-> THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...
->
-> "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!"    Teachers' Conference, 1703
......
-> "Ball point 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. Business and
-> banks will never allow such expensive luxuries."
-> Federal Teacher, 1950
followed by:
-> "Students today depend too much on hand-held calculators."
-> Anonymous, 1995
->
-> Can you predict what tomorrow's argument will be?
You know, I've seen these kind of things before. But I think the analogy
you are imlying, that because ...
from preparing bark giving way to using slates...
from using slates to using paper...
from sharpening pencils with a knife to using ink...
from making their own ink to using store bought...
from using straight pens and nibs to using fountain pens...
to using ball point pens...
were all criticized and these turned out to be silly criticisms, that
somehow (I guess) you are implying that the criticism of hand-held
calculators quoted above is equally silly.
I suggest that it is a poorly constructed analogy. Neither the bark, the
slate, the pencils or pens of various types, nor the paper replaced any
thought process on the part of the student. However, calculators can do
so. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. The challenge to
today's math teachers is to structure the use of the calculators in
their classrooms in such a way that students do not use these devices as
a crutch, or as a substitute for analytical thinking. When students can
use them as a magic black box which produces answers for them without
any thought on their part, they will do so and learn little from it.
Sheila
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