After reading Postman’s commentary I can’t believe how short sighted and myopic he is. His fear of technology leaves the reader feeling like Postman is holding a grudge. It almost seems as if Postman never really caught up with technology and after he realized the train had passed him by refused to try to get back on. Postman seems like a very cynical person who believes that the internet is just a “fad.” Postman’s commentary on comparing children using computers to children using factory equipment in pre modern Britain makes no sense, as I have yet to see a child with an amputated arm from a keyboard. The Luddites as he mentioned in his commentary saved their children from the factories but in doing so were outcast from their society.
The one major part of his commentary that I could not agree more with though and that is school is not just a place for academic education. Social education is a big part of the learning process that would be missed out on if schools as we know them did not exist. Learning is not all about mathematics and biology it is about interacting with other people your age and learning to work as a team. If you were to take those things away from a young persons education you are just creating a robot like civilization where people would not interact with each other except for the use of a computer. Postman hit the nail on the head by quoting Robert Fulghum's All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, the older I get the more I realize that situations I deal with in my life are not made easier by my education but my ability to be able to communicate and work with others.
In Reigeluth & Joseph they discuss how education would work in a perfect world with a perfect educational system. However the system is only as good as the people who run it and education is only as good as the people that are teaching it. Maybe after decades upon decades of technology based learning someday the education system Reigeluth & Joseph could come to fruition but until then there is no clear cut way education can be so personalized with such individual attention. While technology can greatly increase the learners capabilities it is not to the point where it can be used as an independent educational platform. The internet has been around in most high schools for almost 15 years by now and it is amazing to see how many teachers still have very little use of it in their classwork. Granted a lot of teachers have used it to supplement the framework of their classes but the majority of them are still uneasy as how it can be used in relation to their classes.
If we could start the education system from scratch Reigeluth & Joseph’s methods would be the best way to start. However trying to move from the current education system there will never happen, not unless education becomes more valued and supported.
3 comments:
I felt almost the same way when I first read Postman's article, but after taking a step back (and reading many people's reflections on these articles) there is some validity in his article, I'm not sure how said it the correct way. He uses cut and dry language to make points instead of examples. I like the point you made though about learning is not all about math and biology. Many of our day to day actions are based on (or evolved from) things we learned in Kindergarten.
You also make some good points about Reigeluth & Joseph. I think it's about using the best resources (some technical and some not) to best educate. I am curious as to what your thoughts about the programs that teach foreign language via computer and internet? (ex. Rosetta Stone) I know that there are some local high school students that are learning with this software, and I am not sure that's as good as having a foreign language instructor... but is it meeting the needs? I straddle the fence on this.
I agree that if we could start over technology transformation would be the way to go and you are right when you say it is not going to happen anytime soon with the system we have now.
I agree with the fact that education cannot be completely individualized to meet every single student's need without a lot of advancement. I think that is a ver idealistic view and realistically our educational system is a long way from fully creating an individalized curriculum for each student.
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