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Over the years I feel like I've met many a person who has told me that one of the things they most like about vacationing in someplace different is to be able to "people watch." And, I must confess, the idea of being in a sunny, foreign local alongside a busy avenue gazing out at passersby appeals to me, as well. Whether watching a young couple in love or a vendor haggling over a sale with a potential customer, it is always "strangely captivating" to observe others. Some of my fondest travel memories are of just that. For instance, some years ago in Rome, I recall seeing a young priest sitting on a bench (happily smoking a cigar) in a rather heated discourse, as a particularly memorable moment. Language barriers aside (I like to imagine he was speaking Esperanto) I was not close enough (nor creepy enough) to overhear what he was saying. Regardless, it was indeed captivating.

As I am apt to do, I found myself following various links that led me to a discussion via blog comments that involved a breach of etiquette on twitter. What caught my eye was the fact that the offender was a 15 year old boy who was well known in the adult education community in which he was an honorary member--as he has been deemed "a poster-child for the 21st Century student." This little bruhaha that I stumbled across got me thinking about how communication is changing--not only in how but with whom. Clearly, the Internet has made meaningful conversations possible across the globe, but, in a few growing areas, it has also bridged generations and previously stratified social groups--and in this particular group, blurring or even trying to erase the line between student and teacher. However, it was interesting to read the various comments (50 of them at last count) from adults in the wake of this young man's fopaux that ranged from "we shouldn't be engaging 15 year olds as adults" and "he's not going to be able to be fully immersed in meaningful dialog about education" to he's "a high-profile personality...[with] accomplishments as a web designer, programmer, education thinker...mature enough to take care of himself."