The book-form of Encyclopaedia Britannica has been in print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. It will stop being available when the current stock runs out, the company said. In honor of the resource books that got me through school, I give you this blog...
What? You want me to help you with that homework? You need direction with your research paper? You need assistance identifying bugs? Well, let me tell you how it was for me....
So sweetie, have you ever seen, heard of or opened an encyclopedia? Do you know what the Dewey Decimal System is? Typewriters and white out, you've never heard of those either. How about a dictionary to find out the correct spelling of that word?
The last few weeks of school have been full of school assignments. We have had the research paper, the entomology collection and a variety of other final projects. Not that they aren't hard, but really, how much easier is it now to complete these assignments. When I was in school, back in the day, there was no such thing as the internet or a word processing computer with spell check.
My grandma had a full set of encyclopias and I really enjoyed using them. Most of my research papers involved spending a lot of time at my grandparents. I used their encyclopedias and their electric typewriter. Other research was obtained by going to the library and looking for books.
While completing applications for scholarships, my son had to type a few that weren't available on the internet. My daughter was perplexed at what she saw when I brought home a borrowed typewriter. "What is that?!? Do the words print out on the paper?" She asked. It was then, I realized how much things have changed. Today's student has a wealth of information and technology available to them within seconds.
When completing her entomology collection, my daughter used the internet and her IPhone. She took pictures of some of the bugs and while we were away from home, looked them up online and emailed the information back to her email address at home. Then it was a copy and paste and print to identify the bugs on her board.
When I went to college I didn't have a computer, I had a typewriter. Now, each of the kids have a laptop and we have two other computers in the house. We have no encyclopedias.
So, do I want to help you? I will turn on the computer for you...
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