with soft-lead pencil and tablet

"Cause and effect" seems to be a lost notion over the last few decades. The simple idea that each action creates a ripple effect going forward does not receive the type of attention it deserves but so it goes in a time where the obvious is no longer obvious.

Scanning towards the horizon the new decade grows near. Once, the notion of the "new century" had a surreal tone to it, a peculiar little dalliance following ripples into uncharted waters and other mysteries. The concern has shifted as the day-to-day tone has a more ominous Wagner-like backdrop as solving global woes weigh down other concerns.

This is both a by-product of the present day "human condition" and the emergence of the "modern media". Armed with über strength capabilities, the everyday citizen has replaced classically trained journalists and with it created not a ripple but a downward spiral at an ever increasing pace. Information, call it news is endlessly reported, layer upon layer in mindless forums. From a blog on every corner to a world where one-hundred forty characters is the limit to their reading experience, the "world media" creates a firestorm of non-newsworthy items, typically presented in a manner that yes, only a dumbed-down population will absorb. The artist / journalistic is twisting from the highest branch whilst the media outlet fills space with "content".

Sadly, this is a byproduct of technological "growth", where digital advances were meant to improve the quality of life but in-fact they have sent the train off the tracks in many areas. Though education should be plowing ahead in what should sound like a Gene Roddenberry production, the ripples have hit the shoreline and now headed back. Though the world could be entering a renaissance of enlightened thought, it drifts amongst mindless babble. However the problem is not technological advancements but how they have been used.

From the first prehistoric cave drawings to roughly thirty years ago, there was a commonality of the educational experience that is easy to overlook. Whether to directly copy or create, it was done in some form by free hand and via a easily forgotten step, to consider how to even replicate another piece of work. Whether it was a learning the complexity of linguistic characters or elementary arithmetic, the turning process of learning was involved in every step. Though there were seismic shifts in society such as the Gutenberg press, that improved the ability to learn, they did not negatively impact how you learn.

Unfortunately this is the point were the train jumped the tracks as quite innocently "technological growth" created a rift. Though it is a simple point, the basic notion of "copy and paste" has shook the very foundation of education. The process of learning and problem solving has been skipped over with the instantaneous ability to answer questions through this simple two-step. While educators may have originally assumed that the student would truly understand the decision-tree in finding said solutions, they are riddled with a generation heading into the workforce knowing how to copy, paste but rarely create.

This is neither the fault of a generation who grew-up with soft-lead pencil and tablet, the educator or even those who poured their minds into improving technology but instead a curious by-product. The "how" and "why" debate is likely a fruitless one but instead a new course must be set, lest innovation will run aground. For roughly three decades problem-solving abilities and particularly right-brained thought have been, albeit unknowingly, derailed by a way of life that promotes "copy and pasting". While this is most obvious in the arts, where every other musical act seems to be karaoke night, complete with yesterday's closet, the cost in the business world is enormous as solutions to problems are simply not found. Solutions aren't found because of intellectual roadblocks but because society is programmed on a daily basis to "copy and paste" and do as they are told. Conformity has been bred and with it, ripples that once only went forward are now headed back.