Everyone is feeling so sorry for kids today, having to attend school virtually -missing out on their friends and teachers, being stuck at home with their parents, and having to make their own lunches Sounds a lot like what my captor is putting me through. On the plus side, listening to their parent’s zoom meetings should give them the motivation to study hard and find a better way to make a living.
Well, I think of myself as a virtual learning pioneer, and it worked out just fine for me. It started during college, when many classes were ‘attendance optional’ , with the “Hey, let me borrow your notes” technique, progressed to “Hey, sign the attendance sheet for me”, and on to “Hey, can you type my paper for me? You can type anything you want on page 8”. And I don’t want to say my attendance was spotty, but at least 2 professors tried to put my face on the side of a milk carton.
But the real VL breakthrough was Osmosis. This was a technique in nighttime learning, where a text book was kept under one’s pillow and slept on, and the brain would ‘osmose’ the knowledge within. I don’t know how well it worked, but my neck always felt better in the morning. And if things went well in the bars, one might end up in group Osmosis.
My skepticism of live class attendance was born early in my Freshman year; we had a break in accounting – I guess even the professor couldn’t find that stuff interesting for 2 full hours – so we ran across the street for a beer. When we returned, a pop quiz had begun. Unfortunately, the wrong book had been under my pillow the night before, so I didn’t do so well.
Because this was the Richard Nixon era, we were taught not to believe or trust, anything. Including what we were being taught. My fear of knowledge increased when our Economics professor was asked “Does this always work?” and she replied “Yes, sometimes.” That thought might have fit better in a philosophy class… But it haunted me later when I got confused and bought high and sold low.
Not believing anything we were taught made studying tricky, but very easy to skip ahead. Of course, I went to college in an era when George Washington was still the father of our country, so who knows how much of the history we learned was accurate. And its not just us, I’m sure little German kids are sure they won WW2. Regardless, it has been great preparation for the current “Fake everything” era.
But I concede that today’s VL challenges are different, and kids might have it tough.
With the onset of VL came Virtual Bullys – who demand your bitcoins, and make GrubHub deliver your lunch to them.
How does the weird kid who eats paste do that virtually? And can you flick a cootie across the internet?
More seriously, is shooting a virtual spitball a terroristic threat?
In an attempt to help, I have looked at Virtual Playgrounds online, but most of those seem geared to adult tastes, so be careful.
I hope it works out for kids, but I’ve got my own continuing education to attend to. Tonight’s topic is Shakespeare – I already have Hamlet under my pillow.
Love it and I am hoping this comment gets me back on the Email list.