Urging Educators to Accept the Internet as a Valuable Research Tool for Students :: Teaching Education

Urging Educators to Accept the Internet as a Valuable Research Tool for Students On the evolutionary scale of importance, minnows occupy a seemingly menial state: they are small, they are unimposing, they are relatively slow, and they are inept. In the face of danger from larger and more physically dominant fish, minnows flee. When a fisherman’s net scoops them from their environment, they are defenseless. Even as the fisherman grasps a minnow’s meek body, and plunges a hook into its back, the best a minnow can do is stare vacantly. Despite these ostensibly inauspicious characteristics, however, minnows do possess some value. If they are physically adept, and fortunate enough to not succumb to the aforementioned hazards, they develop into larger fish, which are capable of avoiding the more mundane dangers of their environment. Still, a minnow would not be the ideal choice for a fresh body if one exalted the forces of reincarnation. Plus, in our secularized state, most creatures do not admonish the minnow as a divine creature worthy of respect. Humans especially do not lavish the minnow with attention: not in art, not in literature, nor in religious lore. After all, images of Moby Minnow eluding an enraged Ahab would probably not wet the tastes of dilettantes or casual readers of literature. Yet, all kidding aside, the minnow evokes a fabulous metaphor for educators imploring their students to learn. Although teachers by no means â€Å"hook† students and use them for â€Å"bait,† they do have the ability to educate their students about the dangers of the real world. Physical dangers, albeit different from the perils faced by minnows, do pose threats to students in obtrusive and visible forms: alcohol abuse, drug abuse, peer pressure, and violence amongst other things. To exacerbate matters more, some of these dangers overlap each other, which makes the job of adult intervention even more irksome and problematic. Moreover, another danger exists for students: the Internet. Suddenly red flags and whaling klaxons emerge in the minds of some readers! This paper does not purport to advocate a fundamental rationale for adolescent Internet use; nor does this paper unleash philippics about the immoral decadence attributed to the Internet. Urging Educators to Accept the Internet as a Valuable Research Tool for Students :: Teaching Education Urging Educators to Accept the Internet as a Valuable Research Tool for Students On the evolutionary scale of importance, minnows occupy a seemingly menial state: they are small, they are unimposing, they are relatively slow, and they are inept. In the face of danger from larger and more physically dominant fish, minnows flee. When a fisherman’s net scoops them from their environment, they are defenseless. Even as the fisherman grasps a minnow’s meek body, and plunges a hook into its back, the best a minnow can do is stare vacantly. Despite these ostensibly inauspicious characteristics, however, minnows do possess some value. If they are physically adept, and fortunate enough to not succumb to the aforementioned hazards, they develop into larger fish, which are capable of avoiding the more mundane dangers of their environment. Still, a minnow would not be the ideal choice for a fresh body if one exalted the forces of reincarnation. Plus, in our secularized state, most creatures do not admonish the minnow as a divine creature worthy of respect. Humans especially do not lavish the minnow with attention: not in art, not in literature, nor in religious lore. After all, images of Moby Minnow eluding an enraged Ahab would probably not wet the tastes of dilettantes or casual readers of literature. Yet, all kidding aside, the minnow evokes a fabulous metaphor for educators imploring their students to learn. Although teachers by no means â€Å"hook† students and use them for â€Å"bait,† they do have the ability to educate their students about the dangers of the real world. Physical dangers, albeit different from the perils faced by minnows, do pose threats to students in obtrusive and visible forms: alcohol abuse, drug abuse, peer pressure, and violence amongst other things. To exacerbate matters more, some of these dangers overlap each other, which makes the job of adult intervention even more irksome and problematic. Moreover, another danger exists for students: the Internet. Suddenly red flags and whaling klaxons emerge in the minds of some readers! This paper does not purport to advocate a fundamental rationale for adolescent Internet use; nor does this paper unleash philippics about the immoral decadence attributed to the Internet.