Reflections on Larry Sanger's article "Individual Knowledge in an Internet Age"

What a breath of fresh air this aritcle was for me. It truly grounded me. To read these words spoken by the co-founder of Wikipedia was even more validating. After all the reading and discussing I've been doing lately on connectivism, collaboration and reformulating our ideas of what "knowledge" is, it was great to read that Sanger believes in adhering to the basics of a liberal arts education. I particularly like this statement, "the vast body of essential facts that undergird any sophisticated understanding of the way the world works does not change rapidly" and "...unless one learns the basics in those fields, Googling a question will merely allow one to parrot an answer — not to understand it." So let's not throw out our textbooks and close down the libraries just yet. Children still need to be taught the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. They need to know and understand a large amount of information so their brains can make sense of the new information that is coming in. Yes, the internet can be used as a tool to provide information, but teachers and classrooms with four walls still have a place in this day and age. We need to teach critical thinking skills and socialization skills; we need to impart a love of lifelong learning. This learning may come from books, the internet or actual experience. It may be done individually or with others. Hopefully, it will be a combination of all of these things. The internet is wonderful tool, when used proplerly but it will never replace teachers or the "basics" of a well rounded eduacation.