Should any nation eschew raising teachers salaries in favor of installing classroom computers?
Are the Luddites right? DC: Technology is not the enemy. Deification of technology is the enemy. Any nation that favours a technological fix over funding good teaching is going to get what it deserves: neither a technological fix, nor good teaching. Western culture is increasing about magic bullets. We think a pill or a weekend course or a laying-on-of-hands is going to instantly solve our problem. As though we lived in a weekly sitcom with a 30-minute story arc. Putting computers in classrooms instead of teachers is doing just that: Latching on to a single “quick fix”. Of course, you do have to give the kids access to the technology. Not doing so nowadays is as criminal as not teaching them to read. But you still have to teach them to read, and think, and learn, as well! Put 30 kids in a room with an easel, a computer, and a guitar. You’ll get one Van Gogh, one Von Neumann, and one Van Halen (or Van Morrison). And 27 burger flippers. 🙁 Every child has some great potential, but almos
