P. S. Deodhar - Pull the Computers out of our Schools

PULL THE COMPUTERS OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS

The Y2K scare may have proved to be a wolf calling but it turned out to be a windfall for the educated Indians. Out of blue, IT savvy youngsters are making lots of money. Many are having opportunities to get jobs abroad. The US has a climate that, unlike in India, allows talents to bloom. Its institutions reward innovation and offer equal opportunities. Planted in that fertile soil, Indian Software guys are doing exceedingly well for themselves. Several have become millionaires. They are climbing corporate ladders to reach great heights. These dazzling 'Indian diamonds' have attracted many multinationals to come to India, the diamond mine itself. They are creating large number of highly paid jobs for computer literate locals in providing services that are remotely deliverable such as Call Centres and other dumb jobs like mere data entry. Luckily no automation is in sight to replace these jobs that pay well. Those employed in IT sector are earning two to three times what their counterparts earn working in other sectors of our economy. Luckier ones are climbing success ladder so fast that it is invoking admiration all around. Ambitious can't be stopped from dreaming of their own IT venture and that indeed is the best thing to have happened for India since the independence.

There, however, is a flip side to all this. This gold rush has its traps. The glossy success of many in the neighborhood and the magical glamour associated with the IT career has lead a large number of parents to wrongly believe that learning computers in school will give his/her ward an advantage, an edge over others. The politicians and the state administrations believe it too. Popular sentiment is not to let the Andhra kids, or the Marathi kids, be left behind. One can appreciate such sentiments and understand the concerns. One can also appreciate that the IT businesses would want to cash in on this sentiment and build a profitable business of selling PCs and other IT gizmos to schools. But we, as a society, need to pause and think. One feels greatly concerned; for instance, as one finds that even educators and policy makers fall into this trap and believe that such an investment will be rewarding. Will it indeed be so?

Let's understand first what made Indians earn this reputation. It is broadly acknowledged that fluency in the English language; our thrust on learning arithmetic in our early education and the social respect we have for the learned has given us a mindset that comfortably handles logic. This attribute is basically what makes us the ideal raw material for the software industry. Being a low wage country further helps to pour more honey on this pancake.

Let's recognise that the whole lot of IT talent, that gave us our worldwide reputation, has indeed been thrown up by our current system of education, in spite of all its limitations. Also make a note that the western system of school education, which has since long adopted what we are aspiring to do, has indeed failed to develop even comparable IT talent. We blame ourselves for learning multiplication tables by heart and our learning things by rote. The westerners don't do this we are told. All of us however laugh as we see tellers in stores abroad fumbling while returning due change. Is it therefore logical for us to believe that our inherent IT skill has something to do with the way we learnt, often by rote?

Imagine if every child had been using a digital calculator to add a set of 15 numbers or to multiply 27 by 9. Would this not hurt their skills to do so mentally? And how about using 'MS Word' to write an essay in school with its spell check feature. Would that help us to hand write a note without making spelling mistakes? Just think of school kids giving up using a pen or pencil and use an inkjet printer do their job of writing. What if researchers stop wading through libraries to gather information and references before writing an article? Consider if instead, they were to take a shortcut to access already compiled references at computer speed via Internet Search Engines. Would all this help or hurt our learning faculties? Is it better to tie a float around our waist instead of learning to swim just because both stop us from sinking? We learn to walk, run and climb by ourselves. Some risk their lives to scale the Everest even without an oxygen cylinder on their backs. All this could also be done in comfort with technological aids but still we aspire for and enjoy doing it ourselves. If a human being wants to remain a master of his own future, shouldn't she or he first learn to do everything on her or his own steam? How else can one master these newly invented beasts of the Knowledge Age?

Before we let our youngsters develop the handicap by growing up with machine aided learning and sacrifice the development of their mental faculties, let's look at the fundamentals. Computers are automating tools. They are designed to take over the functions that were hitherto human. The spell checks feature is to replace our ignorance and not to teach us how to spell correctly.

There is yet another myth to be cleared. Becoming a computer professional is entirely different than becoming computer literate. In present times everyone above, say, eighteen has to be computer literate. There is no doubt about it. But that's knowing how to use a word processor or a spreadsheet or learning to browse on the Internet. Luckily all this doesn't take too long. A week's training is more than enough.

There is also a fear psychosis of being 'left behind'. It shouldn't at all scare the community. IT industry has created the scare to sell their wares. Fear of obsolescence and unsold stocks in the warehouse is, in fact, a continuing preoccupation of the entire IT Industry. It is they who are scared.

The third reason for our concern is the lack of software. We are taking PCs into classrooms without bothering about having the right kind of learning or teaching software. Further PC is basically a self-learning tool, unsuitable for group learning. That's why it is called personal! The quality of learning things on the computers depends solely on the availability and the quality of the software. There is little available that is field proven.

The last, but not the least, concern is the formidably powerful Internet. It indeed is a two edged weapon since it gives anyone effortless access to any information, desirable and undesirable. Young children surely need to learn about sex but it is certainly not of the kind Americans offer us on the Internet. Students are very resourceful when it comes to getting what their curiosity demands. Neither can anyone stop delivery of sex on the net. For several years over 40% of the Comdex show in Las Vegas was devoted to interactive sex. Then there are video games teaching interactive violence and other undesirable but attractive themes. Once a child gets addicted to games or the Internet, one can forget the normal education. As it is, kids today are already being prematurely informed through television about things that rob them of their childhood. Uncontrolled access to Internet will only add further to this malaise.

The IT glitter is glamorous and mesmerizing but let it not cloud our thinking. Let the parents and the teachers think what we want for our kids. Let the experts deliberate and brainstorm. Let us not leave this decision to the politicians or the IT industry since, for them, selling PCs to schools is a profitable business. Consider the large investments that are being thoughtlessly made using people's money to put computers in almost every school. Neither have we given a careful thought nor there is clarity in our objectives. Surprisingly even the eminent educators haven't been seen protesting. A debate is, therefore, necessary on how PCs in our schools may affect developing the basic essential learning faculties of students.