But guess which way math scores went after the introduction of calculators. Hint: they didn’t go up.

I’m not knocking computers, they are useful tools. Where would HA be without them? My point is that some believe that by merely providing a computer for a child you have improved his education, and that’s not true. A computer is merely a tool as you say but it is nothing more.

Mojave Mark on July 23, 2007 at 11:54 AM

Yeah and the ability to ploy by hand dropped when they invented tractors. :P

- The Cat

On a side note, the Israeli government did an extensive study a few years ago concerning over-all learning/grades to computer use. There was no significant change in knowledge. Well, except for one area–math scores actually FELL due to the use of computers. This is all Bill Clinton’s fault, with his “21st century classroom” crap.

That is because a child needs to learn how to think before they learn how to use a tool, otherwise, they only learn to use the tool only in the manner they were taught, and never think beyond its previous use.

MirCat on July 22, 2007 at 7:34 PM

But guess which way math scores went after the introduction of calculators. Hint: they didn’t go up.

I’m not knocking computers, they are useful tools. Where would HA be without them? My point is that some believe that by merely providing a computer for a child you have improved his education, and that’s not true. A computer is merely a tool as you say but it is nothing more.

So if the feds aren’t so sure about the educational advantages of free laptops, why are we sending them to Nigeria?

“We” aren’t. This isn’t a U.S. government programe, it’s a private non-profit:

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Our_team

Chudi on July 22, 2007 at 6:55 PM

I think it’s not as much Nigeria bashing as it is commenting on the irony of it all. Kinda like if Romania came up with a new way to do a blood transfusion.

BTW, to all the people talking about how Laptops don’t help education. . .You remind me of my Grandfather knocking the calculator I had for pre-calculus in high school. It’s the same mentality of those back in the day who said, “You don’t need no car, just walk to work.” Computers in school are like pencils and books used to be. They are tools. It’s all about how you use them.

- The Cat

P.S. As for back in the graphite age, boys just drew dirty pictures.

I don’t think it’s OK to condemn a whole program, because of a few mistakes by kids. Bottomline is that kids will be kids, and can always find a porn site if they look hard enough. I mean, it’s no that hard to find, by the way since anybody with an email adress gets tons of porn email.

I’m really not down with the bashing.

Spot on. Laptops are putting lipstick on a pig.

I’m not sure I can whole-heartedly agree that the system is beyond repair, as the most glaring need I see has rarely been addressed, that being removal of the disruptor from the school system.

Holly, the situation is daunting, but even in the scarier schools there is often AP coursework that removes your kid from the thugland underbelly.
In high school, many school boards have dual enrollment or even early admission relationships with the local Juco. God knows I feel for the parent(s) of those kids who attend Gangbanger high, but with foresight, planning and a little good fortune one can avoid some of the problem areas on the road to graduation.

agape,
robb

hollygolightly on July 22, 2007 at 1:05 PM

Agreed. I’m not talking about vouchers only for “failing” schools. I’m talking for a universal voucher system. Parents choose the school, period. If some public schools can survive the competition, then fine. I’ve been a public school teacher for 26 years and the system is unfixable.

IMHO we should give parents vouchers and let them send their kid to any school they want. Mojave Mark on July 22, 2007 at 12:30 PM

Only if they are given to all children. If not, it’s just another way to screw the middle class. The poor kids get vouchers and the rich kids can already afford private school, so the middle class pays tons of the taxes to make this happen and then their kids are the only kids in crowded classrooms.

georgej on July 22, 2007 at 6:22 AM

Given your advanced vocabulary and obvious intelligence I’d say that your kids are smart because mom & dad are smart. By what you say, you’re obviously actively involved in your children’s upbringing and consider it your job to educate them. Bravo! Give me a room full of kids like yours any day.

