[Vision2020] support (but how?)

Tim Lohrmann timlohr@yahoo.com
Thu, 8 May 2003 14:10:10 -0700 (PDT)


Tom,
  Actually, I believe that Gelernter actually was
(unlike Al Gore) one of the guys who helped develop
the internet. He was in the loop when it was only a
Dept. of Defense and US Govt. "thing."
  It was around long before it was accessible to most
of us. 
    TL


--- Thomas Hansen <tomh@FNA.fsn.uidaho.edu> wrote:
> Just a small item of interest concerning David
> Gelernter's claims:
> 
> He states:
> 
> "I've used the Internet nearly every day since
> September 1982."
> 
> Question:  What websites did he frequent?  Are his
> capabilities beyond those
> of mortal man?  The internet has only been around
> since Summer 1991.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tim Lohrmann [mailto:timlohr@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 1:19 PM
> To: Tina Cunningham
> Cc: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] support (but how?)
> 
> 
> Visionaries,
>     Tina C.'s observation that "Computers cost
> money"
> is indisputable. Computers and internet use are
> darned
> expensive.
>     But is the education establishment's rabid(and
> costly) drive to stress computer use at every turn
> necessarily helpful for learning basic skills such
> as
> reading and analytical thought? 
>     David Gelernter, a professor of computer science
> at Yale University(and coincidentally one of the
> victims of the notorious "unabomber")thinks not.
>     Below is an article Dr. Gelernter wrote a few
> years back. 
>     Maybe the current "sacred cow" of the
> educators----using computers as much as
> possible---is
> one area where cutbacks would not only save money
> but
> help our kids learn to read and think better.   
>     Isn't teaching kids to use technology a waste of
> time if they can barely read or think analytically? 
>    TL
> 
> 
> 
> Should Schools Be Wired To The Internet?
> No--Learn First, Surf Later
> By David Gelernter
>  
> (TIME, May 25) -- Quack medicine comes in two
> varieties: "irrelevant but harmless" and "toxic."
> The
> Administration's plan to wire American classrooms
> for
> Internet service is toxic quackery. Four-fifths of
> U.S. schools have Internet access already; instead
> of
> wiring the rest, we ought to lay down a startling
> new
> educational directive: First learn reading and
> writing, history and arithmetic. Then play Frisbee,
> go
> fishing or surf the Internet. Lessons first, fun
> second. 
> 
> I've used the Internet nearly every day since
> September 1982. It's a great way to gather
> information, communicate and shop. And in one sense,
> the Internet is good for the American mind. Up
> through
> the early '90s, everyday written communication
> seemed
> to be dying out. Thanks to e-mail and fax machines,
> writing has come back. In this respect, the Internet
> could be a fine teaching tool--a way to share good,
> scarce writing teachers. One teacher could manage a
> whole district of students if they were all
> connected
> electronically. 
> 
> But the push to net-connect every school is an
> educational disaster in the making. Our schools are
> in
> crisis. Statistics prove what I see every day as a
> parent and a college educator. My wife and I have a
> constant struggle to get our young boys to master
> the
> basic skills they need and our schools hate to
> teach.
> As a college teacher, I see the sorry outcome:
> students who can't write worth a damn, who lack
> basic
> math and language skills. Our schools are scared to
> tell students to sit down and shut up and learn;
> drill
> it, memorize it, because you must master it whether
> it's fun or not. Children pay the price for our
> educational cowardice. 
> 
> I've never met one parent or teacher or student or
> principal or even computer salesman who claimed that
> insufficient data is the root of the problem. With
> an
> Internet connection, you can gather the latest stuff
> from all over, but too many American high school
> students have never read one Mark Twain novel or
> Shakespeare play or Wordsworth poem, or a serious
> history of the U.S.; they are bad at science,
> useless
> at mathematics, hopeless at writing--but if they
> could
> only connect to the latest websites in Passaic and
> Peru, we'd see improvement? The Internet, said
> President Clinton in February, "could make it
> possible
> for every child with access to a computer to stretch
> a
> hand across a keyboard to reach every book ever
> written, every painting ever painted, every symphony
> ever composed." Pardon me, Mr. President, but this
> is
> demented. Most American children don't know what a
