"An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life."

Budget cuts in the last few years has become the blame for cutting music and arts in public schools. And thanks to programs like "No Child Left Behind" and reaching Academic Yearly Progress schools are more concerned about whether the students pass the standardized tests instead of if they actually learn something. And now schools are starting to replace textbooks and teaching with laptops. They're even giving students their own laptops. One school in this area is using iPads instead of textbooks this year. And another entire school system has gone completely to teaching with laptops instead of textbooks. They're starting this with students as young as fourth grade all the way through twelfth grade. 

Now, let's think about this for a minute. By learning on a computer, a child doesn't even really have to even think about what they're suppose to be learning. I mean, anything can be found on the internet. The computer does all the thinking. There was a story about how the new laptops are progressing with the beginning of the school year. They let one of the students comment. She said "The computer is so much better at thinking, it's better than just using paper." My immediate thought was, "the computer is thinking for you, you don't even know how you are getting the result to your problem." This is putting the product; the end result; before the process; how they found their solution. If a child doesn't know how he or she found their result than what have they learned? What is the purpose of school if a genius like a computer or the internet is going to do all the thinking for you? A student needs to know how they found their answer to really understand what they're learning. Also, a student doesn't really learn stuff like research until about sixth or seventh grade. Therefore, if a child has a laptop as their textbook, they're not going to know what a reliable source is and they will try to find answers to their problems on places like Google or Wikipedia. 

When budgets were cut around the 1970s or 1980s schools had to find ways to stay on budget. To do that, many schools started cutting programs like music and art. All forms of artistic expression such as painting, literature, music, and drama depend on critical thinking to the highest degree. Schools are stripping our children of their cognitivie/critical skills. They are not learning to think for themselves. 

What happened to the fundamentals? Are students learning things like where and why do we need commas? Or why does 5 x 5 = 25? Convergent thinking is when there is only a single answer or solution to a question or problem. Divergent thinking opens things up and results in many answers to a single question. Many times in school a teacher may give partial credit on a solution like a math problem even if they got it wrong. They may give partial credit because they show how they got the answer, and the teacher sees that they understand the concept that he or she had been trying to teach them. But, most teachers stress convergent thinking. Just think how many have had a teacher who gave you a not so desirable grade on an assignment because it's not what THEY were looking for? To them, there is only one solution. Or how many teachers give an assignment like a book report or a research paper and then failed you or your child because you or they did it in the form of say a board game or they acted it out instead of in the traditional form of a paper printed out? 

I may sound old fashioned, but I want my children to learn the fundamentals. I want them to be able to think for themselves. To know what matters to them and why it's so important. Until recently I really had no desire to ever homeschool my children. But, if there are no textbooks by the time I become a mother and by the time those children start school that's exactly what I will be doing. Because not only are children not learning how to think but many of these students will probably have health problems such as carpal tunnel or impaired vision before they graduate high school. I do not think it is okay for an eight year old to be on a computer for eight hours a day. I didn't get my first laptop until I graduated high school six years ago. Just six years ago, and I already have to limit the time I do work on the computer because my hands get to aching.