I’ve been following some of what has been going on in the States around PA trying to pass a law that would ban cell phones from schools. And as absurd as that sounds, it might happen for all I know. But ignoring for a moment all the users, not to mention parents who would all of the sudden be up in arms about this. There is another issue here, that “adults” are ignoring one of their basic responsibilities to children – that is to teach them to be productive members of society, and last time I looked… the “productive members” in PA society are likely using the same devices that they want to ban. I guess it is going to be up to post secondary to teach kids the proper use of phones.
Granted, the power users of today’s mobile technology are almost entirely self taught, so I guess there is the impression among those ignorant to the power of these tools, that because there is currently no formal use, there never will be. But as these tools become more common, it only makes sense to encorporate them into schools. It happened with computers (difference being that computers were not easy to pass around in class when they first hit the scene), it happened with other technologies before that. In time, it seems that all these technologies have been adopted over time, with some success. Will the same happen to the phone/ubergadget/Knowlege Device? Only time will tell. But it certainly won’t be helped along by bans.
Some food for thought before you go – from IT Management:
The problem is that cell phones, as well as media players and other electronic devices, are often used by students for distraction and mischief. Teachers want them banned, because kids are using gadgets to tune out their classrooms, pass around porn and cheat.
What teachers and schools don’t seem to understand is that there is no connection between the disruptive and counterproductive use of cell phones by students, and their use for learning.
In fact, schools could make an equally insane argument against paper. Students are passing around notes on paper, viewing porn on paper, and using paper to roll joints and smoke them in the boys’ room. Ban paper in schools!
Whether schools ban objectionable uses for paper is entirely unrelated to the usefulness of paper in classrooms for reading books, jotting down notes and taking tests.
Likewise, banning the disruptive use of cell phones is unrelated to the usefulness of phones for learning.
The reality is that these Knowledge Machines are here to stay. The students in school today will almost never know a moment of their lives where Internet connected gadgets are unavailable. Wasting time on the memorization of just about anything is now and will always be obsolete. The ability to find reliable information via cell phone, and judge it, synthesize it and use it are now among the most centrally important skills anyone can possess — far more important than many of the required areas of study.
It’s time we stop ignoring reality and recognize that a total knowledge-access revolution has taken place. Don’t let any more high school students graduate without demonstrating mastery at using the universal Knowledge Machines they all have in their pockets as they collect their diplomas.
You’ll notice the comment about paper above and notice the comment on the pencil below (from Apace of Change):
The responsible use of technology in education is, however, an issue about which I am passionate, and I just don’t see any good coming from a state-wide ban. Hell, when I was in the eighth grade, I was stabbed in the back of the neck with a pencil; I didn’t see any legislation coming out banning pencils in schools, and that was much more detrimental to my physical, emotional, and educational well-being than anything a cell phone could ever do. It’s not the tool, people; it’s how we use it.
It seems to me that they law makers down south should ban a few other things before they start into banning cell phones… there are generations of technologies that are still out there and still dangerous.
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