WileyCCC@aol.com
Thu, 10 Dec 1998 01:22:16 EST
From: WileyCCC@aol.com Date: Thu, 10 Dec 1998 01:22:16 EST Subject: Re: [ifets] "A nice and rich childhood"
Mary,
I understand your complaint about the father of three who apparently is
reticent about computers in grade schools...yet your points are mere
anecdote...not enough to warrant the massive initiatives burdening
taxpayers...the following article is not unusual when the idea of computers in
classrooms is actually studied..
Net Access May Increase Inequalities
(05/11/98; 6:17 p.m. ET)
By John Gartner, TechWeb
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19980511S0017
Educators at a policy conference in Washington, D.C., questioned the
effectiveness of Internet access initiatives, saying they may actually
increase the gulf between high- and low-achieving students, rather than act as
an equalizer.
Speaking at the Association for Computing Machinery's Policy '98 conference, a
technology summit of industry, academic, and government representatives,
speakers showed results of a four-year study measuring the impact of Internet
access at 30 schools, in and around
Pittsburgh, Pa. The results suggested access initiatives like NetDay could
actually backfire.
Professor Janet Schofield of the University of Pittsburgh studied "Common
Knowledge: Pittsburgh," a $5 million project funded by the National Science
Foundation. She concluded that "access to information does not equate to
learning." In most cases, she said, advanced and affluent white male students
were most inclined to use and benefit from Internet access.
School teachers' unfamiliarity with the Internet and their inability to
monitor its use, were cited as major contributors to the gender and socio-
economic imbalance. In poorer schools, the scarcity of access points
prohibited teachers from making Internet use part of
the core curriculum. Instead, teachers used Internet access as a reward for
the best-behaved or brightest students. In more affluent schools, Internet-
enabled computers were reserved for honors classes or foreign language
students.
These findings echoed the predictions of Leonard Waks of Temple University.
Speaking at the conference, Waks quoted his paper, Basic Questions About High-
Tech Education, which says technology-assisted education would accurately
reproduce the existing social classes.
"Education in post-industrial society will only accelerate what is already
happening in class differentiation."
Professor Bob Kraut from Carnegie-Mellon University found gender and age
preference during a two-year study in which Internet access was installed in
the homes of 100 families of diverse backgrounds. Teenage boys logged on more
than twice as often as girls, and adults
used the service much less frequently.
On a still more disturbing note, observers noted the highest users of the
Internet also exhibited decreased friendships, and more loneliness and
depression, further questioning the overall benefit.
David Boaz of the Libertarian think tank, the CATO Institute told TechWeb in
an interview last week, that providing Internet access to schools was
logically flawed. "It's the height of technological hubris to think that the
Internet can replace a poor educational environment". Boaz added that if given
the choice, schools would
probably spend their money on more textbooks and teachers over Internet
access.....
John Spiers, MA Ed Admin
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