Should state schools have computers?

[Canopus]

I want your honest opinion here...

 

As each year goes by, the amount of public money spent on primary and secondary education continually increases but the end results of this taxpayer funded education never seems to improve no matter what changes and reforms are implemented. If there is one single area of state education that has experienced the greatest increase in expenditure - both in terms of money consumed and as a proportion of the overall education budget - since 1980 it is computers. They cost lots of money to buy; money for software licences; money for staff training; money for technician's salaries; money for consumables like ink cartridges; and money for electricity to power them. Money that never had to be factored into the education budget in the 1970s and in previous decades because computers didn't exist in a suitable form for schools back then. Money that is almost ringfenced whilst other educational services are being cut. If drastic cutbacks need to be made to the education budget then computers are actually a very easy target in which to make the savings. A government decision to cease providing computers in state schools will slice a huge chunk off the education budget almost overnight with minimal staff redundancies.

 

There are critics of computers in schools both from the educational and financial perspectives. Some of them have said that the money the government spends on computers in schools could be spent on the following services instead:

 

More teaching staff and higher staff salaries.

Free nursery education nationwide.

Building repairs and maintenance.

Free meals and milk for all primary school children.

More support staff for children with SEN and disabilities.

Teaching of practical skills and life skills.

More textbooks and educational equipment.

 

All of which have widespread popular support amongst parents but governments are loathe to implement on the back of a lack of money argument.

 

Should state schools have computers or would it be more beneficial to spend the money elsewhere and cut taxes? If British state schools no longer had computers then would it make school leavers uncompetitive compared with those who attended schools in other countries that have computers? Could removing computers from state schools create massive disaffection amongst students and even lead to a dramatic rise in private and home education in environments with computers?

[Lyndalou]

I think you have a fair point Canopus.

 

The Scottish Daily Record has a front page spread today about the absolute lack of funding in Scottish schools. By all accounts (and you have to take it with a pinch of salt - it's the Record after all), the teachers are buying some basic equipment out of their own pockets because there isn't an adequate amount delegated in the budget to items such as textbooks and jotters. If that is the case it is appalling!

 

I think that in this day and age computers are not just necessary, they are crucial. However, it's probably all within the '3 R's' ballcourt in that there is a huge reliance on computers (and calculators etc) now in order to source information and do work that there wasn't a generation ago and not so much emphasis on rote learning, the basics of reading, writing and spelling and memory skills. There has got to be something in it when Universities and employers are saying that young people today don't have certain skills that are seen as prerequisite to certain courses or careers.

 

So, I think that more staff and more basic life skills training, emphasis on teaching good nutrition and providing textbooks should be brought to the forefront and computers should provide a more ancillary role not a central role.

Edited February 22, 2013 by Lyndalou

[Mike_GX101]

Yes definitely.

 

What sort of a school wouldn't have computers today?!?

[Mike_GX101]

My school was one of the first to have computers (still remember the old Windows NT systems) and we were amongst the first to be introduced to the internet too. Wow those were days! I still remember being shown the 'ropes' of the internet by a teacher - it was like no CD-Rom encyclopedia I'd ever used before. It was great!

 

Increasingly the internet is becoming the new media for learning and working but I do believe there needs to be increased emphasis on P.E. where pupils are taught the importance of maintaining their physical health too because it is all too easy to forget to exercise when using computers and that is potentially very serious because prolonged seating can cause blood clots, deep vein thrombosis and even problems with the heart and cardiovascular systems as I'm finding.

Edited February 23, 2013 by Mike_GX101

[Canopus]

I have had some very contrasting views from parents of kids with AS. The strongest opponents include a 40 something IT professional who hardly ever used a computer at school and a 20 something medic with 10 O Levels from a school in Pakistan which had a couple of ancient PCs as its only computer facilities.

[Sally44]

I think they should because that is how all businesses work now. You cannot be IT illiterate in these times whether it is computers, or mobile phones etc. But obviously that causes funding issues.

[Canopus]

I think they should because that is how all businesses work now.

 

There are plenty of jobs that require very little use of computers ranging from construction work to food preparation.

 

You might be surprised at how many businesses there are in Britain that do not have computers. I was when I found out.

 

You cannot be IT illiterate in these times

 

Define IT literate.

