We live and work in transition between the Industrial Age and the birth of the Information Age. Recently two significant books were published that add fuel to the fire of educational change. Hyperlearning the New Technology and the End of Education by Lewis J. Perelman . Controversy generated by these books should make them required reading for our new educational leaders in Lansing. As the inventor of the LOGO programming language and the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Papert has a unique perspective on teaching methods that squander the potential of the computer and the educational process.
Reactions tend to fall in two camps.
The tool would accompany children in discovery learning about the world. Far more than book about technological innovation, Papert takes our present forms of teaching to task. He questions the placement of early academic literacy above that of discovery learning. Perelman with School's Out expresses a cynical view of public education. At times, it is like a bad day in the teacher's lounge.