Dissenting vote here. I don't think tech in schools is a good idea at all, much less tech for young kids, or kids at all, because it's too early and their brains are still developing. My feeling is if we want to encourage creativity, what's less creative than mechanical formulas and the dull-mindedness of YouTube videos?
Along with that, I would urge any educator(s) or system thinking of bringing Nintendo DS or iPads or iWhatevers into the classroom to read -- read! And not on an e-reader, but in print! --
The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr;
iBrain, by Dr. Gary Small (who also designed the groundbreaking
Alzheimer's Prevention Program and wrote the book of same name);
The Winter of Our Disconnect, by Susan Maushart;
Alone Together, by Sherry Turkle, and perhaps some of the most notable classics on divorcing ourselves (and consequently, our kids) from industrial progress and domination and to channel creativity through nature and each other, rather than the superficial (and often dangerous) connections brought about by machines.
Civil Disobedience, Silent Spring, The Jungle, etc. ...
I'm not saying to read these to the kids, but rather to have a well-versed background in the concept that the iPad as babysitter is no better than the TV as babysitter or any substitution for human interaction as electronic "babysitter." Rosie the robot from
The Jetsons rather than Jane the human mom? That's not a direction I'd want my kids, if I had any, to head in, and nor do I want the world's kids in general to head in that direction. Unfortunately, with technology, and an expansion of education in this capacity, comes the potential for future profits, from the potential for future engineers (or at least the ones who'll work the factory lines). Which is REALLY the reason why the STEM disciplines are so attractive to the American school system. Defense contractors, probably, Big Pharma, actively recruiting the Future (German) Engineers of America already before preschool. I'd react to my kid coming home with an O'Reilly guide like Otto Frank probably would to Anne coming home with little "Ich liebe Adolf" hearts drawn all over a copy of Mein Kampf.
I sure wish J. Robert Oppenheimer had grown up a farmhand instead of building the H-bomb. That China was more about noodles and kite-flying than running democracy advocates over with mechanical war machines.
Tanks for the memories...
Teachers and parents need to take time, the most important and precious time that nowadays, is "nano"-fleeting, more so than ever, and sit down to interact with these kids rather than just sticking them in front of a video game or Facebook. I worry that the rise in anti-social behavior is a byproduct of the fact that a lot of anti-social so-called "nerds" run society today, the Zuckerbergs and Gateses of the world who love technology and all it supposedly "creates," without being concerned for what we're losing because of it.
Emotions.
Social cues.
Individuality.
And... childhood.
Not to mention how all the sit-down time and the crackdown on P.E. and recess is contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic. Why not play outside and run and jump rather than staying indoors hitting buttons to make Mario jump on a toadstool? Technology is creating a world of Big Bang Theory-esque recluses who don't feel the need to go outside, since the whole world (wide web) is at their fingertips, and Second Life far more interesting than what's out there in society!
I say give these kids coloring books and Crayolas instead of Photoshop and a stylus. Read them a story and let them physically turn the pages instead of letting Siri do the voice-over or text-to-speech on a Kindle. Play-Dough over programming; Legos over Linux; baby dolls and teddy bears over A.I. and Firefox. Real words over "LOL" and other abbreviations. Let them play pretend, using their own imaginations, rather than having them apply some pre-fab scenario to a stock list of avatars on Club Penguin. Let them have a real-world encounter with some real-world animals at a petting zoo or the class pet rather than bobbing their heads mindlessly to some incoherent babble about "Lol Cats." Really, is that what we want for the children of the future, "Old McDonald" and "Bingo" replaced with "Never Gonna Give You Up"?
Forgive me if I sound backwards and outdated or if I've offended anyone by sounding intolerant of engineering as a viable outlet for creativity, but I just don't think giving school-age kids laptops and iPads is doing anything but harm. I've seen
The Terminator enough times to know we have to protect little John Connor from the Schwarzenazis at Micro$oft and their sociopathic 'ceps of steel.
