Teaching Digital Natives

Here is what is like to teach the "Digital Natives":

Today I was lecturing about two Chinese warlords -- The Old Marshal, Zhang Zuolin, and his son, the Young Marshal, Zhang Xueliang. Maybe it's boring for Digital Natives to listen to an old guy lecturing about two guys named Zhang, so I tried to spice it up a little:

"Old Zhang was subservient to the Japanese, but they were still suspicious, so they killed him and gave power to his son, Young Zhang, who should have been easier to control, because he was a womanizer and an opium addict."

"Oooooohhh" said one of my students, "sounds like fun!"

"Dude!" interrupted another student, "Americans are so busy and stressed out that they make their own meth!"

"Wait a minute," said another student, "they're so busy . . . . so they make meth . . . doesn't that take time?"

"Dude," continued the questioned one, "they're so pro at Chemistry that they take a little time to make their own meth, and then they use the meth to stay up all night studying!"

"Oh," continued the corrected one, "that's smart!"

"Proposition 19 Failed!" added the original interlocutor.

Finally I had to explode: "NO THAT'S NOT SMART!!! SPEED WILL ROT YOUR TEETH!"

The kids looked at me like I'm crazy.

One of the more sensible students brought the conversation around: "Mr Mick, How do you spell his name -- Zhang . . . the old one?"

"I don't know," I responded, "just google 'Zhang old marshal' -- you'll get it. I think it's X - I - E . . . . or something like that ."

"I got it!" he said, "Z - O - U . . . . you were close!"