The Medium Is the Medium
David Brooks published an article in the New York Times on using the internet versus books to enhance learning. Brooks’ article shows an extreme conservative view on the topic. His text is nothing but an argumentative text with nothing new but rather old dusty arguments of conservatives who lack the skills and abilities to take in the new technologies and adapt them to what we already have to benefit the needs of human kind, both now and in the future.
Brooks announces in his article good news that will benefit the disadvantaged students. Researchers, do not ask me in which field or who is sponsoring them, gave 852 disadvantaged students 12 books (of their own choosing) to take home at the end of the school year. They did this for three successive years. Do not ask me neither what he or they mean by disadvantaged nor how old these advantaged are???
Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. The Internet, have lessened physical barriers to communication and allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale. Technologies are products of innovative people who do not necessarily have 1000 books in their homes.
"According to these researchers, the students who brought the books home had significantly higher reading scores than other students. These students were less affected by the “summer slide” — the decline that especially afflicts lower-income students during the vacation months. In fact,just having those 12 books seemed to have as much positive effect as attending summer school."I ask myself: Why? Is it because they felt privileged? Did they experience some attention or care for the first time? I wonder what the aim of this study is. Isn’t it a bit lame result? The more you read, the higher your reading scores become!!
Brooks goes on dwelling on this study, along with many others to illustrate the tremendous power of books. "We already knew, from research in 27 countries, that kids who grow up in a home with 500 books stay in school longer and do better. This new study suggests that introducing books into homes that may not have them also produces significant educational gains." I aks myself again:Is it about the number of books in a home or about people who own this number of books in their homes?
Brooks relates to a study in North Carolina to support his argument on how badly is Internet usage is affectting students’ results with significant result declines in math and reading scores.Yes,sure! I answer. For sure many students are not using technology to learn more maths or to develop reading skills. Their teachers have to show them the way. When you take children to the library, you explain to them time by time how to use the library, how to behave and most importantly children are told from which section to select!!
This study, according to Brooks, following up on others, finds that broadband access is not necessarily good for kids and may be harmful to their academic performance. I am lost here and ask myself the following question: Is this study claiming that future citizens should not acquire IT skills? How can using the internet be harmful to academic performance in a way that is different to any medium of communication that can exist in a learning environment?
The studies mentioned by Brooks used data from 2000 to 2005 . According to Brooks, these two studies feed into the debate that is now surrounding Nicholas Carr’s book, “The Shallows.” Carr argues that the Internet is leading to a short-attention-span culture. He cites a pile of research showing that the multidistraction, hyperlink world degrades people’s abilities to engage in deep thought or serious contemplation. Well,I am not going to sit here and defend the usage of ICT by students. I ask you , dear reader, to use Internet to check out what most ministries of education around the world are doing to direct the usage of ICT to motivate the young learners and improve academic results. It’s a bit naive to say that having 500 books will improve students' results in maths and reading.
Brooks ends his article with a conservative glimpse of hope that may be in the future we will witness a debate change into build an Internet counterculture that will better attract people to serious learning.I really wonder in which age he’s living in!
I do agree though with Brooks that literary world helps you become cultivated, mastering significant things of lasting import. To learn these sorts of things, you have to defer to greater minds than your own. You have to take the time to immerse yourself in a great writer’s world. You have to respect the authority of the teacher. The literary culture still produces better students.
I think the challenge is not to find a medium to achieve better result. Our role as educators is to coach young learners to
- be passionate about achieving their goals;
- have a spirit of adventure;
- have a strong need to achieve and seek personal accomplishment;
- be self-confident and self-reliant;
- are goal-oriented
- are innovative, creative, and versatile
- are persistent
- are hardworking and energetic
- have a positive attitude
- are willing to take initiative
- And have a strong sense of commitment.
THAT IS THE CHALLENGE AND THAT IS WHAT THE DEBATE SHOULD BE ABOUT AND NOT WHICH MEDIUM WE SHOULD USE!
