High-tech vs. No-Tech: Schools Take Opposite Approaches to Education

May 15, 2012 | 1:54 PM | By

The article tells the tale of two students, one who goes to a tech-rich private school, and another who goes to a no-tech Waldorf school. From what the writer portrays, it seems as though both are flourishing, but questions about the long-term effects remain: Will the tech-using student suffer from short attention span and shallow thinking, and will the Waldorf student suffer from being left behind in navigating the digital world? Answers are not so cut-and-dried.


The sixth-graders are lighting up the room with their MacBook Airs, flipped open to Google, Wikipedia and YouTube for a physics assignment. Their classroom is decked out with touch-screen whiteboards, tablets and powerful WiFi connections able to handle a school full of children online at once. “Cool!”

Read more at: www.washingtonpost.com

  • http://www.mindfulstew.wordpress.com/ Psbarnwell

    Excellent article.  For young students, I think the Waldorf approach is on the right track.  If students are bombarded with technology in schools, will this continue to break down all barriers between leisure, distraction, and attention?
    http://mindfulstew.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/on-leisure-and-boundaries/
     

  • Susan

    I agree that there should be a strong foundation built in the earlier years and add technology a little at a time.  So often I think individuals jump ahead of themselves using technology that may have no evidenced based research.

  • Anni

    The
    two schools show stark differences in educating. I, as an early childhood
    educator, can see the pros and cons of each schooling style. Children need to
    learn how to handwrite, they need to develop their fine motor skills through
    actually writing and experiencing life, rather than using a touch screen, that
    requires very few strengthening exercises for fine motor skills. However, when
    students get older it is important to incorporate technology. When students,
    who have not been exposed to technology, enter college or the work force they
    will have a learning curve that many of their counterparts will not. They will
    have the learning curve of learning how to collaborate and interact with
    technology. This is much of what we are seeing now with the different generations
    of teachers. The teachers who are not in a technology age and do not use email
    and those who are part of the technology age.