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WHEN TEACHER TURNS INTO A MOUSE
The Times (London) ^ | 6/8/2006 | Brenda Despontin

Posted on 05/08/2006 8:49:27 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy

Computers are taking over in the classroom — and nobody is challenging them.

IN RAY BRADBURY’S apocalyptic tale Fahrenheit 451 firemen are employed to burn all books, driving underground those who cherish them. That such a stark warning of what happens in a bookless society should appear in the very medium made illicit in the tale is an irony not lost on his readers.

We return Bradbury’s book to the shelf alongside the Orwell, Huxley and Atwood, safe in the comforting knowledge that we are far too wise in the real world to allow anything of such magnitude to happen. Surely before any major change to our society becomes a reality there will always be referendums, debate in Parliament, media coverage and discussion everywhere? Besides, aren’t there experts even now considering the ethical dimensions of genetic engineering, of alternative fuels, of identity cards and of cloning? What is there to fear?

Some of us in education, however, share a growing discomfort with the relentless, unchallenged inclusion of information and communication technology (ICT) into our schools and thus into the lives of the young. But, rather like Bradbury’s book lovers, we are almost afraid to raise a word of opposition. There is a pervading belief that ICT will solve all classroom ills, will “personalise” learning and will lead to higher standards of literacy and numeracy in ways that no human being ever could. It is difficult to argue with such powerful aims.

Books are passé, we are told; schools were only ever convenient centres where students could access available materials. Now a bungalow in Australia can service the learning needs of 90,000 “Moogle” aficionados. We must think outside the traditions: teachers will soon morph into facilitators in a virtual classroom’s sound-bite superhighway.

Everywhere, at each national and international educational conference, at every Whitehall think-tank, are those gurus of technology, mostly young and male, all promising educational Nirvana with a religious zeal. They speak a special language not always understood by the older people in power whom they seek to persuade and whose coffers they target so persuasively.

Meanwhile, at the DfES innovation unit, the imminent shortage of head teachers has been neatly resolved. ICT to the rescue! It’s simple. Appoint a “Superhead” electronically linked to a group of affiliated schools. From CCTV screens in all corridors and classrooms this distant demigod can then address thousands of pupils at once. And the technology exists already for full interactive dialogue from that screen. Sounds familiar? It was the world of Winston Smith, of course.

Now here I should come clean. I’m no Luddite: I believe ICT is an exceptionally clever tool. My laptop and palmtop are an invaluable part of my working life, and I make sure that all my pupils leave with a first-rate understanding of what ICT can do.

But I question a future without schools, without teachers, without books. Where is there the serious debate on the desirability of so much technology in our schools? Who is asking where it will stop?

Does the eventual replacement of teachers by ever smaller, affordable machines not have as great a long-term repercussion on society as genetic engineering? Are our elected leaders failing to ask the most basic of questions, namely: just because it is possible, does it mean we should do it?

Where is the evidence, for example, that proves a machine will teach literature any better than my English department? Have we decided that it will no longer matter how children write and spell, since all examinations will be online soon, with the spell checks in place for the multiple-choice answers required? Who monitors these decisions? Were parents asked if they wanted their children to spend hours in front of a screen each day? It will be only a few years before the “virtual school” will be accessed from a child’s bedroom. Has any politician discussed the dangers of such a potentially isolating social development? It’s time they — and we — did.

The best lessons come from inspired individuals passionate about their subjects. ICT can enhance and support, but we fool ourselves if we believe it will ever replace the rigour and the magic of face-to-face interaction. I’ll bet all those advocating the onslaught of technology in schools were themselves inspired by an individual. Machines are one step removed from passion. Facts may be acquired swiftly online, and shallow learning is quick and easy to assess. Deep learning, or the power and serendipity of robust debate, and a wisdom that lasts for life all come much more slowly — and I have yet to access the computer programme where they lie.

I know I am not alone in my concerns. Others abhor the paucity of public debate about where ICT is taking education. We owe it to the next generations to at least consider the wisdom of such developments. It could well be an area where independent schools, able to select an alternative means for delivery of the curriculum, stand firm in the belief that machines assist but never replace teachers, that the actual social experience of going to school matters, not just the way a child has access to a curriculum while there.

