I generally agree. The best place for computers in a school is the library and even that's a gamble.
Right now, a computer can be used to cheaply expand a library holdings. Just the other day, I saw a CD series purporting to contain a decade of National Geographic on each CD. Not a bad use of a CD if the information is at least as accessible as it's print counterpart. Unfortunately, publisher's love of changing formats to force new sales and DRM make uses like this a big gamble. Will you still be able to find CD ROM players in ten years? What kind of addition to a library is a holding that goes away so fast? What use is a decade's worth of magazines if it can only be viewed by one user at one computer with special software that won't work in three years? Because the same paranoid dummies are busy screwing the world wide web, the future of useful content there is also in doubt. Perversely, digital content can come with more restrictions and less value than paper inherently had. It's fundamental issues like this that teachers need to be aware of to prevent vendors from pushing what amounts to short lived home entertainment systems onto schools. On 2003.07.25 12:28 Tim Fournet wrote: > I've just checked the web sites for the Baton Rouge and Lafayette > newspapers, and No, I didn't see any news. Got a link? > > As far as "Technology in Education," I really can't push for it very > hard. There are basic skills that K-12 students need to learn besides > computers, and I fear that putting computers in every classroom would > either be a waste of money on equipment they won't use, or a waste of > time that could be better spent teaching the basics. Learning about > computers is important, but I don't think doing that should take time > away from the things that our students aren't learning right now, like > Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. Of course, organizations like LEDA are > all for it--these people think they'll be able to make money off the > deal by selling computers or services to schools. Computers are not a > replacement for teachers and books. > > I don't disagree that every students needs to learn basic computer > skills and that some money needs to go to that, but I also don't think > it's the key to fixing the education system, and the economy, for the > state. > > >
