Legalizar o copianço

É EVIDENTE que muitas das nossas escolas não ensinam aos alunos o que eles precisam nos tempos que correm. A utilização de novas tecnologias nas salas de aula continua proibida em muitos locais e é por isso que, muitos educadores, acham que uma das formas de lidar com este desfasamento é legalizar o copianço. Um artigo na primeira página do The Wall Street Journal que nos devia fazer pensar:

In a wireless age where kids can access the Internet’s vast store of information from their cellphones and PDAs, schools have been wrestling with how to stem the tide of high-tech cheating. Now, some educators say they have the answer: Change the rules and make it legal. In doing so, they’re permitting all kinds of behavior that had been considered off-limits just a few years ago.

The move, which includes some of the country’s top institutions, reflects a broader debate about what skills are necessary in today’s world — and how schools should teach them. The real-world strengths of intelligent surfing and analysis, some educators argue, are now just as important as rote memorization.

The old rules still reign in most places, but an increasing number of schools are adjusting them. This includes not only letting kids use the Internet during tests, but in the most extreme cases, allowing them to text message notes or beam each other definitions on vocabulary drills. Schools say they in no way consider this cheating because they’re explicitly changing the rules to allow it.