The Overdominance of Computers

Lowell W. Monke

Presentation By: Jennifer

Pokrinchak

Lowell W. Monke Says:

Our students need inner resources and real-life experiences to balance their high-tech lives

Author’s Assertion:

Preparing students for a high-tech society does not necessarily warrant their early participation in technology.

Monke advocates strengthening “inner resources” before allowing students to participate in technology.

Great Power and Poor Preparation

The more powerful the tool (i.e. computer) the more life experience and inner strength students must have to handle the power.

Example: Monke’s Computer Class

Monke’s Class:

By Using Technology Students Could:

Inflict emotional pain on others

Wipe out another’s hard work, etc.

Monke’s Conclusions:

Students need to realize the consequences of their actions; Students today grow up with diminished experience with real, concrete things.

Students can build slick multimedia presentations, but without a deep knowledge of the “real world,” they would be unable to infuse depth and meaning into the information they are discussing.

Where To Go From Here:Educators must ask:

To what extent does the heavy use of computers and the internet provide children with these experiences?

• Close, loving relationships with responsible adults

• Outdoor activities, nature exploration, etc.

• Time for unstructured play

• Music, drama, and other arts

• Hands-on lessons, craft, other physically engaging activities

• Conversations with adults, poetry, storytelling, hearing reading aloud.

Where To Go From Here:(Continued)

The idea is not to reject technology, but to place a high priority on a child’s direct encounters with the world and other living beings.

After years of engaging in direct, firsthand experiences, students should be gradually introduced to computers.

To introduce technology any earlier to students who don’t understand it is like putting a child into a room with books he cannot read.

Monke’s Suggestions:In high school, technology should take a prominent place and by the last two years, teachers should spend a considerable time outfitting students with high-tech skills.

Monke believes this is better than continually retraining younger students in technical skills that will soon be obsolete.

Monke doesn’t believe in indiscriminately throwing out computers, but he doesn’t believe in indiscriminately throwing them in either.

Final Thought:

Preparing students for a high-tech future requires educators to focus attention more than ever on making children understand what it means to be human, alive, and be part of a community.

References:

Lowell, Monke W. The Overdominance of Computers. Educational Leadership. Vol. 63. No. 4 Dece,ber 2005. January 2006.

Dodici, B.J. Draper, D.C. & Peterson, C.A. (2003). Early parent-child interactions and early literacy development. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. 23(3), 124-136

Fuchs, T. & Woessman, L. (2004, November). Computers and student learning: Bivariate and multivariate evidence on the availability and use of computers at home and at school. CESifo Working Paper Series (#1321). Available: www.cesifo.de/~zDocCIDI/1321.pdf

Hammel, S.. (1999, Nov. 29)/ Generation of loners? Living their lives online. US News and World Report, p. 79.