>The tragedy is that so many schools are rushing ahead with a fundamental
>transformation of their classrooms *without* any considered sense of
>mission, but only with a vague feeling of necessity or compulsion. Our
>children, some years from now, will doubtless let us know the results of
>our willingness to make of their lives a grand experiment -- an experiment
>founded upon our own reluctance to confront technology and put it in its
>rightful place. - Stephen L. Talbott
>
Unlike Mr. Talbott, I haven't noticed a great onslaught of schools rushing
in to use technology. Instead, I have noticed a few schools (either super
affluent or super poor) that have funding resources getting the technology,
then watching as the teachers resist using the technology despite their
students interest in playing with it and experimenting with it.
Also, I wonder what the world would be like if people sat around arguing
about whether bicycles and cars should be used before we actually start
using them. My point is, with any new technology, there's going to be a
period of adjustment and development. You have to pick up the paintbrush and
dabble in the paint medium before you get the feel of it. Sitting around
discussing how to use paintbrushes and paint might help set a few broad
goals, but it won't help with actual practice. Does anybody doubt that
computers are an important tool for our lives? Then, what are we waiting for?
Unlike Mr. Talbott, I don't see much rushing in to use the technology by
educators. Rather, I see lots of hand-wringing over technology by the very
people who have much to gain by keeping technology out of children's hands
-- the transmission method educators, the burnt-out teachers, the
bureaucratic administrators, the print-based journalists, the
television-based politicians, the competition-minded, SAT-obsessed parents.
Let's be honest here. Most people jumping on the anti-tech bandwagon are not
high-minded like Neil Postman. They've got other agendas that don't relate
to individual creativity or expression or reflection, but to collectively
moving masses of students through a system efficiently, and tagging them by
ability level efficiently.
I think that we all can see that computers are not a panacea, and we all can
see that the technology is evolving. But using these observations to simply
shut down the use of technology for educational purposes is just as
wrong-headed as shutting down arts and music education because we need to
boost test scores. (Something that has been quite efficiently and
effectively done since A Nation at Risk for all but the most affluent
students in this country.) An educated person isn't just someone who can
talk in the abstract about the tools we use, but someone who knows enough
about how to use the tools to have some worthwhile insights into how they
enrich our lives. It's important to reflect upon how we use tools, yes, but
we need to use them to reflect upon them! Think about it: What if we all sat
around wringing our hands over whether to communicate in words or not?
Anyway, touched my buttons, as you can see...Thanks for listening.
Louise
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