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This article is a departure from my usual views about the use of technology. I am generally an advocate of the use of new technologies to improve our lives. However, schools are one place where computers do not belong. I hope this essay explains my views. Computers are becoming more and more prevalent as they become more and more useful. As time goes on, computers move in to places where they are not needed and used in ways they should not be. Computers of often advertised as a magic elixir that will solve all problems. They are becoming especially prevalent in schools. However, do computers and the Internet really belong in schools? And if they do, are they being used correctly. Do computers belong in schools? There are many advocates of computer usage in the classroom. Many government programs aim to connect our schools to the Internet. There are "educational" computer software to help educate students. It seems clear that these technologies can be very beneficial to students -- if they are used properly. Unfortunately, this is not the case. As is often the case with new technologies, they are still being developed and thus not properly used. Often, teachers use computers because they are fun, easy or make their classes seem "up-to-date". But one does not send their children to a school that is fun or easy. Schools are not places to have fun. Schools are places for learning. This essay will look at several examples of computer usage in schools and show how teachers are using the new technology improperly. A company by the name of Tom Snyder Games designs educational games for schools. It would seem that educational games are an oxymoron and in fact, Tom Snyder Games has had some difficulty living up to their oxymoronic promises. Games are hard to design, games that stress a specific skill. Many Tom Snyder games do not educate what they claim, but simply use that as a pretext for another game. The game International Inspirer claims to teach eager students geography. However, the game teaches math using geography only as the storyline for the game. This is a theme for many Tom Snyder games. Teachers must not notice these problems because they spend so much time installing and repairing these programs. Teachers using these games spend more time setting up the computers and fixing computer problems than they spend teaching students the importance and educational value of these games. Often teachers ask students to use the Internet for research or practice their "computer skills". They claim such skills are valuable and computer literacy is an important part of a student's education. Some schools even have a computer class! Time in schools is already precious enough -- must we waster students' time by teaching them skills that are not required and likely will be out of date by the time students graduate? Teachers spend more time teaching students how to do research instead of teaching them research skills and proper the methods for dealing with research. One project put on by teachers at the North Shore Country Day School asks students to rate the quality of life for different countries. The students were eager to get into a discussion of the most important factors in a measurement of quality of life and the proper way to compare radically different countries. However, the teachers required that the students make these decisions quickly so that more time could be spent on learning computer research skills. Students were also not allowed to use factors that could not be found on the Internet. With projects like this, time is taken away from exciting discussions and debates to spend more time using the computer. One teacher assigned supplemental work for students to do on the computer. "Isn't this just extraneous busywork?" one astute student asked. "Yes," the teacher replied, "but it practices computer skills." Computer skills must be very important for students to learn. So many teachers and schools dedicate so much time to their learning -- some schools even have classes dedicated to them. "The computer is a tool," the schools explain, "one that students must learn to use properly." However, a pencil is also a tool which must be used properly, yet how many schools have classes on the proper use of pencils? Students are expected to learn usage of such tools on their own or at a younger age. Yet the computer demands constant education and instruction on its usage. This instruction is far more than that demanded by any other tool. In conclusion, it would seem that teachers would do well to look over their usage of computers with a critical eye -- as should parents interested in the future of their children. Computers can strongly enhance a classroom education but they must be used properly. Teachers, not students, should spend time learning how to use a computer -- not just how to navigate the interface and use the mouse, but how to integrate this technology in to their class in a way that adds to the curriculum, not one that sacrifices portions of it. |
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