While researching “Learn to Learn” programmes I came across this quote from John Holt that sums up really well how I feel about educating our children.

“Since we cannot know what knowledge will be most needed in the future, it is senseless to try to teach it in advance. Instead, we should try to turn out people who love learning so much and learn so well that they will be able to learn whatever needs to be learned.”

While this looks like a modern quote written for a technology driven world with a high rate of change it is in fact a lot older as John died in 1985. Like many of the best quotes it is enduring and timeless.

I saw this great way of  looking at technology from a Douglas Adams article How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet. Although it puts a smile on your face when reading it I think it does so because there is a hidden truth in its message:

1.  everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;
2.  anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;
3.  anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

Apply this list to movies, rock music, word processors and mobile phones to work out how old you are.This observation can help us understand which generation finds what technology difficult.