Use of Computers in Schools Is the Point

* Pat Becker’s “Computers Belong in the Classroom” (Valley Commentary, July 11) and Diane Roberts’ response (July 25) propose a kind of computer education for students which assumes a “banking” philosophy of instruction and relies upon the 1970s and early ‘80s uses for technology.

Becker and Roberts miss the crux of the issue. It’s not whether we put computers into labs or into classrooms, it’s what we do with them once they’re there.

Brazilian educator Paulo Freire writes that a “banking” form of education assumes students are empty “receptacles” to be “filled” by the teacher--”Knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing.”

The drill-and-skill software which emerged in the 1970s serves this function well, testing students on knowledge that either has or has not been transmitted to them by the teacher. Even the more interactive types of software such as the Carmen Sandiego both Becker and Roberts mention tests students on knowledge that has already been transmitted to them, albeit in a creative manner.

As a high school teacher who hopes to prepare his students for a world where information is a tool and not always an end product, I want my students to know how to use technological tools to create products which demonstrate their knowledge. I don’t want to send students out of my classroom with computer literacy tantamount to the good video game skills they learn playing Carmen Sandiego and other software of this ilk.

Had Becker or Roberts mentioned 1990s educational uses for technology--things such as electronic mail exchanges over the Internet or student created multimedia presentations--I would listen. As it stands now, I will continue to rely on my own experience in the classroom with students who demonstrate each day that they can use technological tools to create products which mean something to them and to today’s society.

CHRIS DAVIS

Burbank