High-Tech Heretic

High-Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarian, Clifford Stoll,  Doubleday, 1999

There seems to be a relentless drumbeat in America at present that technology is the answer to all of our problems, especially in education. After all, the Internet is this vast storehouse of information, and if schools were wired for Internet access, or if all students had their own laptops, then, the sky's the limit, right?

Stoll, who has been around computers and the Internet for many years, says Very Wrong.

A committed, dedicated teacher is still more important than the most up-to-date learning software. In a classroom full of computers, at least one of them will crash or otherwise have a major problem, wasting valuable class time while the problem is fixed. Which is more important to the learning process, actually doing science or art, for instance, or seeing a computer simulation?  One of the major claims of software makers is that a specific program makes learning fun. Learning is supposed to take time and effort, and is not supposed to be fun. On the subject of donating old computers to schools, unless they are refurbished with new software, an obsolete computer is still obsolete.

This is a much needed counterpoint to the slogan Technology as Educational Savior, especially recommended for school officials and teachers.