Finally, Christie argues that laptops are the way to reach students who have been raised on flashing monitors. It is an argument that does not sit well with Chapman. He counters that technological razzle-dazzle is exactly what children already mesmerized by the gaudiness of mass culture do not need. It requires discipline. If we say we are going to make learning that's 'fun' and resembles a video game, we've kind of given up.
Chapman is by no means a techno-phobe.
The former executive director of the organization Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility , he believes that computers in the classroom are a fine adjunct to good teaching. Furthermore, Chapman said, he is worried that much of the enthusiasm for the laptop effort comes from people desperate to find an easy cure for what ails America's education system and who, therefore, easily buy the marketing campaigns of computer-related companies. They have to do with student home lives, with student apathy, with student pre-occupation with popular culture and consumerism. Paul J. LeBlanc, president of Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vt., which recently launched the nation's first master's degree program in teaching with Internet technologies, said computers can be effective teaching tools in some disciplines, ineffective in others. Word processing programs, for example, may be useful to help children focus on writing rather than the mechanics of revision.