I told you children were stupid.
New research shows that youngsters are leaving primary school unable to spell, add or do times tables. According to a survey, more than a quarter of children aged between 10 and 12 cannot add two simple sums together without a calculator.
Dullards!
This comes just a few days after students worldwide panicked because Wikipedia went black for one day. Young people tweeted “How will I do my homework now?” (and worse yet, many wrote “What’s going on with Wikipedia?” Google it, idiots!).
And therein lies the problem: laziness.
We didn’t have Spell Check when I was young. If we needed to know how to spell a word, we would walk across the room to the bookshelf and look it up in the dictionary (where, thoughtfully, the definition of said word was also available, free of charge). No children had calculators either; shopkeepers were banned from selling them to minors. Those who did manage to get a hold of one didn’t even consider using it for mathematical reasons (hint: 5318008). Why would they? There was no reason to: that’s when brains are for.
Young people today seem to have willingly resigned themselves to not having to do things—if a machine won’t do it for them, then it must not be that important. Sadly, this seems to include thinking; I guess that’s just too much hard work for them to bother with. This can’t bode well for the future.
If you’re a parent worried about your child’s abilities, here’s a simple test: restrict his or her use of machines for one week. Without a calculator, can he complete his algebra homework? Without a computer, can she write an essay? Without a refrigerator, can he keep his meat and milk products from spoiling? Without her dialysis machine, can she remove waste and excess water from her blood? If the answers are no, your child is too dependent on machines and very likely a dumbbell.
You have my deepest sympathies. If they’re still in primary school, you still have time. Schedule an appointment with their teachers to come up with an action plan. Otherwise, I’m afraid your children will be on the fast track to a career as a fast food worker, criminal or the Chancellor of the Exchequer. No one wants that.
Everyone Needs an Algonquin 
In general, people that bother to become educated just think differently. And spend brain power on totally different things. Of course, there are the few on the ends of that bell curve, but for the most part, education allows you to see the world through a different set of woes and joys.
I can just see it – kids doing their exams will all be looking down into their blazer top pockets pretending to be thinking when really they are whispering into their smart-ass iPhone 4S, “What’s the answer to this one; 10 times 10…?” Pathetic!
MW
I remember my dad banned calculators unless we were ‘of age’ (doing trig problems past grade 7). The worst case of tech dependence…my husband downloaded (and uses) an app that teaches him how to tie a tie. He couldn’t just fumble around and work it out could he? Or ask a naval officer or his dad?