The Shifted Librarian links to an article on Technology Review about the myth of generation N, pointing out that, "Contrary to popular belief, not all kids are naturally adept with technology—and that spells trouble in an increasingly wired society."
The problem is deeper than that. Alan Kay recently pointed out that when we talk about computer literacy, we mean something akin to taking a book off the shelf and turning the pages, hardly even reading, and certainly not writing. We are training people to use Word, PowerPoint, Excel -- and that only barely -- not to use computers. That's why when I turned up for summer jobs while I was doing my degree and automated simple but tedious tasks, my employers were amazed. And these were engineers.
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