The "native"/"immigrant" categorization was flawed from the start, with all due respect to Prensky for seeking a purposeful analogy. However, the moniker has been maintained for a decade now. When I first read it, I bristled at the thought of being an immigrant simply based on my birthdate. So I wrote and spoke about my own categorization...I am a digital interpreter. My idea never caught on, but now many years after the shift from computers as consumption machines to creation vehicles, our "natives" are still mostly clueless about what they have that could make an impact on their world. So, as I follow Syria's war now, the Arab Spring and Occupy Movements of last year, the Mumbai Terrorism of a few years ago all on Twitter, I still await the great awakening of America's restless natives who will one day ask, "Is this all there is to this digital world?" They have no idea of the power they hold in the hip(ster) pockets...which might be a good thing. :)

So let me get this straight: Someone thinks it is not right for someone who "lives in the classroom," year after year, to sell their knowledge to help others who live in their classrooms as well. BUT, it's okay for someone who has never been in a classroom, or got out of it before certification renewals came, to create lessons and sell, or receive education-based grants, their knowledge as pedagogical experts (Khan, KIPP, Rocketship, etc.). Keep writing, speaking, and making us career educators proud to know you and your work.

Thanks for posting this Jim. I apologize for my lengthy response ahead of time, but you have triggered deep feelings for me. This is, to me the crux of real teaching. To help a student begin to find their "true meaning and purpose" for their life. When we allow others to reduce our work to test scores, we allow them to cheapen, not just the profession of teaching, but the conscience of our society. To allow students to begin thinking that only the high test scorers are able to "achieve" (and that is a student's conclusion as they compare their scores) is to not only disenfranchise another generation of young people, but to deny them the opportunity to believe they have something to contribute to making a better world. Frankl's Work, Love, Courage conclusions are as valid today as it was from a Auschwitz. Rabbi Kushner's "big enough why" is a teaching philosophy in need of greater consideration in the 21st Century than it was in his day. My class motto (7th grade Social Studies) is "Social Studies is not a class you take - it is a matter of life, death, and survival." My students begin to see this as a reality when they see what they have never seen before in the countries we study (Congo, Sudan, South Africa, Nigeria, China, Koreas, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, and elsewhere). Everything is new to them. Almost overwhelming. When it comes time for testing, I know they have been given the pablum of my state standards. I also know that my students understand much more than our standard-writers would expect them to know about their world. I have to help my students understand that they know more than will be required of them, and the the test is now about their life and survival...because it is, unfortunately. I let my students (88% minority and ELL) know that the state believes they cannot pass their test. I let them know that for tests to be valid and reliable, a certain number of students must fail them. I let them know those students who will fail didn't come through my classroom. It's not a false hope. Yes, I make the state and federal government to be their enemy in their current struggle for life, death, and survival - and their opportunity for a better future. Teachers need to stop thinking how these test scores will affect them personally, and realize that these test scores pre-determine the opportunities today's students will have in their life. Enough for now. I think I need to move to a post of my own. Thank you, again, Jim, for your time and space for this necessary discussion. I applaud you for reading works that many have forgotten (or neglected) that make the difference between a teacher and child-care worker.