The Oregonian reports on an "old tech" lesson learned by Lake Oswego Junior High students when the school's computers were shut down for nearly four days. The systems had to be shutdown following a malware incident. Among other things, the students had to send "snail mail" home to their parents and many struggled with addressing the postal envelope:

Though proficient in e-mailing and text messaging, some of the eighth-graders wrote their address in the upper right-hand corner where the stamp goes. Others had the city first and the name last. A couple were unsure of their street address.

"It surprised me," said their teacher Aletia Cochran, who quickly taught them the ways of old-fashioned snail mail.

The article goes on to describes ways the teachers and students had to find alternative ways of doing things without the computers, Internet, electronic chalkboards and other visual equipment they use daily.

It is an interesting report. I often look at various activities dependent upon technology and think, "how would we carry on if the power went out?"

Resilience is a good thing. It is not only a matter of alternate technologies and tools; it is also a matter of skills and resourcefulness.

Many people my age and older may look at the story of the students struggling to address postal mail and lament the supposed "dumbing down" of the younger generations. This would be a big mistake. How many of us have the skills that our grandparent's or great grandparent's generations considered to be necessary? The sets of necessary skills change with time and, in the 20th Century, the pace of change increased. As new sets of skills are adopted, older ones may fall into disuse and not be learned by younger people. They don't have a need to learn them just as most of us don't need to learn how to handle a horse carriage.

The Oregonian article did have some good comments from Shelley Pasnik, director of the Center for Children & Technology. (The CCT has some interesting information on its Web site.) Among things she was, "Students might not know their phone number, but they know how to quickly access it... Kids have to negotiate a glut of information that is available to them." When reference tools are readily available, the need to memorise can be seen less vital. But knowing how to evaluate information from reference sources and how to use the information becomes more critical.

J.D. Abolins