Re: <nettime> Use of Computers in Preschools

[David Irving <dirving@box.net.au>]

I recently read "The Flickering Mind"  by Todd Oppenheimer which is an 
excellent antidote to the kind of thinking that puts a computer into 
every classroom, and I remember reading something by Theodore Roszak 
many years ago which had a similar thrust (I can't remember the name of 
that one).

The biggest problem with computers in schools is that there are very few 
teachers who know enough about computers and their limitations to use 
them effectively as an educational tool. Instead, the kids learn how to 
use the latest-but-one version of Word, and mostly use the computers to 
play games and surf for porn.

In the rare cases where computers are used effectively, they can be a 
useful (but not indespensible) tool, but generally teachers are too 
overworked to have the time or the energy to work out how to do this.



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