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The "Good Old Days" Are Now
Helping Our Kids Live Better Today
By Mark Stackpole
Remember the days when writing an elementary school report on a foreign country meant breaking open an encyclopedia and copying down whatever it said about imports, exports, populations and the national flower?
These days, such an assignment would be more like developing a Web page dedicated to that country, e-mailing or chatting with some actual citizens and downloading a picture of the national flower for use on an in-class PowerPoint presentation.
"Our children are now much closer to being citizens of the world because of technology," says Susanne M. Alexander, a marriage counselor and mother of four in Cleveland, Ohio. "They not only meet people throughout the world, they can maintain relationships with people globally. It is highly beneficial for them to have a world view as they move into their lives independent of us, and it is also great that they have friends of many cultures to learn from and appreciate."
Yes, there are risks to technology and Internet usage, and caution and careful parental monitoring are of the utmost importance. That said, our young people have access to an unprecedented amount of information and are using it to develop the skills that will push technology, and society, even further into the future.
