Child-proof Computers

Today I was at my friend's house talking to a stranger. I believe it was my friend's roommate's sister-in-law, but there's no way to be sure. This young woman is completing a Master's of Education, and to this end she was completing an essay about Technology in the Classroom. She was focusing on preschoolers, because that is who she teaches.

Of course, this brings up the obvious question as to why you need a graduate degree at all to handle four-year-olds. As far as I can remember, the required skills are to speak in a kind voice, reliably distribute juice boxes, and have lots and lots of patience. The ability to make funny faces is a bonus.

We didn't really talk about that part, because I was a guest. What we ended up with was a discussion about how bad computer games are for small children. When I asked what was preferred, she replied vaguely that "there are studies" that argue children develop better by doing more "hands-on" activities. A year of graduate school has, if nothing else, given me a healthy amount of skepticism of the conclusions of studies written by people who, after all, have to get published. That aside, I threw out the idea, more for the purposes of making conversation than conviction, that computer games might be a great way to get children to begin to think abstractly, to distinguish between physical objects and ideas. Seriously. I don't see why preschoolers shouldn't be able to learn this.

She explained, with admirable patience (see!), that instead of playing a phonics game on the computer, they should practice saying the sounds out loud. Instead of tapping a letter on the keyboard, practice writing it. Instead of recognizing numbers on screen, hold a flashcard. And so on.

That's right. We went over a laundry list of concrete examples. But seriously, I don't see why...

Never mind.