[Edu-sig] An OLPC comment ("Why Educational Technology Has Failed Schools")

[Arthur]

Yes, Paul:

School sucks.

Any kid worth his salt knows that

And yes Paul:

The possibilities for meaningful testing are indeed limited.  Are we 
influencing someone to be more or less creative, more or less 
independent, etc.

Implicit in the design of any test is our values -i.e. for what are we 
testing. So that "empiricism" indeed is just another opportunity to ask 
tough questions. But at least its a structure in which to do so.

But it leaves me nothing really much to argue with you about.

I think we both understand the rules, just have somewhat different ideas 
  about where to look for the exceptions to the rules.

What I hear when I look over the Squeak shoulders is that of course we 
are not claiming that any of this is a substitute for an involved, 
caring, creative teacher working in a caring, creative environment. But 
given such a teacher in such an environment do you really suppose that 
Squeak, or the OLPC, or Python, or PyGeo, or PataPata is actually of 
much importance?

I don't.

My interest in computers and education is almost 180 degrees away.

I am not convinced that they have any fundamental importance in the 
deliver of instruction.

They are quite a worthy *subject* of instruction, however.

I naively came to edu-sig thinking that was what everyone thought, and 
what we were to be about here.


Art