[Sally44]

Hard to define. But what I mean is that someone has a basic idea of using some kind of IT equipment whether it is a computer or mobile phone. I used to be a PA, and the first typewriter I had was a manual one! Then I got an electronic one with a memory. Then a PC. But I would not call myself experienced with IT. I don't have my own mobile phone yet.

 

But if you have used one type of IT equipment, you have a basic understanding of how others might work. And most places of work do require you to use some form of IT.

 

Although some professionals may not use IT, you have no way of knowing which children will enter those types of jobs. And you can use the same argument for alot of the NC. For example there are huges amounts of the NC I was taught in school that I have not used in any of the jobs I have had. I think I would have been better off with some business studies and personal finance lessons!

 

IT is moving things forward. For example, my daughter had a smart phone for christmas. Since having that she has not had to use her computer hardly at all. Look at some of the businesses that have gone bust because IT is combining numerous functions out of one gadget eg. phone, camera, internet, on-line shopping/banking etc. And like most IT, it will take some years for everyone to have it, and some of the older generation may never get it at all, but they may find it hard to access certain services because of that. Cheques are going to end. So all payments will be cash or card.

 

And technology is moving at quite a pace. Who knows how things will look in 20/30 years time?

[Merry]

How will things look in 20 to 30 years? VERY VERY different to how they look now. Very different. Wireless technology (I think), is hazardous to health. But we're not going to get rid of tv's phones or computers or anything else we've come to depend on, even if we should. And education at every level, the curriculum, structure, school hours, resources, term times, all it's funding allocations and policies, is exactly as it's intended to be even though it so often seems like the government does the exact opposite of what makes the most sense. So I agree, based on the severe cuts the government says they need to make, computers should have been taken out of schools long before they started taking people's child benefit away. But that's just how I see it.

 

Oh and I think it would be interesting to see a study about the amounts of time children spend sat at a computer in school, depending on the type of education they're in. If we were to compare public schools to private schools, for example, I wonder which side would have the most computer time?

Edited February 24, 2013 by Merry

[positive_about]

I'm an IT geek, so my view is biased. I think all schools should have a decent (and up-to-date) suite, but I agree this should not be at the expense of other subjects - and IT shouldn't be invasive in other subjects, only use IT when its necessary. I also think all schools should have a decent kitchen for kids to learn to cook meals, etc., and decent science facilities, and so on. Schools have wasted huge sums by buying laptops for every kid, which aren't upgradeable and quickly become old-hat - they should have a range of devices, those that are used in business, not just for accessing facebook or sending emails. For the price of a half-decent laptop you can buy two desktops, which may end up being more flexible and most cost-effective long-term. The problem is schools have been blinded by consultants who seeking a profit. Schools should work with local businesses to make IT lessons more appropriate and relevant - so kids leaving school already have a good idea of what businesses need and expect.

 

Schools should be about nurturing well-rounded individuals with a range of skills ready for work, and capable of succeeding in work - but they shouldn't be about making all kids the same, set adrift in the adult world where you need to be good at something specific. If kids want to learn IT, teach them all about IT, but don't teach ALL kids IT in the hope they all might become IT experts - its not gonna happen.

 

Anyway, you will learn more about IT in the world of work than you ever will at school - its just too diverse and constantly evolving.

[Canopus]

Policymakers don't seem to have taken into account that a far higher proportion of kids have computers at home or smartphones in their pockets than at any time in the past and that they probably learn more about IT there than in school lessons. The British education system has an egalitarian bedrock where policymakers have a desire to provide educational resources for those who don't have them at home even if it means spending vast sums of money to provide for a shrinking minority. Is 'too poor to afford a computer at home' really a valid argument to spend the amount of money that is currently spent on IT in schools?

 

The argument about the ability to use computers for office type applications from the perspective of employment could also be extended to cars. Everybody nowadays assumes that almost all primary school kids will become drivers one day but why are things related to cars not on the school curriculum?

 

The government has been looking at developing a computer science GCSE that will be much more technical than the current ICT GCSE which really is a modern version of the office skills course of the 1970s rather than a proper STEM subject. It does generate a question whether computers should be few in number and more confinced to technical applications like CAD CAM and control systems rather than large in number and used for office type applications.