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From: clc@edison.cho.ge.com (Clark Coleman)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: Re: Teaching Children about Computers
Message-ID: <912@limbo.Intuitive.Com>
Date: 28 Jun 90 22:33:36 GMT
Sender: taylor@limbo.Intuitive.Com
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To all who are interested in this subject, I recommend the book "Mind
Over Machine" by Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus.  My summary would be that
computers in elementary schools do more harm than good, and the
tendency is to reduce subject matter to the level of the computer.
For example, art, music composition and poetry writing tend to be
taught in a manner suited to the available educational software,
and are thus seen by children in grossly degenerate form.

Disagree if you will, but note :

 1) Read the book first.

 2) I am working on my Ph.D. in Computer Science, so don't accuse
    me of being anti-computer, Luddite, afraid of technology, etc.

 3) A strong impetus behind the use of computers in education is
    the profit motive of the vendors of the hardware and software,
    who want the marketplace of tomorrow hooked on their brand of
    computer today.

 4) Most educational reformers criticize aspects of our school
    systems that would take little money to fix (i.e. too much
    paperwork and bureaucracy, too much fluff in the curriculum,
    overcentralized school administrations).  The "improvements"
    that are always shoved at us are always the most expensive:
    computers, higher pay, smaller class sizes, etc. Where there
    is a lot of money, there are vested interests pushing the issue
    to the forefront of public attention, such as teachers' unions,
    school administrators, and computer vendors. Beware their
    self-interest and bias. And hold on to your wallet.

Clark Coleman