The wisdom of striped horses
by Mike Wright
description
The Internet, otherwise known as the "information super highway" is a wonderful
tool filled with an endless number of resources. With the click of a mouse
you can travel anywhere in the world. You can go anywhere, from astronomy
to zebras. With a powerful search engine, you can normally find anything
that pops into your head. The major fallacy about the Internet is the amount
of knowledge that one can obtain. It is true that the Internet has an enormous
quantity of information, but it takes more than information to truly gain
knowledge. You can teach a child how to find a mathematical answer with
a calculator, but if the child does not have a firm grasp of what the mathematical
concept implied is, the information gained is useless. The knowledge gained
is how to push buttons and make numbers pop up on a screen, not a mathematical
concept. The same is true with the Internet. You may be able to download
hundreds of megabytes of information off the Internet, but the question
is: have you gained any knowledge from having a whole hard drive filled
with papers written by someone else? The knowledge one can receive off
the Internet is overrated.
What is knowledge? Knowledge according to Webster's College Dictionary
is: the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained
through experience or association. Then the real question is can you gain
knowledge off the Internet? Yes, but it is seriously limited. It is not
possible to gain knowledge directly off the Internet; you must first obtain
information then extrapolate the information into something that fits your
needs. Suppose you want to bake a fruit cake. If you have no idea where
to start making a cake, you can download some information off the Internet
on how to bake a cake from a number of places. You can then read this information
and teach yourself
how to bake a fruit cake. Therefore, going back to Webster, you have
gained familiarity through experience.
Suppose you were looking for some information about the moon's relationship
to the earth for a paper in an astronomy class. You could use a search
engine on the Internet to look up some key
words like: moon, earth, astronomy, or planets. You might come across a
page titled "Welcome to our
solar system"At this page you would be able to copy a large quantity
of information such as: the Moon's distance from the Sun is = 150,000,000
KM. It is possible to copy all this information and put it into a paper
without knowing what any of it means. It is true that you can copy this
information, but without an understanding of trigonometry, physics, and
astronomy this is just information. Not knowledge. Knowledge comes from
knowing how these numbers are found. This gain of knowledge is something
that cannot be downloaded or "cut and pasted" into a paper. It would take
years of hard work to obtain a rounded knowledge of the universe.
The Internet in every classroom is not the final solution to making the
children of America full of a well rounded knowledge of the world. President
Clinton seems to think that if every school in America is equipped with
the Internet, students will learn more. That is the farthest thing from
the truth. A student sitting in front of a monitor looking at a
picture of a zebra will never compare to a class taking a trip to the
zoo and seeing a zebra in person. What has more value? Will a child remember
a picture on a screen? Or will a child remember seeing the animal in person,
being able to see how it moves, eats, sleeps, or being able to smell the
animal, or being able to touch the animal? The Internet is the fifth step
away from what will really stand out in a child's mind.
When humans first wanted to see a zebra they went out to the wild and got
a real hands on look at an amazing animal. If they could not make it to
the country, they could see one at the zoo. If they could not make it to
the zoo, they could always look up what a zebra looks like in an encyclopedia.
Then after the encyclopedia, they could look one up in a CD ROM. After
the CD ROM, they could look one up on the Internet. Each of these steps
takes away from how truly amazing and beautiful this creature really is.
Again this is a gain of information, not a gain of knowledge. The Internet
will not bring the knowledge of a zebra to schools around the world. It
takes a hands on look, a long process, to really enjoy what a zebra is.
A zebra is not just a picture on a computer screen; a zebra is so much
more than that. And that is what the Internet is holding back from America's
youth.
The Internet is a wonderful place, but it has its limitations. It will
not write papers for you nor will it make you smarter. It is just a tool,
like a book, a slide ruler, a pencil, or a map. None of these can give
you the knowledge of the world, but they can help you on your quest. You
can gain knowledge from using the Internet, but it is not as easy as a
click of a mouse. You cannot download knowledge, nor can you "cut and paste"
it out of Electronic Mail or a News Group. Knowledge takes time, it does
not come from staring at a screen. You must play an active part in the
gaining of new knowledge. Nothing comes easy and nothing is free.
Write to the author:
bringit@earthlink.net Visit
the author's home page:
http://home.earthlink.net/~bringit/