thoughts on "Did you know?" and "Ted"

Did You Know?

Wow…I never fully appreciated how much technology has changed, evolved, and advanced in the past ten years. Now that I think about it, I am going to sound so old when I tell my kids that I remember when we didn’t have a computer in my house, we didn’t have cell phones, and we actually mailed letters. Even if you don’t know how to use all of it or even if you aren’t aware of the exact use for it, you cannot deny revolutionary advancements of it.
The thought that scared me the most that I haven’t really thought of before is that if you are one in a million in China, there are 1300 people exactly like you…that is a scary thought. There are that many people in the world! It almost makes the world seem infinite…just because of how many people are in the world. It scares me because it makes me wonder what kind of surveys I am going to see in the future…and I am hoping its not something like for every one person in America there is an exact computerized human replica in China (or anywhere else in the world). There is one thing for sure, at the rate technology is evolving my reality in five years might be exactly like one of today’s science fiction movies.


TED Says…
I completely agree with everything he said. As a child I was lucky enough to have parents that encouraged creativity because they themselves were raised to be functional and economical as children. They bought into the idea that in order to support themselves, they needed to concentrate on the skills that would guarantee a job even if it was something they did not enjoy. My father started out with a career that required creative skill but after years of struggling to support a family with that salary he was forced to go back to school in order to obtain a degree that would ensure a lucrative future…an associates degree in computer programming…he hated it, but he finished it. As a kid watching him, I slowly but surely noticed the passion for life fade from him as he worked, went to school, and tried to maintain a good relationship with me and my mom. I resolved at age 11, never to have a “job.” My mother embraces the idea that I can make something of myself and be creative and I agree so I chose teaching. I in fact chose the one subject where creativity is encouraged and discouraged all in the same subject heading…English and Language Arts. That’s why the Shakespeare analogy hit home with me.
English involves critical thinking and creative writing. Add the study of literature in the mix and one cannot help but defy the social and institutional standards set for the study of English. By studying literature, kids can grasp a form of creativity that can be nourished and made into a career. Without realizing it those who socialized education by making it functional with the “no child left behind” standards actually created an outlet for creative thinkers!