> symphony is. If we suddenly figured out how to teach
> each child one movement of one symphony, that would
> be
> a miracle. 
> 
> And our skill-free children are overwhelmed by
> information even without the Internet. The glossy
> magazines and hundred-odd cable channels, the
> videotapes and computer CDs in most libraries and
> many
> homes--they need more information? It's as if the
> Administration were announcing that every child must
> have the fanciest scuba gear on the market--but
> these
> kids don't know how to swim, and fitting them out
> with
> scuba gear isn't just useless, it's irresponsible;
> they'll drown. 
> 
> And it gets worse. Our children's attention spans
> are
> too short already, but the Web is a propaganda
> machine
> for short attention spans. The instant you get
> bored,
> click the mouse, and you're someplace else. Our
> children already prefer pictures to words, glitz to
> substance, fancy packaging to serious content. But
> the
> Web propagandizes relentlessly for glitz and
> pictures,
> for video and stylish packaging. And while it's full
> of first-rate information, it's also full of lies,
> garbage and pornography so revolting you can't even
> describe it. There is no quality control on the
> Internet. 
> 
> Still, imagine a well-run, serious school with an
> Internet hookup in the library for occasional use by
> students under supervision who are working on
> research
> projects; would that be so bad? No. Though it ranks
> around 944th on my list of important school
> improvements, it's not bad. But in reality, too many
> schools will use the Internet the same way they use
> computers themselves: to entertain children at
> minimal
> cost to teachers. If children are turned loose to
> surf, then Internet in the schools won't be a minor
> educational improvement, it will be a major
> disaster.
> Another one. Just what we need. 
> 
> Gelernter is a professor of computer science at
> Yale.
> His 1991 book, Mirror Worlds, predicted something
> like
> today's Web.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --- Tina Cunningham <kittz_cat@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > People.....
> > 
> > To better prepare our k-12 students for the
> future,
> > we
> > must spend money.  
> > 
> > Computers cost money.
> > Lab equipment costs money.
> > Books cost money.
> > 
> > NONE of these items are on *sale* at a discounted
> > price for our future.
> > 
> > In fact, all of these items have INCREASED in
> price
> > every year. It's called inflation.
> > Our children need to be prepared for college. In
> > doing
> > so, we the people must spend a little more money,
> > whether we want to or not.
> > 
> > I went to Salmon River High School in Riggins, ID.
> > SRHS shares a school district with two other high
> > schools.  Not all of the high schools in this
> state
> > are as fortunate as Moscow, Boise, or Lewiston
> > schools, simply because they have to share the
> > wealth.
> > 
> > The amount of kids enrolled has gone down, you've
> > made
> > that point over and over again.  But the COST OF
> > LIVING has increased yearly aswell.
> > 
> > I believe that we spend too much time bickering,
> and
> > not enough time supporting.  Our kids see us
> hemming
> > and hawing about their future, and how much it is
> > costing us.  How does that make them feel?  Do
> they
> > feel we support them? Maybe the test scores
> reflect
> > the negative impact our bickering is having on our
> > children.
> > 
> > Just my opinion...
> > Tina Cunningham
> > 
> > 
> > =====
> > "Would you not like to be.....sittin on top of the
> > world with your legs hanging free....."  **Dave
> > Matthews Band
> > 
> > __________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
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> > 
> >
>
_____________________________________________________
> >  List services made available by First Step
> > Internet, 
> >  serving the communities of the Palouse since
> 1994. 
> >  
> >                http://www.fsr.net                 
>  
> >    
> >           mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
> >
>
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> 
> __________________________________
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_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step
> Internet, 
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. 
>  
>                http://www.fsr.net                   
>    
>           mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com
>
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