Meh. Same as it ever was.
Who was it? Homer? One of those other dead Greek guys? Anyway, there was this school of thought centuries ago that reading and writing were bad because it meant that educated people no longer had to memorize epic poems and stories and be able to recite them in an instant. Sure, that was a loss, but the benefits of writing and reading hugely outweigh that loss.
I remember when there were the first controversies about allowing calculators in math classes. Teachers eventually realized that calculators are a tool - students need to know how to apply them to a problem. Calculators don't magically give answers to arbitrary problems. (Anyone who thinks they do should sit in front of a Desmos screen for half an hour -
https://www.desmos.com/calculator )
Having Google available is a great boon for mankind. But it means that teachers have to be smarter about presenting lectures and teaching. Yes, simply asking students to regurgitate names and dates is no longer an important skill (if you're willing to depend on ubiquitous internet access). And Google makes it easier to cheat, so teachers have to figure out ways to combat that.
But an important part of an education is knowing how to find existing facts and information. We don't get very far if we're constantly reinventing the wheel. And it's more important than ever to develop critical thinking skills. Google makes it easy to get a wide variety of thoughts and opinions - one needs to figure out how to sift it all out.
The world changes - film at 11:00. The educational system needed to adapt to handheld calculators, PCs, and now Teh Google. Those advances aren't necessarily making us stupider, but educators and students need to change to recognize their benefits (and limitations).
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
