Comments on: Hundred Dollar Laptop http://metrocat.org/2005/11/hundred-dollar-laptop You're reading the bite-sized musings on travel, technology, and other miscellaneous topics by Anna and Jeff Watkins from Los Gatos, a small town nestled in the hills at the southern end of Silicon Valley. Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:05:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: cbd http://metrocat.org/2005/11/hundred-dollar-laptop#comment-12 cbd Sun, 27 Nov 2005 18:13:29 +0000 #comment-12 <p>The central objection about computer technology here and in Steward's article---that the machine will replace the human---has been raised about all kinds of technologies, from writing to VCRs to televisions. But technology never displaces humanity; instead it changes it---indeed, we see book and handwriting technologies now as warm, fuzzy, genuine, etc. Years ago, they were threatening.</p> <p>For me, the one-size-fits-all, testing-driven curricula, forced on us by No Child Left Behind and similar initiatives, is a far greater threat than Linux laptops. <em>That</em> is where the McDonalds-ization of schooling is coming from. And I see the lack of prescribed content as the way to counter it: without a default, locally developed and/or localized curricula are the only way to go. Teachers and students who create and deliver aren't merely filling in scantrons to the tune of "learning objectives" or "outcomes."</p> <p>Though I'm sure <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/" rel="nofollow">MIT can suggest where to go</a> for content...</p> <p>(Last week I entered a similar comment on the old Newburyportion, which apparently was hungry, and ate it. I hope this one isn't as tasty.)</p> The central objection about computer technology here and in Steward’s article—that the machine will replace the human—has been raised about all kinds of technologies, from writing to VCRs to televisions. But technology never displaces humanity; instead it changes it—indeed, we see book and handwriting technologies now as warm, fuzzy, genuine, etc. Years ago, they were threatening.

For me, the one-size-fits-all, testing-driven curricula, forced on us by No Child Left Behind and similar initiatives, is a far greater threat than Linux laptops. That is where the McDonalds-ization of schooling is coming from. And I see the lack of prescribed content as the way to counter it: without a default, locally developed and/or localized curricula are the only way to go. Teachers and students who create and deliver aren’t merely filling in scantrons to the tune of “learning objectives” or “outcomes.”

Though I’m sure MIT can suggest where to go for content…

(Last week I entered a similar comment on the old Newburyportion, which apparently was hungry, and ate it. I hope this one isn’t as tasty.)

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