Modern Interest in School
Modern Interests in Schools
Modern technology has become a wide topic of debate among many people including, college professors and teachers, concerned parents, and old-fashioned elders. Over the past 30 years, technology has progressed into a part of a person’s every day social and business life. With a sky-rocketing progression in new technology, come many concerns about the effects technology has on current society. Authors Amy Goldwasser, a freelance editor for famous magazines Vogue, Seventeen, and the New Yorker, and Gerald Gaff, professor of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, discuss the ever-popular debate on modern technology and the role in plays in schools. Goldwasser and Graff’s articles, “What’s the Matter with Kids Today?” and “Hidden Intellectualism” approach the topic in a different sense. Goldwasser expresses her thoughts through technology and Graff expresses his mainly through sports, yet both authors discuss the latter debate; the advantages of modern technology and the new curriculums in schools that should be a result of them. Even though Goldwasser and Graff appear to be arguing two different subjects, they are actually in agreement that schools need to catch the students’ attentions by initially practicing what interests the students. This common ground becomes clear when both authors acknowledge young people’s “stunning ignorance” of academics, both blame the cause of the lack of knowledge on the school system, and both agree that teenage interests can be used to increase academic scores. Goldwasser immediately jumps into her subject of concern, explaining that today’s American teenager is different from previous generations. She begins her article with a fact throwing in her own sarcastic personality: “A phone (land line!) survey of 1,200 17-year-olds, conducted by the research organization Common Core and released February 26 [2008], found our young people to be living in ‘stunning ignorance’ of history and
Modern technology has become a wide topic of debate among many people including, college professors and teachers, concerned parents, and old-fashioned elders. Over the past 30 years, technology has progressed into a part of a person’s every day social and business life. With a sky-rocketing progression in new technology, come many concerns about the effects technology has on current society. Authors Amy Goldwasser, a freelance editor for famous magazines Vogue, Seventeen, and the New Yorker, and Gerald Gaff, professor of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, discuss the ever-popular debate on modern technology and the role in plays in schools. Goldwasser and Graff’s articles, “What’s the Matter with Kids Today?” and “Hidden Intellectualism” approach the topic in a different sense. Goldwasser expresses her thoughts through technology and Graff expresses his mainly through sports, yet both authors discuss the latter debate; the advantages of modern technology and the new curriculums in schools that should be a result of them. Even though Goldwasser and Graff appear to be arguing two different subjects, they are actually in agreement that schools need to catch the students’ attentions by initially practicing what interests the students. This common ground becomes clear when both authors acknowledge young people’s “stunning ignorance” of academics, both blame the cause of the lack of knowledge on the school system, and both agree that teenage interests can be used to increase academic scores. Goldwasser immediately jumps into her subject of concern, explaining that today’s American teenager is different from previous generations. She begins her article with a fact throwing in her own sarcastic personality: “A phone (land line!) survey of 1,200 17-year-olds, conducted by the research organization Common Core and released February 26 [2008], found our young people to be living in ‘stunning ignorance’ of history and
Cited: Goldwasser, Amy. “Whats the Matter with Kids Today?” They Say/I Say with Readings. Eds. Gerald Gaff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. 236-240. Print Graff, Gerald. “Hidden Intellectualism.” They Say/I Say with Readings. Eds. Gerald Gaff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. 297-304. Print