Readers Agree: Computers No Solution

A couple of weeks ago I felt an overwhelming urge to take issue with President Clinton on the subject of schools and the Internet. I think I wrote something subtle like “Mr. President, you’re wrong.”

What the president so glowingly painted as a remedy for all that ails education, I suggested, was little better than an updated (and interactive) version of the yellow-brick road leading to Never-Never Land. I think I even may have taken a swipe at Vice President Gore, suggesting he was a hyperactive window-shade hanger.

It was my recommendation that parents were what schools and kids needed more than speedy access to information superhighways. A novel idea.

As I braced for the backlash (one does not attack sacred cows with impunity), the mail began to pour in.

From Raleigh, N.C.: “I just read your column. I wish more people would join you in saying that the best medicine for what ails school children is personal attention from a parent. It is just that simple, but it seems like no one wants to put that much effort into it.”

From UCLA: “I can’t agree more on the points that you’ve made concerning the importance of humanly educating, nurturing, and instilling the basic values to our children. In the age of sophisticated technology in computers, televisions, video games, internets, there is no better ‘educator’ than our teachers, parents, peers and friends. We cannot lose our humanity to machines. Thank you, Elizabeth.”

Thank you, Brian.

From a college librarian in Illinois: “Bravo for your column admonishing the President to keep things regarding the Internet in perspective. I work in a field where computers have come to be adored. As a result money for the basics have suffered. I agree that children need the attention of real live people and not just a multimedia work station.”

From a new mother in Mystic, Conn.: “I just want to tell you that your newspaper article on kids, TV and computers hit the mark with me. It seems too many parents want others to spend time with and teach their children and they can justify it to themselves. It saddens me that so many children seem to be relegated to the back seat due to the careers and recreation of parents. I waited until I was 40 to have my first child because I spent 20 years as a Naval Officer and I knew if I ever had a child while in the midst of my career, that child would spend a lot of time away from me. I don’t consider myself a martyr but I do think I was smart and my baby’s wonderful disposition and happiness are reflections of that decision.”

From Spokane: “There is at least one other person out there who feels about computers in education as I do. Wheew.”

From New London, Conn.: “My wife and I raised two girls and for the first ten years of their lives we did not own a television set. As a result of this they both learned to read at an extremely young age. We both read to them and taught them to read. I am firmly convinced that this is the reason they were both so advanced in school. They would both rather read to this day as opposed to watching television or using the computer to surf the Internet.

“I am employed as an attorney defending people charged with crimes who cannot afford to hire an attorney. I have become more and more disturbed by the character or lack … of the young people that I am appointed to represent. The disintegration of the American family as evidenced by the proliferation of drug use and random, mindless violence can be laid at the feet of the ‘electronic baby sitter’.

“I don’t believe for a moment that any responsible parent would invite a complete stranger off the street and let them entertain and educate their child. This is the function that our society has delegated to the electronic media.”

From a clinical counselor working with SBH (severely behaviorally handicapped) youth in Dayton, Ohio.: “Thank you for a most needed statement on the hot air of recent weeks from the White House. As a retired AF bomber pilot who went into counseling as a new career and am working in an SBH Learning Center in Dayton, I can tell you I was amazed at the kids I work with. With all of the horrendous difficulties they have faced and will face, I feel that the computer, raw information, SEAGA and all the rest are one of their most dangerous challenges.”

From UCLA: “Everyone I hear seems to be looking for a quick fix in the education business and no one wants to hear that maybe they actually should spend some time with their kids. If I hear the phrase ‘quality time’ much more, I will retch. The occurrence of ‘quality time’ in anyone’s day is a random variable. … If you are there in your kid’s day, you’ll be there when the quality time happens, if you are only there for five percent of the day, you’ll only get five percent of the quality time.”

Thanks for writing, folks. Let’s hope your numbers increase.

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