Computers Cannot Teach Children Basic Skills
by Xuen Yabut
1. David Galernter
2. Over the last decade an estimated $ 2 billion has been spent on more than 2 million computers in America's classrooms.
2.1. Not very surprising, because they hear from Washington that the schools are in trouble and that computers are a godsend.
2.2. In Kentucky as the Wall Street Journal reported, students in grades K-3 are mixed together regardless of age in a relaxed environment.
2.3. Do we really think "drilling addition and subtraction in an age of calculators is a waste of time"? if we do, then "drilling reading in an age of multimedia is a waste of time" can't be far behind.
2.4. To misspell is human; to have no idea of correct spelling is to be semiliterate.
3. Computers Teach Some Things Well
3.1. Computers should be in the schools.
3.2. With the right software, they could make help science tangible or teach neglected topics like ART and MUSIC.
3.3. They could help students form a concrete idea of society displaying on-screen version of the city in which they live.
3.4. Computers make our worst educational nightmares come true.
3.5. Computers discount words in favor of pictures and pictures in favor of video.
3.6. Computers dismiss linear argument and promote fast, shallow romps across the information landscape.
4. Computers Lower Reading Skills
4.1. Take multimedia
4.2. The idea of multimedia is to combine text, sound, and pictures in a single package that you browse on-screen.
4.3. Multimedia is guaranteed to sour them on unsweetened reading.
4.4. It makes the printed page look even more boring than it used to look.
4.5. To turn a book or document into hypertext is to invite readers to ignore exactly what counts --- the story.
4.6. The real problem, again, is the accentuation of already bad habits.
4.7. If you're a newspaper or magazine editor and your readership is dwindling, what's the solution? Shorter pieces.
4.8. If you're a politician and you want to get elected, what do you need? Tasty sound bites.
5. Conditions On The Use Of Computers
5.1. There should be a completely new crop of children's software.
5.1.1. There are hundreds of similar reading and geography and arithmetic programs, but almost nothing on electricity or physics or architecture.
5.1.2. Also, they abuse the technical capacities of new media to glitzy up old forms instead of creating new ones.
5.2. Computers should be used only during recess or relaxation periods.
5.3. Most important, educators should learn what parents and most teachers already know.
5.3.1. You cannot teach a child anything unless you look him in the face
5.3.2. We should not forget what computers are. Like books --- better in some ways, worse in others. --- They are devices that help children mobilize their own resources and learn for themselves.