I can never find time to write during the week before Christmas, but apparently others can. The thoughtful responses to last week’s column questioning the role(s) of technology in education were in many cases far more eloquent than the essay that prompted them. What follows are a few of the highlights.
These thoughts need to be expressed whenever and wherever possible to a wider audience. The mad scramble to divert ever more money to laptops is indeed something that should be at least second-guessed. Your list of current problems in education that seem to stem directly from America’s fascination with more electronic gadgets is right on target.
Regarding handwriting, I had a college student say to me last week that he has difficulty reading cursive writing period ”“ since he had never learned to write cursively in all of his education in public schools. Alas, we are doomed!
Whew! You were on a roll when you wrote this! I can feel the pacing and it’s F-A-S-T! So, you don’t think we should grant our 9-year-old daughter’s Christmas wish list, which includes a cell phone and a laptop?
The Maine economy requires us to educate those we perceive to be at the “bottom” in a 21st century manner. These are the students that will stay in Maine and provide an attractive labor source for expanding industries.
Our kids do need the experience with technology”¦and all of our students, not just those who can afford the luxury. If our grease monkeys can’t manage diagnostics on the computer, they will be unemployed! A dealership on Route 1 no longer offers same-day service; they must wait for a tech-savvy mechanic that comes once a week to read diagnostics.
Computers are a distraction for some; however, the real culprits are the hand-held devices that can be blocked; the state could purchase systems capable of doing this at affordable cost. Discussing issues regarding technology in the classroom would help provide better curriculum than what we are currently offering.
Good title, lots of food for thought. The finish with how electronics in general has affected our youth and contributed to their non-involvement in sports seems all too true.
Last week on CNN I saw a piece about a school in Canada where the students did not use their cell phones for a week. Not being able to text was very difficult for them to do.
Hopefully people will really think about this and start to take some action. That would be better than knowing there’s a problem not doing anything about it.
My students are especially bad with figurative language ”“ they don’t seem to know any expressions! I feel like kids aren’t being read to by their parents, so allusions to my familiar childhood characters are met with blank stares or interruptions for explanations. Sigh.
I often hear kids in my reading class who are in 8th grade and can barely read, bragging about the Blackberries they’re getting for Christmas, in spite of failing grades in their classes and discipline forms piled high due to their anti-social behavior. What is with these parents?? Whatever happened to, “You get your homework done, you behave in class, and you get good grades, or you do NOT get your heart’s desire for Christmas.” Where’s their incentive to excel?
It is funny to observe that youth today is going to hell in a handbasket, but it must be a challenge not to sound like an old sourpuss in the process.
Many people who design curriculum do not understand technology, beyond “Technology is good” (or more likely, “Technology will make my resume look good”). The decision to put hi-tech on the ground floor is made before they know what they want the building to look like.
My son spent lots of time adjusting his fonts and images, turning out reports far nicer than the handwritten or poorly typed ones I did at his age ”“ but he still can’t write formally, and lacks a lot of basic editorial skills ”“ and arithmetic skills. I’d like him to be able to glance at a paper he’s constructed and have the misspelled words leap out at him, rather than looking for the red squiggles.
Now that he’s in 11th grade he unquestionably needs a computer, and much of his curricula should be based around it. But did every 6th grade student need one? Answer: They did not. And exactly what was the educational cost of all the time spent on the computer?
But perhaps the best bit of feedback from a reader on last week’s column was also the briefest. It consisted of just one word: “Amen.”
Andy Young wishes to sincerely thank readers Brian Engelhardt, Joe Foster, Jeff Norton, Betsy Chase, Sam Smithwick, Kathryn Surchek, Steve Wilson, and Russell Young for writing 90 percent (700 of the 775 words) of this week’s column for him.
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