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IP: STOLL PREPARES NEW CRITIQUE OF COMPUTERS IN SCHOOLS -- from
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 14:24:13 -0400
Iconoclastic computer security expert, astronomer, and fierce Internet critic Clifford Stoll, who authored the best-selling book "Silicon Snake Oil," is working on a new book critical of the use of computers in primary and secondary education. Stoll told the Dallas Morning News: "I became a computer expert in my freshman year in high school, writing Fortran, Assembler, machine language and developing programs. Along the way, I've discovered that using computers . . . was a great way to make it look like I was doing wonderful academics when, in fact, I'm just screwing around. And for all the many, many hours that I've spent online and on computers, seems to me that most of the important work that I've done has happened independent of the hours that I've spent online. When I think of the skills that I need as an astronomer, they're skills like knowing mathematics, understanding physics, being able to manipulate a telescope, being able to write a paper, being able to read analytically and understand what someone else has written. Being able to poke holes in arguments. To be able to stand up in front of a meeting and present my ideas. These days, the computers are loaded with programs to guide the kids through things. Do they spend more time playing and learning . . . rather than just doing the rote work as you were doing? The main thing the computer is teaching . . . is that if you want to learn, you sit behind a screen for hours on end, that you'll accept what a machine says without arguing, that relationships that develop over e-mail, Web pages and chat rooms are transitory and shallow. That if you're ever frustrated, all you have to do is pull the plug and reboot the machine." (Dallas Morning News 24 Aug 98)
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