Manguel and Barron

Barron's essay talks about the evolution of writing utensils, from the pencil to the computer. Manguel's essay talks about the evolution of the recipient of the writing utensil, the book. They both discuss how technology has evolved to make our lives easier. While making our lives easier, this new technology has also done exactly what Plato said that it would, it has made us lazier and more forgetful. Barron talks about how the calculator and the word processor have done just this. Students no longer need to memorize their multiplication tables; they are able to bring a calculator into class. There is no longer a need to agonize over the spelling of words; the spell check function on our word processors won't allow us to turn in papers with spelling and grammar errors (unless we are lazy enough to ignore the spell check warnings). There is no longer even a chance that we will turn in a paper with a fragmented sentence. From personal experience, I have found that when I am asked to write an in-class essay question, my writing skills are not as good as they were when I was in high school. I have digressed. I did not grow up with calculators; I did not grow up with computers. All of my papers in high school, and most in college, were written on lined paper. I was considered a good student with good writing skills. Without the aid of the the crutch I now use, my computer, I'm not sure my high school teachers would think as highly of my writing skills.