The Child and the Machine: How Computers Put Our Children's Education at Risk [図書館]

Argues that the rush to use computers in schools has led to one of the most expensive and least helpful revolutions in the history of education.

アメリカ、カナダのコンピュータ教育の実態を明かす!コンピュータ教育の功罪を徹底検証。 --このテキストは、 単行本 版に関連付けられています。

教育用ソフトは「読み書き」を教えられるか。CD-ROM絵本は母親の「読み聞かせ」に勝るか。インターネットは「情報の宝庫」か…。アメリカ、カナダのコンピュータ教育の実態と功罪を徹底検証。 --このテキストは、 単行本 版に関連付けられています。

The number of computers in schools more than doubled during the 1990s, while government and corporate initiatives to wire schools for Net access has been aggressive. But how are computers affecting the way children experience school? The Child and the Machine offers one possible answer to that question. Authors Alison Armstrong and Charles Casement argue that "computers put our children's education at risk" by diverting funds from art, music, and other programs. What Armstrong lacks in scholarly or professional accreditation she makes up for in tenacity. A concerned mom's polemic, The Child and the Machine meets Armstrong's laudable goal of providing a framework for a "long overdue public discussion" about computers in elementary schools. Chapters about keyboarding, reading on-screen, using word-processor programs, and playing computer games are spiked with useful tidbits of educational theory. The importance of physical stimulation in children's learning is uppermost for Armstrong. Despite the computer's much-vaunted capacity to retrieve pages of information about ladybugs, for example, it is an inadequate substitute for holding the real thing in the palm of your hand. What's missing from Armstrong's account is sufficient attention to the role of parenting. Computers may indeed be a bland experiential diet for hungry young minds, but Armstrong's worry that computers are ruining children's appetite for other kinds of activity is unsupported. Still, The Child and the Machine views with healthy skepticism the benefits of the influx of computers in the elementary school classroom and will sharpen one's thinking on this vital subject. --Kathi Inman Berens

In Los Angeles, the Kittridge Street Elementary School eliminated its music program to hire a technology coordinator. A Virginia school turned its art room into a computer laboratory. In the United States, a record $6.5 billion was spent on educational technology for the 1998-99 school year, while funding for music, arts and other specialty areas continues to shrink. Stubbornly, nearly every measure of our children's educational performance refuses to rise.

Throughout the country, parents and educators ask themselves, "Can this trend be good for our children?"

The authors of The Child and the Machine say the answer, conclusively, is no. Computers don't help most children learn; in fact, in many cases their use is damaging. They argue:

* There is no evidence that the use of computers improves reading or writing skills. Disturbingly, studies show the reverse is more likely.
* The "new emerging technology" currently in classrooms is used poorly, because many teachers have not been effectively trained.
* The indirect costs to children, in the form of reduced art, music, and physical education, stunt their natural development.
* The real dollar costs are far higher than people realize-and far higher than many school boards will admit. In case after case, computer upgrade and training costs are underestimated by many thousands of dollars.
* The rush to use computers with young children too often ignores the real risks of eye strain, repetitive strain injury, and other physical injuries, with potentially tragic results.

Drawing from hundreds of school visits, studies, and expert interviews, The Child and the Machine paints a compelling picture of how our uncritical rush to use computers in schools has led to one of the most expensive and least helpful revolutions in the history of American education.

アームストロング,アリソン
1955年生まれ。学校教育に関する著作を執筆する傍ら、『トロント・スター』、『グローブ・アンド・メール』、『ディス・マガジン』、『トゥデイズ・ペアレンツ』、『ホーム・アンド・スクール・マガジン』など数々の新聞、雑誌に記事を発表。夫と子どもたちと共にトロント在住。著書に『Mythic Voices』(共著)ほか多数

ケースメント,チャールズ
ロンドン、トロントで教育関連の出版社に勤務した後、フリーのジャーナリストに。以来20年以上にわたって、教育関係、読み書き能力を専門として執筆・編集に携わる。カナダ政府発行の読み書き能力に関する報告書も手がけた。親と子の読み書きプログラム(parent-child literacy program)の運営委員でもある。また、作家として小説も書いている(本データはこの書籍が刊行された当時に掲載されていたものです) --このテキストは、 単行本 版に関連付けられています。