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No, there isn't. But when I think of "toys" I still think of Lego and Barbie and the like, not iPads and laptops, etc.
Call me old-fashioned.
You're old-fashioned.
While I agree that cell phones are an (albeit useful) evil unleashed upon this earth and have handicapped a generation's ability to actually create meaningful interpersonal bonds, I think that ALL OF US have had new technology in our toys and computers/tablets are just the next step.
I grew up in the 1980s, and while I had GI Joe and Matchbox cars and Legos, I also had a little mini computer that would play hangman with me and let me compose music and draw, etc. My brother and I played Atari together and then Nintendo...
I think there's a danger in leaving a child in a room by himself with only technology to interact with, but there's also a danger in his not being current on today's tech when he has to compete in school and the job market.
I'm not assuming that they are mutually exclusive. Of course the best prepared kids will do both.
But, my oldest started school in 1978 and I have one currently in high school.
I know how the curricula have changed over the years and where the emphasis lies. Where kids used to be encouraged by their teachers to go to museums or concerts and the like, now they just get pointed to websites.
Does anyone really believe that the purpose of teaching is to simply point kids towards websites?
Well now we get to the fundamental paradigm shift in our society.
Teachers are no longer the source of knowledge and the end goal of education isn't just to possess knowledge. The goal is to be able to quickly, effectively and correctly, get to the knowledge that is already out there.
As a science teacher (and we have never been sending kids to concerts and we still go to museums) the ability to research well (which the vast majority of people lack) is more important than rote memorization of textbook that will be out of date by the time it is printed.
Well now we get to the fundamental paradigm shift in our society.
Teachers are no longer the source of knowledge and the end goal of education isn't just to possess knowledge. The goal is to be able to quickly, effectively and correctly, get to the knowledge that is already out there.
As a science teacher (and we have never been sending kids to concerts and we still go to museums) the ability to research well (which the vast majority of people lack) is more important than rote memorization of textbook that will be out of date by the time it is printed.
This. Our society has changed.
I'm a big believer in keeping up. The old ways have their place. But so do iPhones, iPads, iPods. They're all tools. Had we had the technology that's in a $10 calculator in the 60's we'd have been on Mars by now. I can't imagine a rocket scientist from the American space program saying, "No thanks. No computers needed. I've got my slide rule." if someone had handed him a Mac and said, "Here you go!"
If you're calling them "gadgets," you might as well call them "doohickeys"
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerLily24
Does anyone really believe that the purpose of teaching is to simply point kids towards websites?
No more false generalizations. If that's all the teachers at your school do, then you need to talk to the principal.
But that's NOT all they do. Economics and 9/11 had more to do with the drop in field trips than technology. After 9/11 our superintendent cancelled all out-of-town class trips, and once that happened it was very easy for them to blame budgets for not scheduling more.
But our teachers are still doing a great job. I will admit that Google searching has, in my opinion, made a lot of deep, focused critical thinking more rare these days. For many kids I've taught, if the answer is not on the first page of search results then it doesn't exist. But at least these kids never knew the pain of having a report due tomorrow and finding the "S" volume of the encyclopedia missing from the shelf!
To say that all teaching now is just lazily directing kids toward websites is a fallacy. Technology in fact challenges the best teachers to keep up because it has leveled the playing field by removing more barriers that used to exist between students and primary sources of information.
Besides, as a parent I see it as MY JOB to take my kids to museums and expose them to art and music. It's also my job to train them to use whatever tools are current in their world, and to not handicap them with false lessons in morality.
I'm not assuming that they are mutually exclusive. Of course the best prepared kids will do both.
But, my oldest started school in 1978 and I have one currently in high school.
I know how the curricula have changed over the years and where the emphasis lies. Where kids used to be encouraged by their teachers to go to museums or concerts and the like, now they just get pointed to websites.
Does anyone really believe that the purpose of teaching is to simply point kids towards websites?
Wow... I wouldn't expect such low quality teaching unless I lived in South Carolina, Georgia, New Mexico or one of the other poor education states. But then I wouldn't dare send my kids to education there. If teachers are pointing students towards non-academic websites as a method of research, that's horrible!
Does anyone really believe that the purpose of teaching is to simply point kids towards websites?
I once had a young lady in my chorus class ask me why there were no black opera singers. My school blocked YouTube so I could not just keep her after class and play some videos for her. So I told her that she should go to YouTube and look up videos of Jessye Norman, Leotyne Price, Kathleen Battle, and Denyce Graves. I wrote the names down on a piece of paper for her. She came back the next day beaming because it turned out that the young lady loved opera and there were opera singers who looked just like her!
Sometimes teachers just need to facilitate an interest. It isn't all a teacher does but it has its place.
Semi-tangential to the technology question, but I have not the vaguest idea what my kids' friends got for Christmas. We've been too busy spending time with each other to ask for an inventory of other people's stockings.
^^^^^^^^ THIS!!!! Worrying about what my kid's friend' got for Christmas, even asking them what they got after Christmas, is so out of my realm of thinking that it truly boggles mind.
I remember when my children were toddlers - preschool age, and I lived in an obnoxious sub division filled with first time home ownwer's all with kid's the same age, flexing their parental and financial muscles, I avoided the sidewalk conversations that went something like this -
"We just bought Kyle a Power wheels!" What did you get you son? ( NOYB)
"Stephanie and Shawna got American Girl dolls that look exactly like them! Does your daughter have American girl dolls yet? ( no she is TWO)
It's about teaching the value of a dollar, actually having to earn things or buy things with their own money, etc.
You're right, I'm wondering why a parent who can afford a 1200 macbook air would spend that kind of money on a 10 year old when the only thing the 10 year old has ever done is woken up each day. Good grades are expected in my family, they were rewarded a little bit, but not to the scale that it seems of today.
I'm going to have to just stop, accept that society is telling me I'm wrong and move on.
Sorry. Christmas or Chanukah, ARE NOT the TIME to tech kids "The value of a dollar"
It's the time to show your love.
Assigned reading "The Gift of the Magi" O Henry, "A Christmas Carol" Charles Dickens
Sorry. Christmas or Chanukah, ARE NOT the TIME to tech kids "The value of a dollar"
It's the time to show your love.
Assigned reading "The Gift of the Magi" O Henry, "A Christmas Carol" Charles Dickens
So we show our love by spending 1000's of dollars on kids under 12 ? Ok...
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If you're calling them "gadgets," you might as well call them "doohickeys"