Now, imagine a household where mom is stuck raising the kids all by herself. The father of the children has abandoned them. Or imagine an unloving, chaotic home where the parents are together. Even if they have the same software that you do at home I guarantee that those kids will do worse on the same tests. Even if their I.Q. is the same. For children the home is EVERYTHING.

But a study in March by the U.S. Department of Education found no demonstrable link between educational software and higher test scores, putting laptop advocates on the defensive.

The reason that’s true is because educational bureaucracies refuse to acknowledge the importance of a stable home. (That’s not their action line. The action line is “we need more money.”) That’s why a home schooling mom who never even graduated high school herself will raise kids that perform WAY above the public school average.

In public education we keep looking for that which was lost in the wrong place. It’s like the old joke where a guy loses a quarter in one corner of a room but looks for it in another corner. Someone asks “Why are you looking for your quarter in this corner when you lost it in the other corner?” The man responds, “Because the light is better over here.” THAT is public education. This laptop nonsense is merely a microcosm of public education in general.

IMHO we should give parents vouchers and let them send their kid to any school they want. That paradigm change would salvage education.

Depending upon the age (pre-school, for example), computers can give an edge. I have 3 children. When the oldest was about to enter kindergarten, I purchased “reading rabbit,” and “mathblaster,” and a couple additional educational games. Each child tested out ahead of the norm for kindergarten and above when they started, thanks to their game playing. In fact, my youngest, by the time she entered kindergarted, was reading and doing math at the 2nd grade level.

Given that expertise in computer skills is essential to enter today’s job market, the ability to use word processing, spreadsheets, data bases, and so on, is considered a requirement for most, if not all, employers. So your efforts are not wasted.

HOWEVER, having said that, it is specialization in careers that require the use of cad-cam (any pre-engineering program), designing relational databases (any pre-computer science program), or similar, that gives an advantage to the job seeker. But we’re not talking at the elementary or middle-school level here, either.

Computers are a tool. They, by themselves, make no “magic.” It is the knowledge on how to use the tool that makes knowledge of computers invaluable.

Having had an adolescent male growing up with computers, I can tell you that “blocking” inappropriate material (tr. PORN!) is essentially impossible, even for a networking specialist such as myself. Where there is a will, there will be a way, and we found the way to deal with it was “socially” and not “technically.”

As to the utility of word processing, I can testify that if word processing and/or computer graphic charting tools existed back when I was in high school and college, I would have cheerfully slit a throat or two to get my hands on it. Just the ability to adjust amount of text on the page to insure proper footnoting, and spell checking, would have made my life so much easier.

- The Cat

P.S. Or News caster headshots.

As a former system administrator, I can attest they certainly don’t make the average user smarter! Thus the typical disdain we have for end users! ;)

Even with the blocked sites, just go to Google type in “naked girls”. Use the cache feature and you got porn. How do I know? Kids do it all the time at my school.

If they aren’t doing that, they are going to Yahoo…No, not for news, but music videos…

Glad you are not near my kids, but then they probably know more about computers than the sad people in education. Wade on July 21, 2007 at 10:47 PM

???

Given that comment, I’m the one who’s glad that I don’t teach your kids.

The statistics are quite clear to back up what I’m saying. People who believe that computers improve the basic education of a child are deceiving themselves. If you want your kid to be smarter get them music lessons. That HAS proven to improve I.Q. and study skills down the road.

Yah, we all need to learn how to type but in a middle school setting (where I’m at) there’s not much else use for a computer. They’re helping to dumb down our children.

NSFW, Content Warning, and Keep away from Grandma.

- The Cat

Mojave Mark

Glad you are not near my kids, but then they probably know more about computers than the sad people in education.

The Nigerian government fears nothing more than better educated children, so they built a pretense for installing filters on the laptops. The actual filter list will be maintained by well-meaning government officials and shall include for a start websites which: promote democracy and a basic understanding of human rights, and which might or might not criticize the Nigerian government now or in the future.

Niko on July 21, 2007 at 7:21 PM

Food for thought.

- The Cat