A Great Obstacle to Good Education

Hat tip to Kyle Beatty who shared this awesome pessimists podcast site with me. A couple of months ago, I ranted on technology bashing. He shared the site. It features technologies that are now mundane, established or commonplace that were once scandalous and or controversial. In reading through the site today, I came across a link to a letter sent by Thomas Jefferson in 1818 in which he writes about the scourge of the novel. Does it remind you of anything?

A great obstacle to good education is the inordinate passion prevalent for novels, and the time lost in that reading which should be instructively employed. when this poison infects the mind, it destroys it’s tone, and revolts it against wholsome reading. reason and fact, plain and unadorned, are rejected. nothing can engage attention unless dressed in all the figments of fancy; and nothing so bedecked comes amiss. the result is a bloated imagination, sickly judgment, and disgust towards all the real businesses of life. Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Burwell, 14 March 1818

Look, I'll readily admit that we have some serious thinking to do about the ways we use technology. But take a look at this picture. Remind you of anything? 

                                                                                         vs.