Devices of the Soul (Hardcover)

Chapter 9. Educational Provocations

I have, in the following collection of short statements, attempted to gather some thoughts that could usefully stimulate discussion among school board members, parents, and teachers, as well as students in the upper grades. I certainly cannot claim whole, or even part, ownership for many of these statements. I have sifted the underlying truths from my own experience, from conversations with friends and colleagues, and from the educational literature. Here I have tried to formulate each point as generally and simply—and sometimes as offensively—as possible, without any effort to supply supporting references. It is for the reader to discover and qualify the many ramifications of each statement.

• Lack of information has not been the bottleneck in education for decades, or even centuries. Rather, the task for the teacher is to take the infinitesimal slice of available information that can actually be used in the classroom and find some way to bring students into living connection with it.

• The single thing children suffer from most in today’s society is the lack of close relationships with caring adult mentors.

• Given how many hours a day children pursue mediated experience through cinema screens, television screens, cell phone screens, and video game screens, it hardly makes sense to add a computer screen to the mix while saying reassuringly, “Let’s make sure the children use it in a balanced way.”

• Computer labs have been displacing art, music, craft, ...