This all was sparked by going to see Tron on Monday night with my family. During the commercials we saw a Pirates of the Caribbean #4 (that annoyance is for a totally different post), and a million more advertisements for 3D movies. We were ironically watching Tron in 3D and I started to think about things.
When I was in 2nd grade, the highest form of entertainment our teacher needed to preform in order to keep our attention was nothing more than a song and dance; which she frequently did. Why was this? Maybe it was because that's all we had been exposed to? The media I saw growing up didn't have these amazing capabilities. No 3D, digital surround sound, LCD 60" plasma screen TV's, no interactive gaming (I'm thinking Wii here), no high scores to beat etc.
Now because kids ARE being exposed to these things, teachers are no longer going to be able to entertain their students through a mere song and dance. The kids are going to want animations, touch screens, remotes, Wi-Fi, flying cars, talking backpacks etc. How much harder is teaching going to be because of this?
I don't know how many of you have read Fahrenheit 451, I probably wouldn't have myself if it wasn't a reading assignment for Miss. Armstrong's sophomore English class. That book downright scared me! For those who haven't read it... here's a quick synopsis of the story:
"Guy Montag is a fireman who lives in a society in which books are illegal. His job is not to extinguish fires, but to light them. He burns books, and all the firemen wear the number "451" on their uniforms because that is the temperature at which books burn.
But the role reversal of the firemen is not the only difference between present-day society and the world in which Montag lives. People of Montag's world take no interest in politics or world issues. The only point of life is pleasure. Montag's wife, Mildred, spends her time watching the televisions that take up three of the four walls in their parlor, or listening to the seashell radios that fit snugly in the ear. It isn't until Montag meets a young girl named Clarisse that he realizes that there might be more to life than the electronic entertainment that absorbs everyone. Clarisse makes him think about the world beyond the wall television and seashell radios; she makes him wonder about life.
This newfound curiosity gets Montag into trouble when he takes an interest in reading the books that he's supposed to burn. When Captain Beatty, the fire chief, realizes that Montag has traded sides, he forces Montag to burn his own home. To save himself, Montag kills the fire chief and escapes the city. A manhunt ensues on live television, but when Montag eludes the authorities, an innocent man is killed in his place to appease the audience.
Montag finds a group of educated, vagrant men who remember great novels so that when the world returns to an appreciation of literature, they will be ready to help out. He joins them. As they are walking away from the city, a bomb destroys the place that was once Montag's home. Knowing they will be needed, the men turn back to the shattered city to help rebuild a society that has destroyed itself"
Ok, so hopefully you get the idea that the book is trying to illustrate the importance that books have in the world. Just last night I was watching Eat, Pray, Love and in the movie an old medicine man asked Liz (the main character) if she could copy a bunch of pages down for him so that he could preserve the knowledge he had gained and he could share it with those to come.
I guess in essence, I'm worried that the "rising generation" (that sounds incredibly ominous to me) won't have the appreciation or sense to use the millions of books that have been written to their fullest potential. I'm worried my own kids are going to find the newest 4D (yes... I do mean 4D, it includes the sensationof smell) TV show to be more entertaining than watching a caterpillar become a butterfly. I'm worried that nature will continue to change and go completely unnoticed by everyone.
Nature is beautiful.
Books are beautiful.
Knowledge is beautiful.
Ditto, ditto, ditto.
ReplyDeleteHear, hear.
And all other ways of saying "I agree!"
My current worry is about electronic books. I need my paper and ink and tangible, holdable words. Blah!