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Re: Sketchpad and technology
Posted:
Jun 16, 1995 4:24 PM
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My reaction to "what if the power goes out" argument is: What do you do
if your car breaks down? Walk across town? Get a horse? I believe the
advent of affordable and transportable computing technologies is as
profound to mathematics as the auto was to transportation. At the turn
of the century, few people had autos and there was no infrastructure in
place to support their general use. People structured their lives then,
as they do now, based on how far they could travel in a reasonable amount
of time. a farmer of that time would have laughed you off his property
if you suggested to him that he needed a truck or tractor to be
successful. Few farmers in this country would laugh today.
We are in a similar state of transition today with calculators and
computers. Just 10 years ago, people in my workplace looked me straight
in the eye and could say honestly that they could see no way in which a
computer would ever benefit them. All of them use a computer on a daily
basis today. The point is that technology, for good or ill, changes our
lives. John Leinhart, in one of his "Engines of Our Ingenuity"
broadcasts on public radio (do you get him in your area? He's an
engineer at U of Houston & has been doing his 4-minute spots for several
years now ... they're great!) says that we adapt to computers, not the other
way around. Because technology allows more complexity, society
eventually demands it and redefines what constitutes normal activity. I
know that computers in the workplace have allowed then demanded that I do
far more in a day than was done in my position 20 years ago.
As to your second point (about writing), the writing process is so much
more than just spelling, punctuation, and usage. I have access to tools
on my computer that will help me with all of those, but I don't think
anybody would mistake my writing for that of Mark Twain or Louisa May
Alcott. I would hope, however, that technology has allowed me to become
a better writer. I believe it has, mainly because it allows me to think
more freely, knowing I can go back and rephrase and reorganize at will
(which I, in fact, have been doing). It compresses several drafts into one.
(It also allows me to ramble, which I realize I've been doing!) My point
is, then, that calculators and computers will eventually drive arithmetic
computation out of most of public schooling. I and you may not live to
see it, and we may or may not feel it is the right thing to happen, but I
believe it will happen, nonetheless, because society will eventually
demand it.
Arthur
On Fri, 16 Jun 1995 COVbECKERS@aol.com wrote:
> My question is, what do you do if the power goes out and you have to solve a
> problem to save your skin?
>
> Also, by analogy, what are we going to do when machines are developed which
> can create documents, with perfect spelling, punctuation and grammer, just by
> dictating into a microphone? Should we stop teaching writing and spelling
> and just focus on teaching reading?
>
> I guess the deeper question is, are there some skills that we have that we
> don't want to stop teaching even if technology can accomplish the tasks these
> skills were designed to accomplish?
>
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