ACHT
UNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” story. It is an editorial by the editor.
Wayland Schools Technology Director Teresa Fulk, without really intending to, has stirred up controversy about children’s use of computers and gadgets with her request to the school board next month for permission to extend use of iPads to elementary students.
In some quarters, there already has been a protest that kids these days already are inundated by visual gadgets, and teens particularly can be seen wandering around with their noses stuck to hand-held devices at the risk of paying attention to their surroundings. There certainly is some merit in these objections.
What we have here is a clash between the good old days and embracing the inevitable march of progress.
I remember in the fall of 1976, when I took a job as sports editor of the Albion Evening Recorder, a six-days-a-week newspaper, I was introduced to computers, which were installed for the first time in October of that year because the new editor was a forward-looking chap. After getting over being bewildered by the contraptions, I soon grew to like and appreciate them because they could do so much more in less time than the old way of doing things.
Not so for the recently retired editor, who gleefully dropped in to do some work on the typewriter whenever the computer system crashed. His point was that he could continue working with those old-fashioned machines while the new ones were paralyzed.
Yet today I cannot think of a single newspaper or any kind of media that depends on the typewriter for handling its workload. Over time, the newfangled gadgets simply overpowered work spaces in the same way horseless carriages replaced horses as the most common form of transportation.
Less than a decade after I started hacking stories on computers came debates about technology in the classrooms. Some school board members complained that the rush to embrace the new-fangled gadgets was taking students away from the basics — reading, writing and arithmetic. There was even an entire movement called “Back to Basics” that was a backlash against the progressive march of education into the 21st century.
Yet if we come to understand 19th century biologist Charles Darwin’s greatest lesson, we must cope with his assertion that it’s not the smartest or strongest of species that survive, but the one that is best able to adapt to changing conditions. And learning how to use technology is a good example these days of adapting to changing conditions. Those who do not adapt are left in the dust.
So it seems essential for everyone to become computer literate. Some older folks are too fearful or set in their ways to make that transition, but they should not stand in the way of those who will need these devices to survive what lies ahead.
The most important factor here is how these new-fangled gadgets are used. Most are little more than fancy schmancy high-tech toys, and that’s exactly how they marketed and advertised. They should be regarded as tools instead.
I despise cell phones, and I am one of the very few who doesn’t have one. Yet I recognize that such a device can be a life saver for a stranded motorist.
I despise snowmobiles and have never used or ridden on one. Yet I understand that in a snowstorm they can be indispensible as tools for rescue.
So some parents and observers are really nervous about placing iPads into the hands of very young children who could abuse them and make them toys only, and guide them to place they should not see and hear. It seems that responsible parents and teachers could easily regulate what their children could do on iPads and how often.
Yet I also agree with those who have posted on Facebook the arguments that no less a figure than Steve Jobs, the late founder of Apple, did not let his children use computers and technological gadgets until they reached a certain age. Jobs believed, as did Bill Gates, that there is a proper time to introduce technology to children, a time when they are ready to understand it properly.
I suppose someone has to draw a line at where technology enters the child’s life, but computers and visual media are so ubiquitous in modern society that it’s nearly impossible to escape them. If we allow very young children access, we must insist they use them properly as tools, not for entertainment, though they’ll soon enough find out how to do that as well.