文章基本信息

标题：EDITORIAL - Brief Article
作者：Michael F. Sullivan
期刊名称：Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology
印刷版ISSN：1060-5649
出版年度：2000
卷号：Winter 2000
出版社：Agency for Instructional Technology

EDITORIAL - Brief Article

Michael F. Sullivan

I once wrote that educational technologists should not consider themselves to be successful until they could observe a significant backlash against technology in school. I am finally prepared to say that technology has arrived. A new report from the Alliance for Childhood, called Fool's Gold: A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood, and a recent U.S. News & World Report feature article on the dangers of computers in the classroom look like world-class backlash. And some professional medical groups have also weighed in, albeit weakly.

The typical criticism is that children working on computers aren't developing interpersonal skills, nor are they (probably) learning all those things the national and state standards require that they learn. For the most part, the criticisms are the same ones the critics' mentors used 40 years ago to attack television. And most of the critics are people whose sole purpose and activity is to attack ideas. Nevertheless, the criticisms deserve a response, and here's mine: They are absolutely correct.

Kids will not develop the same social skills if they spend time computing rather than interacting. Of course, classrooms are not traditionally places of much two-way interaction either, but the experience is different. Kids will not learn multiplication facts as well from inductive software programs as they will from flash cards and drill. And maybe they will be fatter and have worse eyesight. They also won't learn shorthand, hoop rolling, and soap making.

It is time to forget the rear-view mirror and concentrate on the road ahead. More kids are going to be nearsighted, weak muscled, and highly skilled in manipulating information. They are going to be more productive than their parents are, they will live longer, and they will improve the world. And you and I can't do a thing about it. Yes, we can keep computers from having a major role in school, as we did with television, film, radio, telephone, and every other technology advancement since the book--but those efforts will be just as meaningless in terms of affecting society.

Get over it.

Michael F. Sullivan Executive Director Agency for Instructional Technology Publisher, TECHNOS Quarterly