Looking over as many edu-blogs as I can find, as well as some web 2.0 teaching collective sites, there seems to be one thing which distinguishes the ‘old’ style of teaching…paper. I recall as a student, that teachers had access to several technologies. These were the pencil sharpener, the stapler, the mimeograph (the copy machine to those under the age of forty…), the textbook, and the blackboard. As time moved on its way, the overhead projector came into play. I went to college when the use of transparencies was the cutting edge of teaching technology.
Obviously, things have changed…for many teachers, but not all. I came to teaching pretty late in life, and have spent several decades in a variety of over roles in the private sector. How some schools operate is a source of amazement to me, in that they still use exactly the same tools to accomplish tasks which could have been better left to simple computer programs. I have worked in some schools where fundamental tasks like attendance are still taken care of which scribbled pieces of paper shuttled to the office by students. I am aware of no other profession which allows its members to do things the same way they have for forty years. Ask any Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, Nurse, member of the military, police officer, etc… They all have professional canons to adhere to which change over time, they also are expected to keep up with the times.
Recently, I ran across a blog called Teaching Paperless, which espouses principles based upon adopting more technology, and to do this…to put aside some of the older technologies. The idea of casting away the older to make room for the newer looks like it might be the only practical way to accomplish this ideal. This notion is to get rid of the use of paper in the classroom. With modern technology (computers and internet), there shouldn’t be as much need to deal with hand written, pencil on paper worksheets. I can see a lot of value in this since the system we have right now is certainly not helping develop anyone’s ability to express oneself in writing, and penmanship lessons are sadly a thing of the 19th century.
One of the subtexts of this idea (paperless-ness…) would be to address these subtler concerns head on. We have students (in the aggregate) who are becoming less adept in writing, less adept in developing critical reading techniques, and have almost no use for actual writing outside of class. I know; this is something which still amazes me!
If you attempt to look at the problems in our education system pragmatically, these points start to look less radical. We teach math to elementary school and middle school students with calculators, and is it a cause to an effect that most cash registers in stores where high school students could potentially work are ‘smart’ enough so that no one need to know how to add, subtract, multiply of even to be able to ‘make change’.
Is the skill of writing in a legible manner, to express oneself in a cogent, clear, and informative manner likewise on the verge of disappearing?
If you take the time to think this out, you are impelled to consider whether the end of these older methods and skills are worth being lost and replaced with their newer replacements. Sadly enough, this is starting to look like and either/or type of question. There isn’t the time to cover to a degree that would validate the time spent to try to cover all of these skills and methods.
Now you are about as far into this poser as I am…I don’t have any worthwhile answers…yet. I am not certain I can even pose the right questions…yet. I think that we are not doing a real service to our children, but this has been generally true for years.
Obviously, there is much more to come…
