Computers in Schools

I just want to start this by saying that I have thought the use of technology, particularly technology with screens, in school has been part of the reason that we are finding education in the United States to be going down hill.

Let me clarify.  I do not think that computers are a bad thing, that they should be done away with.  But I do believe the idea that a program on a computer can teach a child to read or write better than a human teacher there in the room with them is crazy.  It appears that I am not the only one to think this way.  In fact some of the world's top computer scientists send their children to a school without computers.  This is the Waldorf School, located in, yes, Silicon Valley, the home of some of the greatest computing advancements of all time.  Alan Eagle, who works in executive communications at Google, is quoted at saying, "If I worked at Miramax and made good, artsy, rated R movies, I wouldn't want my kids to see them until they were 17."  He says this to make the point that everything has a time and a place, computing technology included.  I am inclined to agree with him.  School systems are trying to integrate computers earlier and earlier in education and I really don't think they are seeing the results that they were hoping for.

Technology is a wonderful thing and should be taken advantage of, it should not be used as a crutch, which is what we are making it by creating a dependence on it among rising students in the United States.  Call me old fashioned, but I believe a key step in getting US education back on track is to take computers out of early education.  They are not really needed, and mold kids with shorter attention spans and less cognitive thinking skills.

I have experience the difference that this makes first hand.  This past summer I was working running some camps in Alabama and in North Carolina.  Though the kids in Alabama come from a very poor area and have not had the opportunities that many of the kids in North Carolina have had, they were much better to have at camp.  I was talking about this with another staff member (who happens to be graduating with a degree in education this year) and we decided that the fact that these kids were not able to play video games all the time and did not need constant input as a result were what made the difference.  The kids in Alabama we could give a basketball and they would be happy to play all afternoon (not that we did that, since it was a camp to work on sports skills and not a babysitting service), but the kids in North Carolina had significantly shorter attention spans.  As soon as they completed an activity, whether they were good at it or not, they were ready to move on to the next thing.  Which meant many a late night searching for filler games for the next day.

Having this experience only solidified my thoughts about computers and similar technology being used in school.  Especially those for early education.