Technology not the panacea for education

San Francisco Chronicle by Todd Oppenheimer | Feb. 4, 2009 (Opinion)

Now that Arne Duncan, President Obama's new education secretary, has presented the administration's $150 billion plan for reviving our education system, it's time to start separating Obama's smart ideas for schools from his dumb ones. The first folly Duncan could dispense with - at an enormous cost saving - would be Obama's desire to outfit the nation's classrooms with new computers. His big push for this idea occurred in December, when he said, "Every ... Full Story »

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by Andrew Van Camp - Feb. 6, 2009

We first went wrong in our use of technology in our schools when we let technologically backward educators make the decisions on how to put computers to use. It is far more important to have technically competent educators use modern computing power to research, analyze and manage the learning process than to worry about student skills with a mouse or a joy stick. Nothing characterizes education reform more accurately than the term: aimless.. Rejecting technology in our schools based on the inept application of it by uneducated educators, misses the boat.