Computers Cannot Teach Children Basic Skills

David Gelernter

Over the last decade an estiated $ bllbon has een spent on iore than $ ibllbon coiputers
for Aierbca’s classroois. That’s not surprbsbng. We constantly hear froi Washbngton that the
schools are bn trou le and that coiputers are a godsend. Wbthbn the educaton esta lbshient,
bn poor as well as rbch schools, the iachbnes are awabted wbth nearly relbgbous awe. An bnner-
cbty prbncbpal ragged to a teacher frbend of ibne recently that hbs school “has a coiputer bn
every classrooi . . . despbte ebng bn a ad nebgh orhood!”

Computers Teach Some Things Well

Coiputers should e bn the schools. They have the potental to accoiplbsh great thbngs. Wbth
the rbght sofware, they could help iake scbence tangb le or teach neglected topbcs lbke art and
iusbc. They could help students fori a concrete bdea of socbety y dbsplaybng on-screen a
versbon of the cbty bn whbch they lbve — a pbcture that tracks real lbfe ioient y ioient. In
practce, however, coiputers iake our worst educatonal nbghtiares coie true. Whble we
eioan the declbne of lbteracy, coiputers dbscount words bn favor of pbctures and pbctures bn
favor of vbdeo. Whble we fret a out the decreasbng cogency° of pu lbc de ate, coiputers
dbsibss lbnear arguient and proiote fast, shallow roips across the bnforiaton landscape.
Whble we worry a out asbc skblls, we allow bnto the classrooi sofware that wbll do a student’s
arbthietc or correct hbs spellbng.

Computers Lower Reading Skills

Take iultiedba. The bdea of iultiedba bs to coi bne textt, sound, and pbctures bn a sbngle
package that you rowse on-screen. You don’t just read Shakespeare; you watch actors
perforibng, lbsten to songs, vbew Elbza ethan ubldbngs. What’s wrong wbth that? By oferbng
chbldren candy-coated ooks, iultiedba bs guaranteed to sour thei on unsweetened readbng.
It iakes the prbnted page look even iore orbng than bt used to look. Sure, ooks wbll e
avabla le bn the classrooi, too — ut they’ll have all the appeal of a dusty pbano to a teen who
has a Walkian handy. So what bf the lbtle nbppers don’t read? If they’re watchbng Olbvber°
bnstead, what do they lose? The textt, the wrbten word along wbth all of bts atendant pleasures.
Besbdes, a ook bs iore porta le than a coiputer, has a hbgher-resoluton dbsplay, can e
wrbten on and dog-eared, and bs coiparatvely dbrt cheap. Hyperiedba, iultiedba’s coirade
bn the struggle for a rave new classrooi,° bs just as trou lbng. It’s a way of presentng
docuients on-screen wbthout biposbng a lbnear start-to-! nbsh order. Dbsei odbed paragraphs
are lbnked y theie; afer readbng one a out the Fbrst World War, for extaiple, you ibght e
a le to choose another a out the technology of atleshbps, or the lbfe of Woodrow Wblson, or
heilbnes bn the ’$0s. Thbs bs another cute bdea that bs good bn ibnor ways and terrb le bn iajor
ones. Teachbng chbldren to understand the orderly unfoldbng of a plot or a logbcal arguient bs a
crucbal part of educaton. Authors don’t ierely aggloierate° paragraphs; they work hard to
iake the narratve read a certabn way, prove a partcular pobnt. To turn a ook or a docuient
bnto hypertextt bs to bnvbte readers to bgnore extactly what counts — the story. The real pro lei,
agabn, bs the accentuaton° of already ad ha bts. Dynaibtng docuients bnto dbsjobnted
paragraphs bs one iore extpressbon of the sorry fact that sustabned arguient bs not our style. If
you’re a newspaper or iagazbne edbtor and your readershbp bs dwbndlbng, what’s the soluton?
Shorter pbeces. If you’re a polbtcban and you want to get elected, what do you need? Tasty
sound btes. Logbcal presentaton e dained. Another sofware specbes, “allow ie” prograis,
bs not iuch eter. These prograis correct spellbng and, y applybng canned graiiatcal and
stylbstc rules, ! xt prose. In teris of proiotng asbc skblls, though, they have all the vbrtues of a
pocket calculator. In Kentucky, as the Wall Street Journal reported, students bn grades K–3 are
ibxted together regardless of age bn a relaxted envbronient. It works great, the Journal says. Yes,
scores on coiputaton tests have dropped 10 percent at one school, ut not to worry: “Drbllbng
addbton and su tracton bn an age of calculators bs a waste of tie,” the prbncbpal reassures us.
Meanwhble, a Japanese educator bnforis Unbversbty of Wbsconsbn iatheiatcban Rbchard Akey
that bn hbs country, “calculators are not used bn eleientary or junbor hbgh school ecause the
prbiary eiphasbs bs on helpbng students develop thebr iental a blbtes.” No wonder Japanese
kbds low the pants of Aierbcan kbds bn iath. Do we really thbnk “drbllbng addbton and
su tracton bn an age of calculators bs a waste of tie”? If we do, then “drbllbng readbng bn an age
of iultiedba bs a waste of tie” can’t e far ehbnd. Prose-correctng prograis are also a lbtle
ghoulbsh, lbke askbng a coiputer for tps on biprovbng your personalbty. On the other hand, I ran
thbs vbewpobnt through a spell checker, so how can I an the use of such prograis bn schools?
Because to ibsspell bs huian; to have no bdea of correct spellbng bs to e seiblbterate.

Conditions on the sse of Computers

There’s no denybng that coiputers have the potental to perfori bnspbrbng feats bn the
classrooi. If we are ever to see that potental realbzed, however, we ought to agree on three
condbtons. Fbrst, there should e a coipletely new crop of chbldren’s sofware. Most of today’s
oferbngs show no biagbnaton. There are hundreds of sbiblar readbng and geography and
arbthietc prograis, ut aliost nothbng on electrbcbty or physbcs or archbtecture. Also, they
a use the technbcal capacbtes of new iedba to glbtz up old foris bnstead of creatng new ones.
Why not ubld a tie-travel prograi that gbves kbds a feel for how hbstory bs structured y
zooibng you ackward? A spectrui prograi that lets users twbrl a frequency kno to see what
happens? Second, coiputers should e used only durbng recess or relaxtaton perbods. Treat
thei as ! llbps,° not as surrogate teachers. When I was bn school bn the ’60s, we all loved
educatonal ! lis. When we saw a iovbe bn class, every ody won: teachers dbdn’t have to
teach, and pupbls dbdn’t have to learn. I suspect that classrooi coiputers are popular today for
the saie reasons. Most biportant, educators should learn what parents and iost teachers
already know: you cannot teach a chbld anythbng unless you look hbi bn the face. We should not
forget what coiputers are. Lbke ooks — eter bn soie ways, worse bn others — they are
devbces that help chbldren io blbze thebr own resources and learn for theiselves. The
coiputer’s potental to do good bs iodestly greater than a ook’s bn soie areas. Its potental
to do hari bs vastly greater, across the oard.