We decriminalized cellphones this year--many kids use them as calendars
and watches, so they have become useful get-around tools. A few of our
teachers are figuring out how to take advantage of the technology for
learning, with the camera being a prime tool. One issue is that not all
cellphones are created equal in specs.
This doesn't mean that we don't wind up taking the odd iPhone away from a
kid during class or assembly; MonkeyBall is more interesting than sports
announcements--imagine that! But it's okay to have your phone out and
visible in hallways, etc.--just not in class unless otherwise instructed.
In general, I think the telephone video that Bill Fitzgerald put up
earlier in this thread kind of says it all. We become expert at the things
that we need to become expert at; some things become universal, while
others remain or revert to being esoteric (which is why rental agencies
don't offer many cars with standard transmissions anymore). One can
imagine old-time 5-step instructions for things like roll toilet paper;
there's a reason why gas stoves with electronic ignition have that
persistent little clicker--otherwise my mother would never remember to
turn the knob backwards those few degrees once the stove is lit. She's not
stupid, but she needs the reminder, as do I sometimes.
In the meantime, our students can text fast, blind, and one-handed on a
10-key cell-phone keypad while we joust with each other over which
word-processing programs to teach.
I wish I had ever learned to touch type, but I muddle through. Having just
reread Neal Stephenson's IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS THE COMMAND LINE, I've
had a hankering to master Linux, but I don't think I will--I don't really
need to, and it's not a hobby of mine. I served my time teletyping BASIC
to a mainframe and punching and sorting and fixing FORTRAN card-stacks. I
wrote documentation for a defunct (obviously) graphics-mode MS-DOS word
processor in Wordstar many years ago, and I survived the jump to MS Word.
There'll come along a new industry standard, and I'll make the jump again.
And to think I can actually be adaptable and flexible with a high school
education that ended in 1968! Makes me think it's not really the skills we
teach that matter so much, in the end, but rather something more universal
in the way of habits of mind.
Cheers--Peter Gow
Peter Gow, Director of College Counseling and Special Programs
Beaver Country Day School
791 Hammond Street
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
www.bcdschool.org
Tel. 617-738-2755
FAX 617-738-2701
Skype: petergow3
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