Technology is inseparable from the modern world, finding its way into every aspect of our lives; from the heights of cyberspace to the depths of iPhones. Nothing being quite able to escape its grasp, technology has even found its way into the classroom. A fundemental question that needs to be asked is if techonology, especially computers, is a beneficial or cancerous addition to the classroom atmosphere? Richard Ohmann and Clifford Stoll, the authors of the two articles "Computers and Technology" and "Who Needs Computers?", both agree that technology is not only a hinderance when it comes to education and the classroom, but is even universally destructive.
According to Stoll, computers are nothing more than a safe-haven for plagarism. The temptation to just copy and paste websites and the unlimited amount of information at your fingertips is almost too much to bare. Not only this but computers isolate students instead of incorporating them into class discussions, as has been the traditional standard of teaching for hundreds of years. And because of the constant barage of images from computers and other picture orieneted devices, the emphasis on reading and books undoubtedly plumets.
None of these obvious facts seem to occur to the superintendents of public schools in America though. With the belief that technology is an all-mighty, all-powerful and all-wonderful addition to the classroom, schools pour out more and more of their budgets into the hands of major corporations. This is what Ohmann is most hesitant about. The fact that with technological devices being privatized by big corporations, these companies will not only be able to decide how education will be taught, but what will be taught as well.
These interpretations challenge the beliefs of those critics who have long assumed that technology will be a wonderful addition to the classroom. And ultimately, what is at stake here is the future of education, which in a way means the future since people gather their skills that they will use later in life at school. These arguments should also be read by every parent, since it is extremely important that they are aware what their children are learning at school and how they are learning it.
1 comment:
You make a good point that computers and technology has crept into almost every aspect of our lives, however the piece seems a little unproportional. It seems that the views in the piece are unbalanced; there is easily more ideas from Stoll's piece than from Ohmann's.
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