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Computers are disrupting in the classroom, says researcher
Every time I dare criticize the use of computers in schools, someone lectures me on why computers are absolutely fundamental to the schools of the future.
Two stories that confirm some of my reservations about computers follow. The first item is from Gary Chapman who writes in the Los Angeles Times about problems with unreliable and complex software. He quotes Leon Kappelman, director of the Information Systems Research Center at the University of North Texas in Denton, who said: "No one should have to put up with computers being so unreliable or so difficult. We don't put up with this with any other product we use." The second article appeared in the National Post and talked about a two-year cross-Canada research project that is being conducted by the Canadian Education Association on technology in the classroom. According to one researcher, "computers are disrupting education in Canadian schools by distracting teachers from working with students and draining resources from basic education." The article points to the fact that from 1997 and to September 2000, Alberta alone spent $125 million on computers, software and networking components.
Considering a teaching position in Greenland?
The Canadian Teachers' Federation advises Canadian teachers not to accept teaching positions in Greenland until a settlement has been reached between the teachers' union and the government. Apparently there is a shortage of about 400 teachers and the teachers' union, Ilinniartitsisut Meeqqat Atuarfianneersut Kattuffiat (IMAK), is in dispute with the Home Rule government (under the Danish government) with regard to working conditions.
I am always amazed at what I don't know
Hard on the heels of discussions at the federal level about a guaranteed minimum income I received an e-mail about the Speenhamland system. Knowing little about British social history I decided to seek more information. Apparently the concept of relief for the poor was devised in Speen in Berkshire, England, in 1795. It was created as a method of supplementing farm labourers' wages from parish rates on a scale depending on wheat prices and family size. It was abolished in 1834 by the Poor Law Amendment Act because it was seen as encouraging low wage rates and pauperizing labourers. An example of a rerun of the Speenhamland system can be found in New Zealand where it was resurrected by then-Finance Minister Roger Douglas as a "guaranteed minimum family income" in 1987.
You have to wonder what the world is coming to
Apparently a food server at a New Brunswick school has been fired for insubordination. According to a report the worker insisted that students and teachers say "please" and "thank you" when she served them. The president of the private company that provides the service in the school said that it was not the job of a food server to teach politeness—she should be more like a waitress. Even the school's principal agreed with the firing because he often refused to say please and thank you. What a splendid example!
