Students in my afternoon section told me they never heard the words “welfare state” and “austerity measures.” I asked them in English to make sure and they just batted their eye-lashes and looked confused. Nobody knew about the protests in Spain and Italy and nobody had any idea about what is happening in Greece.
“Don’t you follow the news?” I asked in exasperation.
“No,” the students drawled, looking very bored.
“Why???” I asked.
“We don’t watch television,” one student explained.
I don’t watch television either but that doesn’t prevent me from following the news.
Internet generation, my ass.

Leave a comment