[ale] Planned obsolescence / Computers for Schools

[William Fragakis]

The study is very interesting but note that it applies to _home_
computers for lower income kids who, as the study finds, are more likely
to come from homes with less adult supervision. Non-educational home
computer use has the same negative impact on student academic
achievement as does too much time in front of the TV.

"The profs suggest that this is because a kid in a disadvantaged home
given a computer and internet access will tend to be poorly supervised
and use it mainly for gaming, social networking or other timewasting
online/computer activities rather than buckling down and doing homework.
Thus computered-up poor children actually become dumber than they would
have been without the tech.

This syndrome was much less marked or absent in wealthier households
where kids are more closely supervised, but so severe was the negative
effect of technology on North Carolina that overall the state's maths
and reading scores dropped by "modest but statistically significant"
amounts as digital technology arrived."

One could make the conjecture that if you took high school chemistry
labs and put them in homes, you would more likely find kids making meth
than doing organic chem experiments. That's no reason not to have HS
chem labs.

I think the concern is valid - giving idle hands even more powerful
tools isn't necessarily a good thing. The role of adults - parents and
teachers - can't be underestimated. All good stuff to talk about.

regards,
William

On Mon, 2010-07-26 at 12:26 -0400, Jim Lynch wrote:
> On 07/26/2010 12:09 PM, Chris Fowler wrote:
> > On Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:24:21 -0400
> > "Lightner, Jeff"<jlightner at water.com>  wrote:
> >
> >    
> >>   Maybe the
> >> poster didn't go to school as far back as the late 70s but with the
> >> rapid change and adoption of IT for home and business even saying it
> >> should be the way it was just a few years ago at some random HS
> >> doesn't make much sense to me.
> >>      
> > No 70s for me.  More like 80s.
> >
> > My concern with computers are that they will not be used as a learning
> > tool but instead a distraction.   When I was doing computers if you
> > wanted the computer to do cool things then you had to make it do cools
> > things by writing code.  Today there is so much distraction on the
> > Internet.
> >
> >    
> Studies seem to support your concern:
> 
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/21/digital_divide_worsened_by_tech/
> 
> Jim.
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