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The Child and the Machine: How Computers Put Our Children's Education at Risk
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 306
EAN: 9781589040052
ISBN: 1589040058
Label: Robins Lane Press
Manufacturer: Robins Lane Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 2001-01
Publisher: Robins Lane Press
Studio: Robins Lane Press
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Editorial Review:
The number of computers in schools more than doubled during the 1990s, while government and corporate initiatives to wire schools for Net access has been aggressive. But how are computers affecting the way children experience school? The Child and the Machine offers one possible answer to that question. Authors Alison Armstrong and Charles Casement argue that "computers put our children's education at risk" by diverting funds from art, music, and other programs. What Armstrong lacks in scholarly or professional accreditation she makes up for in tenacity. A concerned mom's polemic, The Child and the Machine meets Armstrong's laudable goal of providing a framework for a "long overdue public discussion" about computers in elementary schools. Chapters about keyboarding, reading on-screen, using word-processor programs, and playing computer games are spiked with useful tidbits of educational theory. The importance of physical stimulation in children's learning is uppermost for Armstrong. Despite the computer's much-vaunted capacity to retrieve pages of information about ladybugs, for example, it is an inadequate substitute for holding the real thing in the palm of your hand. What's missing from Armstrong's account is sufficient attention to the role of parenting. Computers may indeed be a bland experiential diet for hungry young minds, but Armstrong's worry that computers are ruining children's appetite for other kinds of activity is unsupported. Still, The Child and the Machine views with healthy skepticism the benefits of the influx of computers in the elementary school classroom and will sharpen one's thinking on this vital subject. --Kathi Inman Berens
The United States spends $6.5 billion on educational technology (199899), yet children's educational performance remains stagnant. The Child and the Machine shows how our rush to use computers has led to the most expensive and least helpful revolution in the history of education.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - A must-read for anyone who cares about kids
It is all too easy for those of us with serious concerns about the every-growing power of computers in our children's lives to be shouted down with unreasining cries of 'Luddite!'. Fortunately this book has now come along to strike back on our behalf. It is well-researched, well-argued, and written in simple, clear English, and the concerns raised by the authors about computer overuse mirror what I have witnessed happening in the classroom over the last decade. It's comforting to know that I'm not ... Read More
Rating:  - OR WHY COMPUTERS MAKE OLD-STYLE EDUCATORS FEEL INADEQUATE
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We can presume this book's intended audience is the legion of teachers and education bureaucrats who cringe every time they hear the phrase "computers in the classroom".
Their biggest dilemma and their most justifiable concern are the expense of the hardware and the short-life of your typical PC. Educational dollars are finite and mistakes can be expensive. The big bonus though, is that as computers have become more powerful, they are at the same rate becoming cheaper.
Alison Armstrong ... Read More
Rating: - Thoughtful Critique of Computers in Education
This is not another Luddite style, hysterically pitched, attack on computers. Armstrong and Casement present a well-reasoned and well-researched assessment of the shortcomings of computer eduction for children. They point out many attributes of software design and computer network systems that work to the disadvantage of some children in certain cases, most children in others. For instance, the very nature of the Internet, with all of its built-in "hyerlink" capability, will give only the most ... Read More
Rating:  - Computers harm kids
This is a timely appraisal of the role of computers in childhood education.The authors question the hype surrounding the use of computers by young children.Parents are pressured to put their children on the computer bandwagon with fears that they will be "left behind".(It's perfectly sane to be left behind collective delusion.)The authors are not anti-computer, but they put forward cogent reasons why young children are harmed by computers.A central point is that computers offer very limited experiences.They ... Read More
Rating: - Computers harm kids
This is a timely appraisal of the role of computers in childhood education.The authors question the hype surrounding the use of computers by young children.Parents are pressured to put their children on the computer bandwagon with fears that they will be "left behind".(It's perfectly sane to be left behind collective delusion.)The authors are not anti-computer, but they put forward cogent reasons why young children are harmed by computers.A central point is that computers offer very limited experiences.They ... Read More
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