The Problems with Spark Notes

In a world where time is the benefactor, short cuts are becoming the easier way out of life. “Oh shoot! A book report is due tomorrow and I haven’t even check out the book!” Sound familiar? You might think, “No problem. Let me boot up my lap top and Google ‘Life of Pie’ summary.” Procrastinating had once again not affected my grade because of this beautiful technology. Wrong. Think of the bigger picture and what the lesson in the book was trying to teach you that you didn’t learn because all you read about was the plot. The short cut hurt you because the following week in the class essay on “Pi’s moral development throughout the book” was failed since the lack of never thinking crucially about the book. You may save a couple hours here and there but short cuts are never the easy way out because the end result never pays off. By taking short cuts in life, lack of experiences occurs. Short Cuts are always because you are too lazy to do something the long way making the brain lazy, requiring less thinking. How will you ever get smarter without thinking? In Source A(The Onion), a girl becomes emotional after reading a Cliff Notes summary on her book. A CLIFF NOTES SUMMARY! Imagine all the experiences and critical thinking she missed because of not reading the book. If a summary can get her enthusiastic about the topic why not take the extra step and flip open the book? The learning is always greater with the things that are done the way they are supposed to be done. In Source F (Grimes), author Ginger Grimes complains about the “cheating of Spark Notes by “Googling” the answers. They obtain the answer to the information in milliseconds but that information doesn’t stick with them. Compared to the people who read the book; they will be able to discuss the themes with any stranger who also read the book. This discussion could take place in the day after the test or in 25 years at their high school reunion. How ever the person who “Googled” the