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I'd like to add a basic point here--and I suspect this is outside the European experience--concerning access to library resources and teachers specializing in "arcane" subjects just as the Middle Ages. There are many thousands of post-high school institutions in the U.S. (too many, if you ask me, but that is a whole other subject). Most teach basic social sciences but do not have the library resources to support the curriculum. (I just finished teaching two semesters at such an institution in Wisconsin). Distances are great in this country, and students just can't get to the books we'd like them to see. Hence, we try to teach them to use the internet. This works well because the average 18-21 year-old crowd is, for whatever reasons, much more comfortable and communicative with the keyboard and screen than with the human voice and face-to-face encounters! Anyone who has begun using email "office hours" can probably attest to that. Mr. Renihan strikes me as such a student, one who probably would have thanked us if he realized we would have cared. It was probably easier for him to voice his questions to strangers via email than to talk to his own teacher. His teacher may have suggested looking on the net, but the student probably tried out the listserv on his own initiative. Teenagers are notoriously susceptible to "chatroom" addiction, and listservs probably look similar to the rooms. These students are shy and still have difficulty posing their questions. Should they all be in college? That's the other questions I don't want to touch. Many of you probably have the good fortune to be teaching more confident and self-aware students. The other kind exists in greater numbers, however. And high school students are striving to find new learning experiences, as well. Good or bad, we should understand the dynamics of the almost-mature mind, here. I prefer to try to teach them, at least a little. Deborah Shepherd John E. St.Lawrence III wrote: > > R.A.Ross wrote: > > > Teachers are being told over and over that the `net' will > > solve all their information gathering problems, often by self-serving > > individuals such as systems salespeople and computer magazine > > journalists, but also by politicians. > > I'm glad you couldn't resist answering, as it is very informative to hear > the problem described from the other side of the pond. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%