In response to the New York Times article “Teachers resist high tech push
into Idaho schools” (1/4/12) I had worked up the following response. After double-checking the Times website, I realized that this would need a scalpel to get it down to 150 requirement! This was not easy for wordy me but I did it and was gratified to have the Times publish my revised letter on January 6th. But here are my more complete thoughts about the push to move technology into the center of the classroom. What follows is the original letter which is excerpted in the Times letter column.
I would like to commend the teachers who are
fighting for an engaged learning experience through Socratic questioning as
opposed to computer-based module learning.
I teach at the college level.
Over the past ten years we have witnessed a dramatic increase in active
use of technology among children and teens.
Despite the ready access to computers, tablets, smart phones and other
information-rich tools, our students come to college with weak attention skills
and too often an active dislike of reading and sustained engagement with
ideas. Their knowledge base is far less
than that of their parents and older siblings who may not have had ready access
to technology. While they can text-message the average adult under the table,
they do not demonstrate that they have reaped the rewards promised exultantly
by the manufacturers of technology.
Do we really think little Jessica is shifting through the
overwhelming amount of peer-reviewed material available on the web and avidly
absorbing knowledge? Rather she spends
five minutes copying and pasting from Wikipedia or SparkNotes into her
assignment and the other hour and a half on FaceBook, Twitter or flitting from
hyperlink to hyperlink. While video sites do offer rich material on history and
current events, you have to resist the siren call of the hilarious “Hitler
Rants” videos and the hundreds of other clever postings, wildly inaccurate but
seductively entertaining. While the web may provide information if does not
equip the student with the critical thinking skills to discern the good from
the bad or ridiculous, despite what Governor Otto hopes.
I teach online graduate classes and really enjoy them but
have serious reservations for their value for undergrads, much less pre-college
students. Our young people need to learn
how to look someone in the face, engage with persons in active dialogue, read
body language and develop their personhood.
None of this is done easily, if at all, on a computer. Ann Rosenbaum strikes me as a tech savvy young
teacher. She is absolutely right in
cautioning against the substitution of technology for quality face to face
engaged inquiry. Her students will
succeed in college and in the business world because they will know how to talk
with one another, work through differences of opinion, have and use information
productively, and solve problems critically and cooperatively. None of this is achieved by plugging into the
web and interacting with a mouse.
