where are we headed?

The way in which appreciation of foundational knowledge is rapidly declining really has me worried. As a result of technology, we no longer feel the need to know how to SPELL (there's spellcheck since no one hand writes anything anymore) or ADD (there's calculators readily available everywhere, even on cell phones), or know ANYTHING really, since the great world wide web can give as all the information we could ever need. Before a test, a student actually said to me, "I don't understand why we have to know any of this by heart; I can always go look it up." In some school districts, they no longer teach geography of the United States(!!); they no longer teach basic rules of grammar (!!) (doubtful to spawn a generation of William Faulkners when the only complete set of vocabulary these children possess is the truncated form of the English language created from text and instant messaging).

What happened to valuing knowledge? To liking to know things just for the sake of knowing? To not wanting to look stupid when you misuse "your" and "you're," "too" and "to?" To realizing that having knowledge gives you a foundation on which to think for yourself? Heading in this direction means we're soon going to entrust computers with telling us what to believe. We'll be surrounded by individuals incapable of decision making or real conversation. We'll be, well at least I'll be, dispirited, dismayed, and dejected, with plenty of time to sit and shake my head as there will be a lack of anyone worth talking to, or anything worth reading.