Monke's Ideas

I apologize for my posts being so long, but it was important for me to reread the articles, summarize them, and then see how they relate to my life.

Monke (2004) believes that computers are a way to enhance education, but nothing can beat the "Human Touch" and hands on experiences that comes with having a teacher present and given youth "real" experiences for learning. Monke believes that we need to ask what kind of learning tends to take place with the computer and what kind gets left out. (p.345).

His example of children learning about trees gives a great visual. Students can learn mountains of information from a computer screen, but do they learn better when they peel the bark back, climb the branches, and actually experience the tree? A computer cannot teach this. A computer is a set of symbols and abstract information that must somehow be moved into a concrete experiences that create interests, new ideas, and learning.

"An excess of information (from the computer) may actually crowd the mind out ideas, leaving the mind (especially young minds) distracted by sterile, disconnected facts, lost among the shapeless heaps of data. (p.346). This information seems to mirror Carr (2008) is Google making us stupid? So much information in does not allow for actually learning to take place. It just takes up room in your head and no deep thinking can take place.

Computers should simulate the learning experience, but not replace the teacher itself. The two together can create a strong learning environment. Monke talks about the Oregon Trail and the understanding that children may have. I have played this game several time and I do not believe that I ever put myself in the place of the pioneers crossing the Great Divide. I think I was just trying to ration my food, be smart with my money, and avoid being attacked by Indians. The connection between the hardships of the pioneers, the reason for them to travel to Oregon, and the greater meaning of the game was never discussed. This was something that we did on the side when our assignments were done.

Monke believes that computers should not be used in the elementary schools. They will become obsolete by the time the kids get to high school. I believe that actually learning should be done in the classrooms, but computers can be used for enrichment.

Everything a child needs to know about computers in the workforce can be learned in one year in high school. Once schools start to implement high cost computers there is a "hidden domino effect" that can happen. Teachers are cut to fund technology, security is beefed up to protect the computers, internet laws for students need to be constructed, children can get into sites that are not good for them, and schools must sacrifice other things in order to provide youth with technology.

Computers can give our youth great power to do dangerous things. Cyber Bullying is a huge issue in the today's world. We must help our young people develop moral and ethical strength needed to resist abusing the enormous power these machines give them. (p. 349).

Monke feels that we must honor the natural development of the child and not concentrate on high technology until high school. Schools that see their job as preparing young people to meet the demands of a technology-driven world merely embrace and advance the idea that human needs are no longer our highest priority, that we must adapt to meet the demands of our machine. (pg 351).

The most daunting problems facing our society are drugs, violence, racism, poverty, the dissolution of family and community, and war, are all matters of human purpose and meaning. Filling schools with computers will not help find the answers to why the freest nation in the world has the highest percentage of citizens behind bars or why the wealthiest nation in history condemns a sixth of its children to poverty. (p.351).

The above paragraph is one of the hardest things for me to swallow and all very good questions. Many of our authors have touched on the fact that we are so focused on science, math, and technology that being good citizens, having morals to be a "good" person, and to know the difference between right and wrong seem to be missed somewhere.