And of course searching has always been an important skill. Going to the library, talking to the prof at the local university, calling your friend's friend who's an expert in some subject -- just like internet searching, these require you to have a sense of what you need to know and how to ask the right questions. It seems to me that using the internet is kind of like talking on the telephone. It's not so much a new trick -- since talking or searching are not new -- as much as the old trick with a lot less leg work.
I agree. The author is right that technology is undermining the education establishment. But wrong that the problem is the educrats are stuck trying to convey "knowledge" rather than "search skills." The biggest problem is, the educrats want to give up on the notion that a broad knowledge base is essential. That's hard. Letting the kids goof off on the internet pretending that searching is the most important skill is easy.
It's as if, when I was in school, the entire curriculum had been about the dewey decimal system. So I'd be great at finding books. But i would have no idea what books to look for or what they meant. So, as a kid, I would spend my time efficiently finding cowboy novels and science fiction favorites. Not learning how to factor a polynomial. One is easy and fun. The other is hard. Education is there to force the little buggers to learn the hard stuff. They'll learn the easy, fun stuff on their own.
But the author buys into the educrats idea that somehow, kids don't need knowledge anymore. IMHO, the "searchability" revolution in education is just another excuse not to teach the hard stuff.