IWETHEY v. 0.3.0 | TODO
1,095 registered users | 0 active users | 1 LpH | Statistics
Login | Create New User
IWETHEY Banner

Welcome to IWETHEY!

New So, it's "just a coincidence"
that when the first high school graduating class that had the benefit [SIC] of computers in their K-12 education took the SAT exams, their scores were so poor that:

1) The test itself had to be "dumbed down" and
2) For the first time, examinees were allowed to use calculators.

Why think? Encarta has all the answers.

Lemme guess, you're 20-something.
bcnu,
Mikem

Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer.
God Bless America.
New Actually I am 30 something
In 10th grade I had to take a typing course on IBM selectric typewriters.

I agree that computers in education as used in most schools are counterproductive, but it is a very big stretch to say that they are the main problem.

My wife taught in a public school in NYC a few years ago, (speech, which means that the kids really had problems), how many parents do you think actually came to see her? Very few!! If the parents aren't involved and interested in their children's education then nothing is going to work.

Kids to day suffer from a short attention span due to playing video games and watching endless hours of TV, not really related to Microsoft. When I was growing up, I walked around with a book in my hand and was reading every spare minute. How many kids do that today with all the distractions of TV, DVD's, and video games. Again, this has very little to do with the introduction of computers into the classroom.
Expand Edited by bluke March 7, 2005, 09:01:48 AM EST
New Think about that for a minute.
I agree with much of what you've said. But given this:

When I was growing up, I walked around with a book in my hand and was reading every spare minute. How many kids do that today with all the distractions of TV, DVD's, and video games.


Don't you think it's a very good idea to keep electronics to a minimum (or better, eliminate them entirely in K-12) in the classroom? If the rest of their lives are consumed with spending hour upon hour blankly staring into one vdt or another, isn't it fairly clear that schools do not need to add to this problem?

Moreover, there has been an alarming trend since the 1980's of students relying upon chip technology for "the answer". Question what the computer says? Never. The computer is infallible.
bcnu,
Mikem

Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer.
God Bless America.
New I don't disagree
I just don't think it is the root cause of the problem. If kids don't read at home and their parents are interested in their education they are not going to succeed.
New s/are/are not ;0)
bcnu,
Mikem

Eine Leute. Eine Welt. Ein F\ufffdhrer.
God Bless America.
New That said
those of us in gen x (ie- thirtysomethings) have had the benefit of going through the educational system after the baby boom had demanded it be upgraded, but before the baby boom had turned their attention from the educational system to the medical system.
--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton                            jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca]                   [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada               [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
     MS and Intel leaders on US Education - (tuberculosis) - (13)
         I haven't time to watch this. - (mmoffitt) - (10)
             No no no ... first thing we do is get rid of the *lawyers* - (drewk) - (2)
                 There ya go! -NT - (jb4)
                 Right anchors anyway ;0) -NT - (mmoffitt)
             The problem with the schools has little or nothing to do ... - (bluke) - (6)
                 So, it's "just a coincidence" - (mmoffitt) - (5)
                     Actually I am 30 something - (bluke) - (4)
                         Think about that for a minute. - (mmoffitt) - (3)
                             I don't disagree - (bluke) - (2)
                                 s/are/are not ;0) -NT - (mmoffitt)
                                 That said - (jake123)
         1/3 ain't too good. - (Another Scott) - (1)
             +5 Informative. - (static)

You're typing on a device that stores trillions of pieces of data and makes billions of computations per second with the ability to grab data on almost anything from around the world in milliseconds, using electricity transmitted from hundreds of kilometers through wires on towers dozens of meters tall connected to megastructures that do things like burn coal as fast as entire trains can pull into the yard, or spin in the wind with blades the size of jumbo jets, or the like, which were delivered to their location by vehicles with computer-timed engines burning a fuel that was pumped up halfway around the world from up to half a dozen kilometers underground and locked into complex strata (through wells drilled by diamond-lined bores that can be remote-control steered as they go), shipped around the world in tankers with volumes the size of large city blocks and the height of apartment complexes, run through complex chemical processes in unimaginable quantities, distributed nationwide and sold to you at a corner store for $1.80 a gallon, which you then pay for with a little piece of microchipped plastic, if not a smartphone, which does all of the aforementioned computer stuff but in a box the size of your hand that tolerates getting beaten up in your pocket all day.

But technology never seems to advance...


116 ms