Bradbury’s is a book to revisit, as we hurtle into this techno-future. His rebellious outcasts “become” books at the end, each committing to memory a favourite


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Philosophy; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: academia; bleak; books; bravenewworld; education; future
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Applies to all nations.
1 posted on 05/08/2006 8:49:30 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy
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To: FerdieMurphy

hogwash - what's the diff between carrying a book under your arm, or on your laptop? The media isn't the message - some teachers fear losing their jobs to technology.

people aren't stopping reading simply because there is new technology to deliver it to them.


2 posted on 05/08/2006 8:51:50 AM PDT by camle (Keep your mind open and somebody will fill if full of something for you.)
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To: FerdieMurphy

Do younger people even read? I have my doubts.

The computer is just a tool. It does not educate. I use one all day long, but I read real, genuine books, leath-bound books, Limited Edition books.


3 posted on 05/08/2006 8:51:57 AM PDT by sine_nomine (No more RINO presidents. We need another Reagan.)
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To: FerdieMurphy

A machine won't respond to questions of dissent or different viewpoints.

There is only one right answer. Read and repeat.


4 posted on 05/08/2006 8:55:54 AM PDT by weegee ("Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays")
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To: sine_nomine

Can you buy those anymore? I've been looking for a nice Lord of the Rings collection for a while now.

as a side note: does anyone here know how to get a book bound in leather. My friend wrote a suprisingly decent book book and I want to bind it for her.


5 posted on 05/08/2006 8:56:12 AM PDT by Ainast
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To: FerdieMurphy

HORRORS!

6 posted on 05/08/2006 8:57:41 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: camle

I want kids to learn to do research by reading books, using card catalogs, and periodical guides.

The internet has a short memory and it is prone to changing the "past" with revised webpages. And research done by "word search" isn't the most effective (although it can be effective at getting a quick hit).

There are people who won't watch a movie because it is in black and white. Do you want to see a society that won't read any text longer than 2 paragraphs because it isn't electric?


7 posted on 05/08/2006 8:59:41 AM PDT by weegee ("Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays")
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To: Ainast
as a side note: does anyone here know how to get a book bound in leather. My friend wrote a suprisingly decent book book and I want to bind it for her.

Go to your local Catholic bookstore. If they don't do it themselves, they can tell you where to get it done.

8 posted on 05/08/2006 9:00:12 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: FerdieMurphy

If teachers are a vanishing species, it's partly because most schools and colleges are dumbed down and politically correct. That goes double in England, where education was an elite process not long ago, but where Shakespeare is being replaced by TV.

Nothing can replace a good book and a good teacher in a good school. But there aren't a whole lot of good schools around any more.

I put in a year as a visiting scholar in Cambridge in 1974-75, and I could see beginning to happen back then. Dumbing down, political correctness. Oxford and Cambridge University Presses have both been overcome by the disease, and are following the path blazed by Berkeley and Duke.

My children and grandchildren all read a ton of books. But they got the habit at home, and they read because they have learned to like it. The schools are deteriorating. The teachers are deteriorating. That includes the British public schools and American prep schools, regretably.


9 posted on 05/08/2006 9:01:26 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: sine_nomine

Young people do read. And type. They text and send/receive email.

And there seems to be a trend in slang, movie titles, and band names to deliberately engage in "Creative" spelling (or even using numbers for letters).


10 posted on 05/08/2006 9:01:47 AM PDT by weegee ("Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays")
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To: weegee

to me it doesn't matter whether someone reads paper or a screen as long as they read. transitioning from paper to screen isn't going to effect those who won't or can't read, but it does open a lot of doors to new stuff to read, such as FR :-)


11 posted on 05/08/2006 9:03:39 AM PDT by camle (Keep your mind open and somebody will fill if full of something for you.)
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To: r9etb

Several state prison industries are involved in rebinding books. We had some books cut down and rebound at Fort Madison, IA after they were damaged in a fire years ago.


