Good quote on “information literacy”

Anita Givens, senior director for instructional materials and educational technology at the Texas Education Agency, is quoted in an article on CNN as saying, “… what is the educational value of accessing a lot of information?” and “Having a lot of information at your fingertips is like going to the library and not reading anything.” Givens is primarily referring to the need to promote critical information evaluation skills, which is of course important in our information age (I want schools to teach formal logic before they start on algebra!!!). But let’s remember, the Internet is not a library. It is home to a constantly expanding and changing interactive community of users and creators of information. Access to information is one aspect, critical evaluation is another, but the people that gain the most are those who are providing the information. As Heidegger said, “In all teaching the teacher learns the most.”