The Importance Of Computers in Education Does Not Compute by Patrick Farenga
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Technology is never neutral: it affects change, one way or another, and therefore I think we need to be far more critical of technology than we are in awe of it. The issue, I've come to believe, is really one of proportionality, not one of whether or not we should use computers. What is an appropriate use of a machine that has insinuated itself into nearly every economic transaction we make in our lives? The real fight, I usually discover, is a personal one: how much self-discipline will I exhibit in my use of this technology? How do we discipline ourselves as a society in our use of this technology? So far, it seems that anything goes: advertising encourages more and more computer consumption and use, and quite possibly dependence. By de-emphasizing the glamour of technology I hope to encourage better uses of it, not its eradication.
When it comes to education, however, I am puzzled and concerned about our zeal to make sure children spend lots of time with these machines in order to educate them. It does not compute that because we put millions of dollars worth of computers into our schools we will therefore get computer-literate students.
We have had more than a hundred years' worth of education theory and practice, and millions of dollars spent, and we still can't help all children read and write, despite the ready availability of books and pens. There must be something more to learning than just having access to the latest technology.
It does not compute that using a computer to communicate with other humans is better than other means. Computers, in and of themselves, will not make us better writers or more sociable beings. How we use computers, and how our communications are limited by computers, determines the effectiveness of our communications. The telephone, slide projector, motion pictures, television--all were considered to hold great promise for revolutionizing education; none have really done so. Just as these other tools and media have become a part of our life, so have computers. But like these other media, computers are having a similar effect on children's ability to learn in school--very little. What does really affect children's ability to learn in school is other people--children and adults--and how they relate to one another towards individual and common goals.
It does not compute that a computer will be a good substitute for human relations.
It does not compute that we need years of compulsory schooling to learn to use computers. We don't need trigonometry, calculus, specialized programming languages, or months of computer literacy courses in order to effectively use a computer. These may be desirable for those who are curious about how computers operate, and for those who wish to create their own programs, but the vast majority of us will continue make due with "user-friendly" programs and interfaces that don't require years of schooling to understand.
It does not compute that being able to communicate with hundreds of people from all over the world is a great thing. The benefit of sending text rather quickly across continents to hundreds of people is offset, to me, by the potential feedback of hundreds of people across continents. The benefit of corresponding with many people at once is offset by the lack of personalization. Since there is no proportionality to my message anymore--anyone with email can broadcast to thousands of people at once--it will be as meaningless, or at best of equal value, with the many other messages we receive via email each day. Further, the noise of this medium frequently overwhelms the data; the quantity does affect my perception of its quality. I confess: I don't read every message that gets forwarded to me by my listserves or that strangers send to my personal email.
It does not compute that having access to greater amounts of information through computers makes one a better informed, or smarter, person. There is as much misinformation on the web, or outdated information, as there is useful information. Governments and research foundations can and do misinterpret, misrepresent, or overlook important information about projects, and they did so before computer information deluged us. Therefore the possibilities for errors increase as the amount of information increases too. Further, the alleged downing of Flight 800 by missiles and the "documentary evidence" of the Blair Witch Project are but two recent examples of how misinformation is given legitimacy simply by being promulgated on the internet. Some worship at the altar of information technologies; I fear this is a false god that we are indoctrinating our children to follow. Having mentors and docents who can show children how they use research and evaluate information is far more important than giving children personal computers and internet access.
It does not compute that computers supposedly expand our world. They also shrink it and homogenize it; they standardize it and parse it into manageable computer pieces. Computers reduce our possibilities as humans as much as they expand them. Suddenly the world is at our fingertips--and in English if we choose correctly in our interent browser. This might seem like a good idea to some, but to me, it is a nightmare of global standardization. This is not the real world, but an edited virtual world, a Disneyland of world cultures. Making children learn that the world and its people are easily explored through computer use is simplistic and dangerous because it must, to have mass appeal and be accessible to school children, be marketable. This often means downplaying or ignoring sharp cultural, religious, and historical differences among people.
Computers are big reducers: They further reduce our most precious and complex feelings into emoticons, data and texts, our social well-being and people into numbers and statistics, physical hugs into inspirational verses. Not that these are bad things, but they are different things. They are not the same, and we delude ourselves by thinking that technology is neutral and doesn't affect our humanity.
It does not compute that using computers will necessarily make our children learn better or improve our quality of life. Our chosen means contain the seeds of the end we desire, and community centered life long learning centers based primarily on computer technology can become a Trojan horse for technological consumerism, under the guise of "education," to enter our lives in even more areas than it does now. Let us beware.
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© Copyright 2000. Patrick Farenga - All Rights Reserved.
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