Article Assessment 1 (spring)

Bethany Waggoner
akbethany@hotmail.com
1/19/09

The Overdominance of Computers
Lowell W. Monke

Overview
We know that to be prepared for the high-tech 21st century, today’s students must know how to use computers. This fact brings the questions,

How effective are computers as learning tools?
At what age should students begin to use high-tech tools?

Lowell Monke feels that before young students actually use technology, they should build skills such as self-discipline, moral judgment, and empathy in order to use it wisely.

Monke points out that computers are powerful tools that require self-discipline that young children and adolescents don’t yet possess. He claims that in order to mature and to truly understand what they study on computers, students need real life, authentic experiences. He does not want to get rid of computers in school, but to consider and limit the amount that they are used. Monke advocates slowly integrating technology into classrooms after elementary school and concentrating on it during the last two years of high school, right before students graduate.

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