Computers, like TV, give the sensation that by merely watching a screen, you can acquire information without work and without discipline. And even if schools are regarded as places for vocational training rather than liberal education, employers do not benefit from school focus on computers. Steven Jobs, the Apple Computer founder who provided thousands of computers to schools, says, What s wrong with education cannot be fixed with technology, and suggests that the computer mania lulls us into thinking that we re doing something to solve the problem with education. As the Wall Street Journal recently said of Bill Gates efforts to endow schools with computers, At issue are problems even the highest technology cannot address. Fundamentally, teachers are not held responsible for the performance of their students, and schools and principals are not held responsible for the performance of their teachers.
Powerful unions ensure that no meaningful reform takes place.
And unless you re a parent with the means to abandon the system for a better one, you and your child are helpless. As always, Mr. Silber should be applauded for his devotion to the truth, but even his talent and zeal may not be equal to the task of saving public education. Sounding like a politician who wants to please everyone, Governor Cellucci said, To the extent that parents are satisfied that every teacher in the classroom is capable and competent, I think that s a good thing. Behind Silber are a pandering governor and a legislature in the thrall of the blob. More computers will not save schools from the powers that have ruined them.