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somedudevt t1_j7tug6d wrote

Reply to comment by vtdadbod007 in A probably unpopular take on the VT State College Libraries by vtdadbod007

As a mid 30s person, it amazes me the number of dinosaurs on this REDDIT. Like I feel like I’m on the old side of acceptable Reddit users, but these people are arguing that college students need to be taught to use computers.

What the hell is the first 13 years of public education doing if it’s not teaching them that? I know in 2001 I was taking classes on how to use computers in HS, shit in 1998 we were learning to research online in 6th grade. By the time I got to college I had experience with Jstor and other scholarly journals, and utilizing things like LOC and the NYT archives.

Kids these days are born with tech in hand. My niece could find her cartoons on an iPad before she could form a full sentence and read.

I was probably on the early side of the no text book thing, I refused to buy them when I was at Lyndon, getting stuff I needed in digital form successfully most of the time. But as I progressed in my history and poli sci studies I never felt like I was struggling to get sources or access info.

Once a doc is digital it doesn’t need any maintenance, and anything that has value to society has been digitized in the last 40 years.

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Twombls t1_j7ua2nk wrote

They don't need to be taught how to use computers. But when it comes to navigating an institutions internal library, yeah people need help with that. Its not always easy.

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somedudevt t1_j7wvm17 wrote

Right but institutions don’t need libraries that’s the whole point. LSC doesn’t need a collection. JSC doesn’t need a collection. There is nothing in these libraries that can’t be found online, and when I was student teaching 15 years ago we were teaching 9th graders how to research, including accessing scholarly sites and collections. So yes at some point people need to be taught, but that is a middle and high school task. They should get to college knowing how to find sources.

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ArkeryStarkery t1_j83gym6 wrote

Some public schools still can't afford that education. Yes, now. Yes, still.

Poverty is still real!

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random_vermonter t1_j7xbcrh wrote

How does this post contribute to the discussion? You can't expect kids to know everything right out of the gate.

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