I know how much computers help us older folks in our daily lives but what about the kiddos?

A study of 100,000 pupils in 31 countries around the world has concluded that using computers makes kids dumb. Some of you may or may not agree. They say that avoiding PCs in the classroom and at home improved the literacy of the children studied. The authors, Thomas Fuchs and Ludger Woessmann of Munich University, used the PISA tests to measure the skills of 100,000 15 year-olds. When social factors were taken into account, PC literacy was no more valuable than ability to use a telephone or the Internet, the study discovered.

"Holding other family characteristics constant, students perform significantly worse if they have computers at home," the authors conclude. By contrast, children with access to 500 books in their homes performed better. The negative correlation, the researchers explain, is because children with computers neglect their homework more. In a way, I see the truth in these statements through my Keoni. Keoni grew up around computers. Seeing mommy work with it day in, day out and to no fault of his, was allowed to tinker and dabble with PCs and laptop at an early age. And Keoni being as smart as he is learned to read and write ON THE COMPUTER first which eventually proved to be a deterrent in his progress in school. How and why? Keoni at age 3 was already chatting with his Dad on YM (Yahoo messenger), and knew how to go to cartoon network website or any other free online games site. He liked being on the computer so much that one day (he was in Kindergarten then) I got a note from the teacher, calling for a meeting. I soon found out that although my Keoni often came home with stars on him and on his workbooks, his teacher said that could not be on the honor roll. True he got all As in Language, Math and Reading but his writing skills needed a lot of improvement. The teacher told me he often refused to finish his written work neither did he want to do his writing exercises. And we all know his famous quip to that right? "Why do I have to write on paper, Mommy when I can write so well on the computer?" And if I don’t "ration" his computer time for his surfing, chatting or gaming, I know in time his interest in actual classroom activities will wane if not completely diminish.

Some friends of mine (all parents) in the academe gave a quantitative approach which mirrored concerns raised by qualitative analysis of technology in education. They said kids are now awash with "facts," but don’t know what to do with them. Schoolchildren are developing a "problem-solving deficit disorder," and losing the ability to analyze. A better way, experts insist, is to encourage creativity. And the best remedy for this is to turn off the computer and stimulate children’s imaginations. And this is what I do with my Keoni. During my free time, I make it a point to ensure that our bonding moments are spent romping around (my son loves to wrestle with me, hahaha and often forgets Mom is not a boy!), story-telling, eating snacks and doing his homework if he has any. I then allow him to bring out ONLY two toys of choice to play with. I particularly encourage him to play with his Ninja Turtle legos or his B Daman because it’s amazing to watch him dismantle, assemble those things without reading a manual at that!

The value of creativity, imagination and critical thinking over "information" access is self-evident, you’d think. But come to think of it, now that they’ve mentioned it, even in our country there seems to be an alliance (or connivance?) of convenience between technology vendors, who want to stuff more unwanted computers into classrooms, lazy governments, for whom IT is a way of appearing "modern" while cutting education budgets (Ouch!) ensures the issue doesn’t stay in the headlines for very long.

In the US, programs designed to connect schools to the Internet have become a pork barrel for questionable sales tactics from the industry’s biggest vendors. How about in our country? Just hold that thought and allow me to end this article with a this quote:

"Technology is not destiny it is still generated from a human being. Its design and use flow from human choices. The pervasive use of advanced technologies and their low cost have reduced hands-on experiences for children, including the simple but overwhelmingly rewarding experience of taking things apart and putting them back together. Without this, technology becomes a mystery, leading to a perspective that might well be called ‘magic consciousness’," --- The Alliance for Childhood authors.

"This consciousness is a perversion of the magical enchantment that naturally pervades a child’s world and is too quickly destroyed by adult insistence on viewing the world mechanically."

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