Technology Essay
The times are changing but that does not mean people should disregard reading, writing and arithmetic. While it is trendy to use fancy gadgets and technology in schools, it might be hampering what students learn. The goal of school is to cultivate the next generation into well-informed, literate thinkers who engage in their environment and can problem solve. An overload of technology is quickly challenging this ideal as students have information at their fingertips but do not know how to utilize it.
With information available at the stroke of a keyboard, information has never been so readily available; the problem is kids do not know how to utilize it. “It’s as if the Administration were announcing that every child must have fanciest scuba gear on the market- but these kids don’t know how to swim and fitting them out with scuba gear isn’t just useless, it’s irresponsible; they’ll drown,” is a perfect metaphor for this (Gelernter). If children do not understand the basics then higher level education and technology is useless to them and is wasteful. It is overwhelming how much information is available on the web. How are children supposed to distinguish the difference between Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia? Both sound like very academic sources but there is a gigantic difference in the validity of the two. Britannica is a global educational publisher while Wikipedia is a website where anyone can post whatever they would like with no validity. With no clue how to use the technology to evaluate the validity of a source, schools are setting kids up for failure. There needs to be a filter to prevent an overload of information and to remove the garbage and lies (Gelernter). Just like references in the back of a book, websites need to prove their academic authority as well.
Another major issue is a generational gap. The next generation cannot connect to the older generations. They “have never read one Mark Twain novel or Shakespeare play,” (Gelernter). “Handwriting is disintegrating” since everything is now typed (Johnson). Simple skills like using an index to look something up in a book are lost when someone could just google it instead on an iBook. (Rotstein). All of this is just broadening the gap. Problem solving skills, innovation and imagination are dying off as schools indulge in technology. Basic skills are vanishing. A whole way of life is disappearing. As we progress forward we should not forget where we have been. There will be times in children’s lives when they will not have technology to fall back on. When there is a power outage or a computer crash, what will they have to fall back on? The loss of these skills is creating a fissure between the knowledge of older generations and the current one. Knowledge should be cumulative, not just the latest information. The isolation of the generation is illustrated in the cartoon (Source F cartoon). The child would rather stare at an image on a computer screen than see it in real life. Children are missing out on experiences by substituting them with phony imitation ones composed of megapixels. It is a stark contrast from other generations.
Technology is a tool in education, not a substitute. Following the diet rule that everything is good in moderation, technology should be limited. Too much information “can stifle a child’s imagination rather than stimulate it,” (Dyson). It’s like the difference between giving a child a coloring book versus a blank piece of paper. While both have opportunities for creativity; a coloring page has evidently more limits. If kids have access to all that is out in the world, there will be no need to imagine things. Schools could introduce some elements of technology into the curriculum but the classic ways of teaching should stay put. Children need to know how to do math and not just plug and chug on a calculator. Children need to know that laugh out loud is spelled L-A-U-G-H O-U-T L-O-U-D, not LOL. Children need to know what a valid source of information is. Old-School is what this may be called and mocked as but it should not be laughed at because it educated the generation who created companies like Apple, Microsoft, Texas Instrument, and Youtube.
While there is much to be gained from technology, vital skills will be lost if students become dependent upon it. As we progress forward we should not forget where we have been. A regression of learning may occur from an overload of technology. Schools need to focus on what is really vital to a great education.
With information available at the stroke of a keyboard, information has never been so readily available; the problem is kids do not know how to utilize it. “It’s as if the Administration were announcing that every child must have fanciest scuba gear on the market- but these kids don’t know how to swim and fitting them out with scuba gear isn’t just useless, it’s irresponsible; they’ll drown,” is a perfect metaphor for this (Gelernter). If children do not understand the basics then higher level education and technology is useless to them and is wasteful. It is overwhelming how much information is available on the web. How are children supposed to distinguish the difference between Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia? Both sound like very academic sources but there is a gigantic difference in the validity of the two. Britannica is a global educational publisher while Wikipedia is a website where anyone can post whatever they would like with no validity. With no clue how to use the technology to evaluate the validity of a source, schools are setting kids up for failure. There needs to be a filter to prevent an overload of information and to remove the garbage and lies (Gelernter). Just like references in the back of a book, websites need to prove their academic authority as well.
Another major issue is a generational gap. The next generation cannot connect to the older generations. They “have never read one Mark Twain novel or Shakespeare play,” (Gelernter). “Handwriting is disintegrating” since everything is now typed (Johnson). Simple skills like using an index to look something up in a book are lost when someone could just google it instead on an iBook. (Rotstein). All of this is just broadening the gap. Problem solving skills, innovation and imagination are dying off as schools indulge in technology. Basic skills are vanishing. A whole way of life is disappearing. As we progress forward we should not forget where we have been. There will be times in children’s lives when they will not have technology to fall back on. When there is a power outage or a computer crash, what will they have to fall back on? The loss of these skills is creating a fissure between the knowledge of older generations and the current one. Knowledge should be cumulative, not just the latest information. The isolation of the generation is illustrated in the cartoon (Source F cartoon). The child would rather stare at an image on a computer screen than see it in real life. Children are missing out on experiences by substituting them with phony imitation ones composed of megapixels. It is a stark contrast from other generations.
Technology is a tool in education, not a substitute. Following the diet rule that everything is good in moderation, technology should be limited. Too much information “can stifle a child’s imagination rather than stimulate it,” (Dyson). It’s like the difference between giving a child a coloring book versus a blank piece of paper. While both have opportunities for creativity; a coloring page has evidently more limits. If kids have access to all that is out in the world, there will be no need to imagine things. Schools could introduce some elements of technology into the curriculum but the classic ways of teaching should stay put. Children need to know how to do math and not just plug and chug on a calculator. Children need to know that laugh out loud is spelled L-A-U-G-H O-U-T L-O-U-D, not LOL. Children need to know what a valid source of information is. Old-School is what this may be called and mocked as but it should not be laughed at because it educated the generation who created companies like Apple, Microsoft, Texas Instrument, and Youtube.
While there is much to be gained from technology, vital skills will be lost if students become dependent upon it. As we progress forward we should not forget where we have been. A regression of learning may occur from an overload of technology. Schools need to focus on what is really vital to a great education.