Philosophy of Computing 201

This is still not a graded class, but it is getting close. You do not have to take notes, but you do have to write to the author and either agree or disagree. (I prefer people to disagree, I can't learn from someone who agrees with me all of the time). You may want to take notes, particularly about some of the books I will mention (and let me know of your choice of books, please).

1) Do we need to train our first graders through eighth graders on the latest Internet Website building, E-mail and other 'Cyber' tools? HELL, NO!!! That is something nice to do IF, and that is a very big if, the school has lots of money, the kids know how to use a library, they can multiply and divide, and they can read a bus timetable and fill out a job application and an income tax form. How many schools have money for new books or enough teachers to keep the class sizes down to a reasonable level? We look for the smallest teacher/student ratio when we go to college, but isn't it more important in the younger grades? Let's spend the money that we would spend on 'Technology Centers' on books, teachers and librarians. Some school districts keep the school libraries open for two hours a day, twice a week because they don't have the money to pay a full time librarian. Librarians get paid less than computer technologists. They kids can pick up everything they need to know about technology in the last four years of school. How many of us learned our life's work in high school? I don't know many people who did. Are the kids who don't learn computers in high school automatically going to be asking if you 'want fries with that' when they graduate? Of course not. Will they have an edge on the other kids? Yes, they will. But we need to incorporate it into the curriculum. Give everyone a laptop and make them do their homework on it. Make them turn their papers in on the Internet. But give them all the same machine. Make all the kids use it, the jock and vocational students, too. Give the kids textbooks on CDROMS. Really incorporate into the learning. Then we can really use them, not just have an hour a week in the 'learning labs'. If all the kids have the same computer we don't build up a class system of 'them and us'. We don't build up a technologic ghetto of 'haves and have nots'. We really prepare kids for the future.

2) Will the Internet be the end of everything we know and be the only way to shop or learn or anything else? No. The Internet will be taking a larger and larger slice of the pie as far as shopping goes. We have already seen what it can do to small specialty retailers. We have watched small bookstores and cigar stores and other specialty stores close. Most of the ones that have closed were marginal to start with. They didn't have the dedicated customer base that they need to withstand competition, whether it was from another store down the block or a website across the nation. There are bookstores that are thriving and there are cigar stores that are expanding, but they have a niche that they carefully exploit. And they know that tomorrow's sales depend on today's service. I tried to buy a part for an electric mixer. I broke the blades. Just a small part, cost less than five bucks. I called three stores and two repair shops. No one had it and no one was willing to order it. They all were more than willing to sell me a new one, but no one wanted to sell me just the blades. I went on the Internet and ordered them. They were here in two days and cost me seven dollars total. That was not a great loss to the local store. They won't miss the seven bucks in that days sales. But what about the fifty dollars when I replace the mixer? How about the two hundred dollars when I replace my microwave oven? Will they miss the thousand dollars when I buy a new freezer or refrigerator? The Internet allows every home with a computer and Internet access to have every specialty store on-line in their house. They can also comparison shop before they come to your store. Better know your competition, and it's not just local anymore.