Reaction to the Reading Rothenberg’s Criticisms of the Internet My Reactions

Creates a decline in students’ attention spans and their ability to reason for themselves

I think students’ attention spans have declined; however, I don’t think this is entirely the Internet’s fault. TV and smart phones also play a large role in this problem. As for reasoning, I don’t think the Internet is capable of teaching students NOT to reason for themselves. I think teachers don’t bother to teach students many higher-level reasoning skills anymore.

It’s too easy to get sidetracked or frustrated looking for information online.

Yes, you can get frustrated trying to find sources for a research paper online. You can also get just as frustrated trying to find sources for a research paper in a library.

It makes it difficult to tell original work from plagiarized ideas

I do think that pulling sources from the internet for papers has led to an increase in plagiarisim. When no author is given for a source, like a website, then it makes it really easy for students to not give credit to the mystery author for that source. If students only use material they find in a library, they won’t have this problem.

An Opposing View of Rothenburg’s Article

By Richard CumminsDirector of IT Applications

Columbia Basin CollegePasco, Washington

About the Author • Who is Cummins? What field does he work in?• How might his field influence his thoughts on the subject?

Previewing the Reading• Read the first sentence in each paragraph.• Does Cummins like or dislike the Internet?

• Read through the vocabulary footnotes so you are familiar with the terms before you come across them in the reading.

What “fallacy” does Cummins believe Rothenberg includes in his essay?

What arguments does Cummins give for why poor student papers are not the Internet’s fault?• Poor course design is actually to blame.• There are as many bad books and journal articles as bad websites.• The Internet is just a tool – a tool can’t teach us how to not

concentrate or how to not think and reason for ourselves.

Both Rothenburg and Cummins come up with some similar solutions to the issue of poor student work. What are they?

Reflect• What are your beliefs about using the Internet for school work?• How does using the Internet affect the quality of the work you do as a

student? • Whose argument do you agree with more – Rothenburg’s or

Cummins’? Why?

“Life in Hell”p. 100

What is the purpose of the cartoon?• Yes, cartoons are meant to entertain, but the author of this piece had

another purpose in mind as well.

What is the point the author is trying to make about schools?

Essay #2

Topic• Write a 500-600 word essay discussing both the pros (positives) and

cons (negatives) of using the Internet as an educational tool. To what degree does using the Internet enhance students’ learning, and to what degree does it obstruct students’ learning? Provide specific examples to explain both your pros and your cons. Use your discussion of the pros and cons to draw a logical, well-supported conclusion as to whether we should or should not use the Internet as an educational tool.

Enhance• Transitive Verb

• heighten, increase; especially : to increase or improve in value, quality, desirability, or attractiveness <enhanced the room with crown molding>

Obstruct• Transitive Verb

• to hinder from passage, action, or operation : impede <obstruct a police investigation>

Purpose & Tone• Purpose: To Inform• Tone: objective, third-person point of view (do not confuse drawing a

well-supported conclusion with making an argument or giving an opinion)

Guidelines• 5+ Paragraphs• 500-600 Words• Use only Rothenberg and Cummins for outside sources• Format essay per example on learning web

Grammar Focus• to use the present tense to express generalizations• to accurately switch between verb tenses within paragraphs when

appropriate (i.e. specific examples)• to edit for subject-verb agreement and word form errors• to use various sentence types: simple, compound, complex• to edit for sentence structure errors (run-ons, fragments, etc.)• to edit for pronoun errors

Vocabulary Focus• Use any word form of ALL of the following words:• Analysis• Credible• Prevalent• Tactful• Plagiarism• Keep Track/Keep Track Of• Critical Thinking• Virtual• Knowledge• Response

Prewriting• Revisit Rothenberg and Cummins to find ALL the pros and cons they

discussed.• Make a chart (pros on one side, cons on the other).• Add in any pros or cons you can think of that weren’t discussed by

Rothenberg or Cummins.• Review the chart.• Based on the pros/cons you have identified, decide whether the

evidence supports using or not using the Internet as an educational tool. (Your conclusion)

Prewriting• Once you have determined your conclusion, select the two BEST ideas

off your chart that SUPPORT your conclusion, and AT LEAST ONE (I highly suggest selecting two) of the best ideas that are in opposite of your conclusion.• Determine the order you want to discuss these ideas to organize your

body paragraphs.• Identify 1 or 2 specific examples to use to fully explain each idea.

Introduction Technique• “Hook” STRATEGY: use a quotation from Rothenberg AND a quotation

from Cummins to introduce both sides of the issue and add a transition sentence to connect the quotations to your thesis.• Identify the quotations you want to use & add them to your outline.