Are You Informed?

This piece is worth a read:

http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=QYw8fVKV9Vv4V6kWySfwnJynqhrkzfSg

I am routinely troubled by our failure in getting and keeping ourselves informed. A student asked me a few weeks ago what specific steps she could take to improve her base of knowledge. Our exchange went roughly like this:

What is the home page that opens when your launch your primary Web browser?
Facebook.
Change it to Google News, New York Times or Washington Post. You can still visit Facebook, but you'll see key news every time you launch.

Do you subscribe to a print publication, either newspaper or magazine?
No.
Pick one. I get a local and national. But I'm about to subscribe to a magazine called "The Week" that serves as a digest of key issues worth knowing.

Do you ever talk about current issues with friends?
Not really.
Try once a day to have a conversation with someone about something you read.