FROM THE PUBLISHER
Why Johnny Can't Write

It’s been said that progress has its casualties. Never is this statement more evident than when observing what’s happened in the last 20 years or so, since the dawn of the computer- on-every-desk era.

Like many of you, I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, graduating from Alton (Illinois) High School in 1976. I never touched a computer until the early 1990’s when my partner, Jim Slife, dropped one on my desk and said, “Here you go, Rick. Time you learned how to use one of these.” Even while attending Drake University in the early 80’s, personal computers were not very prevalent. I made it through six years of college with reference books, a Texas Instruments pocket calculator, a manual typewriter, New Webster’s Speller, Roget’s Pocket Thesaurus, and lots of Correct-O tape and carbon paper. (If you don’t know what Correct-O tape, carbon paper, Roget’s Thesaurus or Webster’s Speller is…ask your parents or visit a local museum).

I never thought I’d say this but, in hindsight, I was very fortunate to have grown up during the Grey Matter and Graphite Era (as my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. McDonald, would say). The brain and a pencil…life was so simple then. Today the ‘brain’ is in a box on your desk and pencils…do they still make them?

The desktop computer has replaced many of the tools we relied upon in a less complicated time. It has made us all much more efficient, aware and in touch. Unfortunately…it has also all but eliminated the need for traditional written communication and has created a generation of illiterates in terms of grammar, spelling and the art of creative communications.

Think I’m kidding? Give a teenager a pencil and paper and have them compose a letter or short story. I think you know what I mean. Don’t get me wrong…your kids (and mine) are very bright, ambitious, well educated…relative to the era in which we are living. This is not a knock on them or, frankly, our educational institutions. It’s more a commentary on what we, as a society, believe is important. Being computer literate vs. well…versus being just plain literate. If Mrs. McDonald were here right now, I know what she’d say. “Ricky… turn off that darned computer contraption and take out a piece of paper. Time for a writing assignment.”

Then I’d say, “Mrs. McDonald, what should I write about?” “Young man, she’d say, use your grey matter and graphite. You’ll figure it out.” You know, I always did figure it out, and to this day I have a passion for creative writing. I’m thankful for the computer, especially for the access to research and for the word processing capabilities it provides. But, I’m more thankful for growing up in the Grey Matter and Graphite Era.

I’m just sorry our kids, and all generations to follow, will not know what life was like, pre-Macintosh.
Ahh, yes, the casualties of progress. Johnny can’t write and I can’t use a slide rule. Perhaps folk singer Bob Dillon was right...“Oh, the times they are a changin’.” n