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T A B L E__T A L K Are online auctions a big scam? Discuss losing money online in the Digital Culture area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y iMac: iLove it or iHate it By Janelle Brown and Scott Rosenberg Is Apple's new blue bombshell a hit or a dud? A debate (08/27/98) Why kids don't need computers By Andrew Leonard Don't feel guilty about not buying your toddler a Pentium, a new book argues (08/26/98) The Xy files By Amy Virshup For the rest of the world, XyWrite is history -- but to its devotees, the antiquated word processor still rules (08/25/98) Revolt of the couch potatoes By Howard Wen When TV fans want to save a favorite show from cancellation, they organize online. But do the networks care? (08/24/98) The 21st Challenge No. 12 Results By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau What does HTTP://WWW stand for? (08/21/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST FEATURES ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - -

______J U S T   T H E  facts,   R A M Computers in the classroom promote a conservative vision of education -- but liberals don't seem to have noticed. - - - - - - - - - - - BY CHRISTOPHER OTT "Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them." -- Thomas Gradgrind, in Charles Dickens' "Hard Times" Despite all the controversy between liberals and conservatives over issues like sex education, school prayer and a "back-to-basics" curriculum, there's a curious agreement on both the left and right today about one educational endeavor: putting as much technology as possible into the hands of students and teachers. Conservatives have done their part with proposed legislation to give tax incentives for buying computers, and the Texas Board of Education has even flirted with plans to replace all textbooks with laptops in hopes of saving money. But educational technology seems to be a rare spot of political common ground. Some of the most vigorous proponents of educational technology have come from the liberal side: President Clinton praises the computer as "a teacher of all subjects," and Vice President Al Gore literally invented the term "information superhighway." That's ironic -- because, perhaps without realizing it, well-intentioned liberal proponents of technology have begun promoting an essentially conservative view of education. What's at issue here are not just doctrinal differences over what students should learn -- evolution or creationism, safe sex or abstinence, Columbus as explorer or invader -- but different visions of what learning is. Is it open-ended inquiry, or the simple mastery of facts, concepts and procedures? The latter is more a kind of training than education. It's also what educational technology does best. Web sites and CD-ROMs are very good at delivering information, but not so good at teaching what it means or raising difficult questions about it. This fits in well with most strict conservatives' view of learning: Just teach my kids facts and job skills, and don't question the "traditional values" of middle-class aspiration, morality and decorum. Both the left and the right have pinned hope on technology's promised educational revolution, but the right may be its unexpected beneficiary. N E X T_ P A G E .|. Learning can't be "pumped through pipes to the classrooms"