The Saber-Tooth Curriculum

I feel that the saber-tooth curriculum article summarizes the struggle that is constantly occurring in education. Education is constantly trying to determine the skills that children need in order to become productive members of society. I see a similar situation to the saber-tooth curriculum occurring within my school’s library. Every eighth grade student is required to write a term paper and learn these skills from the English and Library teacher. The library teacher insists that the students learn how to obtain information for their paper from encyclopedias and other bound resources within the library. She maintains that the students will develop the proper techniques for gathering information and take proper notes. While I feel that the students will benefit from these lessons, but solely using bound books is just like students learning to catch fish with their hands in muddy waters. The teacher should give the student the knowledge to collect and organize research, but allow them to use current forms of media that is commonly used in today’s society. Many of the students should be using the Internet and computers to assist them in obtaining the best information for their projects. Education should give students the fundamental skills, but in a way that relates to real world situations. This connection would show students the importance of learning the material.