Dear Bernie, I wish to articulate the following concerns about the laptop program at Lakeside. I am the father of two children currently attending the Middle School.
I am not saying that I am opposed to the laptop program. I do believe that more teaching effort must be expended however to work out the aforementioned issues. Do the teachers really have the time and inclination to expend this effort? Aren't they already stretched to the limits with the new curricular changes recently instituted? As a concerned parent, it looks to me like too much change is occurring too quickly and the kids and faculty are feeling the growing pains. You should feel the aftermath at home!
- Issue of Quality Information. The biggest problem with children doing research on the Web is that there is no determination of the quality of the information contained in websites. When doing a search through Yahoo or Google for example, all websites are listed equally under any given topic. So a child will often pick a site that has an appealing title, or whatever comes up first. If it is a topic on the history of immigration to the U.S., let's say, they may have little way of initially knowing if the website is generated by congress, the American-Cuban Foundation or a neo-nazi party, just to name a spectrum of possibilities. This is very different than being instructed by the teachers to look up a topic in Encyclopedia Brittanica or Colliers, respected sources for decades.
- Frustration with Technology. In my home, hours and hours have been wasted by one of my kids trying to figure out how to use programs assigned for homework in her laptop for which little instruction was given. Tears were shed and anxiety levels in the home were high. In addition, there have been numerous technical problems with her machine (it is currently being repaired). All of this could have been avoided if she were permitted to use textbooks to do the homework. We did an experiment last year. She and I gave ourselves the challenge of answering one of her homework problems; she was to use the laptop and Internet; I was to use our library at home. It took her over an hour to get the info; I got the same info in 30 seconds by walking over to our bookshelves and pulling out an encyclopedia. In both #1 and #2, if you are going to require laptops, the kids must be thoroughly instructed in how to determine quality information and how to use the software and hardware. Especially the younger children. My 8th grader already is spending 5 hours per day on homework and this is due in part to the "slowness" of using computers (how ironic!).
- Next year I'm being asked to spend $4000 on computers for my children. I do not have an extra $4000. My wife and I are both teachers. You know what teachers get paid. And the stock market is crashing..... And you just raised tuition $3000! Your timing couldn't be worse for us.
- There seems to be a big push for the kids to make slick power point presentations for their homework projects. I've seen a lot of very professional looking presentations of vapid material. I'd like to see more effort go into substance and concept rather than slickness. The kids are wasting time trying to look good. They should be learning content.
So that's my two cents. Thanks for your time.
John T. Young
Parent
Professor, University of Washington