Overall Response

Books and teenagers are not as intertwined with each other as teenagers and the Internet. This concerns the educational policy makers in the U.S. and abroad. The inspiration of teenagers to spend endless hours on the internet as compared to reading and writing has these policy makers pondering what to do. The best interest of the children concerned may not be the issue, as people who are in authorative educational positions do not always have the best interest of children at heart. The pawns in this game of chess get to decide in a changing technological world, what methods of learning best benefit a child regardless if the child has a high efficiency of internet ability and is more comfortable with digital learning as compared to traditional learning.

Concentrated line learning of the old stalwarts is still the educational standard that tests are measured on. Many of these standardized tests have obvious proof of biases concerning cultural and racial applications in their administration. They also have proven biases of children with disabilities and other learning difficulties. Children with disabilities find it more comfortable to browse and read on-line as compared to possibly engaging in a classroom and being scrutinized by their peers for not being on the same reading level or aptitude scholastically. The worry or concern of the electronic media destroying reading skills does have validity to it. It doesn't take the same cognitive skills to browse and read on the internet as it does to read a long and enduring book! Just as parents and educators have complained about since the concept of formal schooling was instituted, do outside influences have control over my child or do I? To many in the educational field the internet is an outside influence that has the youth of America in eternal brainlock.

In comparison of reading books for fun, many youth browse the internet for fun. The concern of traditional education is that the internet distracts more than strengthens reading. The internet teaches many students who are not fluent readers better ways to recieve information. Many internet endorsers believe that strong readers on the Web eventually surpass those who read print only. In the time that it takes to read a book, it would take a student less time to browse the internet, and cover many topics from many points of view.

The internet allows low income students to be on a level of participation educationally that the printed/written text does not allow. Their are no biased tests, no reading of non-related subjects or subjects of limited interest, and no teacher who does not have the enthusiam to teach students who society has deemed as unteachable and incorrigible. Children can percieve these things and they know who has their best interest at heart.

The major concern of all involved is the trustworthyness of the many modes of information that can be accessed by youth. Many sites are not monitored for accuracy of information. To use the information from some sites is at the risk and peril of each individual.

Other than debating about the internet as a liability to the learning of our children we should look at the other side of this debate. Children did not create text-messaging. This is an adult invention that is marketed at the youth. Text messaging encourages spelling and grammatical errors due to its limited use of characters on some phones. Do we blame the corporate pimps who profit off of the youth and encourage bad grammar to sell phones? No, we give them a free pass because it is easier to attack someone who doesn't have a slew of lawyers to protect them from cause and effect. Did children invent the internet? Again we have an adult invention that is geared toward the youth of America and the world. The youth of the world visit sites daily that are promoted by adults who profit off of their participation. With no monitoring specifics or checks of individuals who run these sites, we find it easier to blame the youth than accept that as adults and parents we are lacking in our responsibilities to protect the youth. Online predators, predatory advertisement, and computer viruses cannot be blamed on the youth.

Though there will continue to be a debate of standardized testing and the properness of internet literacy, we must understand that kids need all these types of learning in a competitive world. Things change constantly and learning has new concepts introduced daily. Do we as adults and educators adapt to change or will someone later in history find us fossilized with a book in our hand with a note stressing "reading or death".