12 posted on 05/08/2006 9:04:03 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (BTUs are my Beat.)
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To: martin_fierro

From my meanderings through the various schools in my town,I have found that by an overwhelming majority the favored research site is this little obscure dot on the information highway called Myspace.com!
Could it be that the students are finding out what their compatriots in other schools know about Shakespeare,the Pythagorean Theory and Manifest Destiny?
Nah,I'm not THAT naive!


13 posted on 05/08/2006 9:05:18 AM PDT by Riverman94610
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To: sine_nomine
"Do younger people even read? I have my doubts."

I share your doubts but also believe that it depends on the family. If, for example, the mother and father read to the children early on, the children will likely want to learn to read and to enjoy the magic of books.

And, yes,the computer is simply a tool, but unlike a book it can present a lot of distractions. I would not like to depend on the computer to present a reading assignment to my child on the internet. There is always the possibility that the child might end up in a "chat room" and "today's lesson" would be lost, not to even mention that the child's morality might be damaged.

14 posted on 05/08/2006 9:05:24 AM PDT by davisfh
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To: sine_nomine

My 4-YO can surf the net like the best of them, but he'd still rather sit down and read (yes I said READ) a book, or have me or my wife read to him, than anything else. I know it will change, but I hope that we have instilled enough love for REAL print media, that it will always be there for him.


15 posted on 05/08/2006 9:11:53 AM PDT by P8riot (Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed.)
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To: camle
what's the diff between carrying a book under your arm, or on your laptop?

A book you have to read. A laptop can highlight all information specified, and through voice technology can read the book to you. The whole concept of computers in the classroom is idiotic since the person surrenders his thinking ability to an electricity based machine. What happens when the lights go out and you don't know how to think for yourself?

16 posted on 05/08/2006 9:13:04 AM PDT by Bommer
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To: Bommer
What happens when the lights go out and you don't know how to think for yourself?

Ask 90% of the people in New Orleans.

17 posted on 05/08/2006 9:16:14 AM PDT by P8riot (Stupid is forever, ignorance can be fixed.)
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To: Bommer

oh I agree - there is no real evidence that the expense of puitting computers in the classroom is anything other than an expensive distraction - i have long held that view.

but most people don't use voice technology - they actual;y read what is on the screen. and that's fine with me.

all the money spent on computers in the classroom would be better spent sending kids to schools where teachers teach rather than play with the latest technogadget.


18 posted on 05/08/2006 9:17:03 AM PDT by camle (Keep your mind open and somebody will fill if full of something for you.)
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To: camle
I think electronic delivery is superior for daily news.

If I went to a newsstand to buy an out of state Sunday paper (say for job listings), I would have to wait several days.

If I went to a library (public or nearby university) to read out of state daily papers or foreign papers, I would have to wait a week or more. That is quite a lag time (especially considering the "news" was already hours-days old when it saw print).

BUT there has been a tendency for the hit and run media to run something online, get caught in a lie, revise the online edition, etc. whereas that hard copy edition doesn't let them make corrections so easily (they must print a correction in a later edition).

I like hard copy editions to exist. It makes it harder to revise the past. Also an online archive can go offline at any time (or be made cost prohibitive to access).

I've heard that the footage of the 1968 DNC riots is expensive news footage (Gerry Casale mentioned this when he was culling clips for the DEVO video "It's A Beautiful World"). Recently I saw a documentary called Obsession - Radical Islam's War Against The West. The director said that there was some footage he just couldn't afford for his production (I'm drawing a blank on what it is, he did get the CNN footage of the Palestinian woman cheering on 9-11-2001, and he did get footage of Adolph Hitler meeting with the Mufti, but there was some other famous footage that was put out of his reach).

Libraries that have publications in the stacks offer some insurance against the publisher deciding to make some news "privileged" to future generations.
19 posted on 05/08/2006 9:17:26 AM PDT by weegee ("Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays")
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To: weegee
I want kids to learn to do research by reading books, using card catalogs, and periodical guides.

A waste of the kids' time, since "card" catalogs are going the way of the dinosaur, as they should. And, of course, doing research using printed periodicals makes you quickly aware of how much printed material contains obsolete content. Books printed on paper continue to thrive, since there's no digital equivalent that can match them for portability, legibility, and ease of use - yet.
20 posted on 05/08/2006 9:20:19 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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