My kids need calculators

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My students, I mean.

I signed in to gripe about kids needing all sorts of nuclear-powered equipment to do the things we used to do with pencil and paper.  But I got to thinking; I think the most obvious thing there is to be seen is (a) how incredibly diverse the variety of people there are in the world now: people who need calculators to add 6% to $100, and people who can do far more than I ever could, without a calculator.  (b) And it's also amazing how startled any freshman is at the things the other freshmen do.

There is a lot of diversity, and a lot of insularity.

The Internet actually fosters this insularity, because it encourages young people to connect up with like-minded, similar-thinking others on the internet, without making the effort to befriend the kid next door.  One of these days, they'll invent an app so that freshmen on our campus can connect up with other freshmen on campus, without making friends in their dorm, or their cafeteria, or their classes.  Or take online courses from their dorm room.  I can see it coming.

So, one thing a college can do, which a high-school cannot, is to enable a young person to relate to other young people a little different (or considerably different, if there are foreign students, for instance) than him or her.  A high school, after all, only contains his neighbors.

One argument for socially funding education at all levels is that a child or youth deserves far more investment than his family can either afford, or care to spend.  Is it to the benefit of the community to create a person who is comfortable with a wide range of others?  Yes.  Education at every level should be paid for with taxes.

Have a nice day.

Arch.