Education Tools: Then and Now
by Kelvin Alexander Green
Students today are often criticized for “over reliance” on the internet, social media, computer software, and other forms of modern technology. But this is nothing new.
Back in the 1980s, students were criticized for dependence on hand-held calculators. And in the 1950s, students were admonished for using ballpoint pens. One teacher went so far as to say: “Ballpoint pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American virtues of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Businesses and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries.” Today, the ballpoint pen is so commonplace, it is almost impossible to think of it as cutting-edge technology. Nevertheless, such advances tend to provoke resistance when introduced.
Over 300 years ago, at a teacher’s conference in 1703, it was observed that “students today can’t prepare bark to calculate their problems. They depend upon their slates which are more expensive. What will they do when their slate is dropped, and it breaks? They will be unable to write!”
A hundred years after that, in 1815, a principal’s association stated: “Students today depend upon paper too much. They don’t know how to write on slate without chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly! What will they do when they run out of paper?”
And a little over a century ago, in 1907, the National Association of Teachers observed: “Students today depend too much upon ink! They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil.”
In retrospect, these arguments are somewhat comical, but they were serious concerns at the time. Decades from now, will students laugh at the mere concept of a cell phone or computer? Or is there some truth in these admonishments? There are not many students today who know how to make ink, clean a slate, or sharpen a quill. While these skills may not be of practical importance in the modern world, they are nonetheless a part of our educational legacy. Without an appreciation of traditional methods, is not our appreciation of modern conveniences also lessened? Innovation can be controversial, with valid concerns on either side, but acceptance of improved technology is inevitable. If it wasn’t, we would still be taking notes on tree bark.
Quoted material credited to: Tom Seidenberg, Washington Mathematics 34 (1) Fall 1989, 8 published in Learning First Alliance, Beyond Islands of Excellence, http://oregonreadingfirst.uoregon.edu/downloads/leadership/ldrshp_kukic_10_06.pdf, accessed September 15, 2018.
