Computers and Education

Although Ellen Seiter focuses her discussion on the technological disparity between different school systems, it really brings light to the inequality that plagues school systems all over America. It is easy to see from her discussion that the children in these different schools are not given equal access the same kinds of technology. And as technology becomes increasingly more important in both the professional and social world this gap in the technology available to students is increasingly worrisome. I went to a small rural school in Oklahoma but by the time I was in fourth grade we were regularly taking computer classes to teach us typing as well as to train us to take standardized tests. (I use the word train deliberately because the programs we did our lessons on were the same programs that we took some of our standardized testing on so they literally were teaching us how to take these tests.) This is something that Seiter touches on in the first chapter of her book. She says "The incursion of drill-and-practice software into schools goes hand in glove with the curricular emphasis on standardized testing as the sole mark of educational quality and excellence" (6). Obviously this kind of technology is not as useful to students regardless of their economic or social class position. However, understanding how to use technology is increasingly important in nearly every aspect of our lives today so there should be equal access to it in schools. But new computer programs that encourage critical thinking over simple memorization should be implemented as well.