Take a shot.

          The article, "Rigor Redefined" by Tony Wagner explains the similarities of what companies from all walks of life are looking for in new employees, and how schools are failing to prepare kids with them. If we are in school for our adolescent years where we gain most of the skills we will carry with us throughout our lives, then why are we teaching ones that will be useless when finding a job? Sure, being able to spit out all the information my teachers have taught me is great, but I forget it the second after the test ends. We need to learn how to innovate and apply our knowledge. The example Wagner used about the students in AP chemistry intrigued me. These kids are in an advanced class, yet still don't know what is going on. How can students not care enough to ask, or even better- hypothesize for themselves? Maybe these skills go way back into the younger years of children. In elementary school if they had been asked to draw a picture instead of coloring in a pre-drawn one in a coloring book would things be different? I'm not just talking about literal interpretation of that either. When something is already done for them, they may think it isn't okay to be wrong. It's either wrong or right; there isn't any gray area. It provokes fear and alienates the ones who are wrong. We need to start teaching kids that it is okay to be wrong, because at least you took a shot at it; like my dad says, "You can't score if you don't shoot."

It's about perspective.

The video, “Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us” demonstrates the infinite ways the internet is used, reused, and re-taught. The internet is flexible- indecisive. When computers were first made buyable to the average family HTML was essential to technicians who made programs for computers, but only years later this technique seems barbaric and primitive. Now we can go to the computer and type a paper, look up new words, make sure they are spelled right, meanwhile having several “tabs” up in another window. Can an argument be made that w are too reliant on technology? Sure. But on the other hand- can we concur that the positives overshadow the negatives? Obviously some argue that people (especially teenagers) are able to say anything in writing that they would never do in person and relationships with family and friends suffer from it. On the other hand when I can e-mail a teacher for help where I would otherwise have to wait (and probably forget) I can do so and have a better learning environment. The web has permanently changed the lives of people today and can be used to better the world.