It's really not a new idea, and isn't necessarily connected
to computers. In the past just about any new technology was a must-have
in order to bring about the desired changes in kids' attitudes toward their
school work. As a kid, I remember 16mm movie projectors (in the classroom,
not at home) as one of those desired technologies. As an teacher, a whole
gamut of tools come to mind, ranging from pocket calculators to television.
Perhaps not surprisingly, kids seem to continue to dislike school, despite
technology's march into the classroom.
But lest we think that only Intel processors can bring
out that hidden fun in learning, it seems that numerous other companies
have a similar idea. An AltaVista check on the phrase "makes learning fun",
crossed with the word "computer" brings up about 350 pages, most of them
(apparently - I certainly didn't check them all) advertisements for computers
and/or software. IBM touts having MMX technology with its Intel processors,
but they apparently only claim that the computer itself (Aptiva) is what
makes the learning fun, not the fact that a particular technology (made
by another company) is bundled with their computer. All of the advertisements
(and though these web pages may be defined as "information", they're most
certainly advertisements as well), want to convince us that their product
is what's going to change the face of education.
Should learning be fun? That it should
seems today to be an accepted maxim of western culture, though only a generation
ago the point was still under debate. Max Rafferty, the California State
Superintendent of Public Instruction for much of the 1960s (under whom
I had the dubious honor of being bored out of my mind through most of my
education) wrote a classic, "Suffer, Little Children", in which he did
battle with the idea that learning should be fun. In very straightforward
prose (at least he was good at that) he argued
with A.S. Niell, of Summerhill (hey, come to think of it, who remembers
that anymore?) fame's statement that:
My guess is that we're concerned
with making learning fun with the aid of computer technologies because
we have very little idea of what else learning might be. We're not very
good at making it into an adventure. We're still far off from helping kids
to define their own needs and then pursue the necessary tools for achieving
those needs. It would seem that computers have been around the classroom
long enough for us to start to get a picture of how they can be integrated
into the educational process, or to see how their use changes the traditional
pupil/teacher interactions. Yet in practice we still seem to be floundering.
Calvin, in the comic that graces the main page
of this web site, seems to know when he's being bluffed. When somebody
says to him "fun" he instinctively knows what that means, and the basic
uses that we make of computer in education today ain't it.
That's it for this edition. Reactions and suggestions
can be sent to:
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From the Boidem -
an occasional column on computers and information technologies in everyday
life
March 26, 1998*:
We don't have cable television, but we
pick up a number of stations, including one called "Cartoon Network" which
seems to get beamed to us from India. The boys love it, and even know to
call me when Daffy Duck comes on. But hey, I'm
an adult, a grown man, and I can't really spend my time watching cartoons
all day, can I! So I have to find some "professional", perhaps "sociological"
excuse for watching. And sometimes that sort of excuse presents itself
in the form of a commercial.
I can't remember the exact words anymore, even though
I wrote them down on a slip of paper which I filed with countless other
slips of that sort, most which don't seem to have gotten lost (but I'm
not looking for them at the moment, am I?). It was a commercial for computers,
and the words were (almost exactly):
An Intel Processor with MMX technology makes learning
fun.
You don't have to be super talented in order to catch the
sub-text of that phrase: Learning is supposed to be good for kids, but
for some strange reason they don't enjoy it as they should and as a result
don't devote enough time to their studies, watching Cartoon Network instead.
Thus we should take the necessary steps to change the learning experience
from one of boredom and monotony to one of excitement and fun, and the
way to do that is to purchase a particular computer (in this case, one
with an Intel processor with MMX technology). Then our kids will spend
the necessary time doing their school work, as we think they should.
The aim of education is to work joyfully and find happiness.
Rafferty's counter argument was:
The aim of education is to give young people the intellectual tools
which the race over the centuries has found indispensable in the pursuit
of truth.
Of course it's rather unclear as to why doing that sort of
thing can't be an enjoyable experience, but it's unclear as well as to
just where computers fit into all this. After all, they certainly can be
helpful in giving young people intellectual tools, maybe even in the pursuit
of truth. But I doubt that that's what all those copywriters who come up
with the phrase "make learning fun" had in mind.