I read this article a few weeks ago at our school and it made so much sense. So i got thinking, and i want to know what all of you think about this. Read and Discuss __________________________________ Are iPod-banning school cheating our kids? Why iPods and other electronic devices should be required, not banned. What the iPod ban teaches kids Most high school students prepare for tests by guessing what facts might be on the test, then trying to memorize those facts to maximize their grades. Hours after the test, those facts tend to be forgotten. This is a gross oversimplification, sure, but largely true. How much of your high school history, science or math do you still retain to this day? If you're like me, the answer is practically zero. In my case, the single most valuable thing I learned in high school was how to touch-type (thank you, Ms. Balish!). Skills, habits and experiences, more than temporarily memorized facts, are what turn us into adults who can learn. So many college students I've met -- even at some of the nation's top universities -- are there because they have an aptitude for memorization. Many straight-A high school students have few interests, little curiosity and zero inclination toward intellectual discovery. Our system rewards the memorizers and punishes the creative thinkers. An iPod, when used during tests, is nothing more than a machine that stores and spits out data. By banning iPods and other gadgets, we're teaching kids to actually become iPods -- to become machines that store and spit out data. Instead, we should be teaching them to use iPods -- to use that data and to be human beings who can think -- and leave data storage to the machines. By banning iPods, we're preparing our kids for a world without the Internet, a world without iPods, a world without electronic gadgets that can store information. But is that the world they're going to live in? What iPods teach kids What are those iPod cheaters doing, really? They're creatively putting facts at their fingertips using ubiquitous technology in preparation for using those facts. Isn't that a more realistic preparation for college, career and life than teaching memorization? When I go into a meeting, deliver a presentation, write a column or develop a report, electronic gadgets and Internet-connected PCs are always part of the process. My ability to use those devices and my ability to think critically using the universe of facts always at hand determines to a large degree the quality of my work. _____________________________________ What do you think?
No, he's not. He's saying that if students have to tools to succeed, they should use them and they shouldn't be banned. EDIT: marcus beat me to it
The educators are trying to get us to learn the material, and this helps our memorization skills. This article seems so stupid to me. Why would copying an answer straight from your hand to the test help you at all later in life. I'll tell you right now, I have remember at least five facts every time I memorized answer for a test. This is ignorant to say that you forgot every single thing from that test hours after. Creatively?! pfft... You're not always going to have your little storage device. You wouldn't get any smarter, your device will just get more full. Exactly, that is what we call being smart and you can spit out this information during a conversation, instead of burrowing into your iPod trying to find another point to bring across about the subject. Come on, is school that hard? Is the material that hard? Take an hour out of your day and learn. Yes, the world is filled with technology and every corner we take we will need to encounter it, but school is there so you can learn basic facts. If you want to learn more about technology and storage devices then do that on your own time. You have time after school to fool around on you iPod.
So you're saying if you have the means to cheat, you might as well..? School is meant to teach you, not to have you learn how to do 1 thing, but multiple things. Just using an i-Pod, or any other device to just hand-feed you answers is not learning at all. IMO that is.
Exams are all about testing ability in a controlled environment. Anything trying to circumvent that environment is cheating. That may be students with Ipods, or it may be teachers teaching the test rather than the subject.
I'm not saying anything xBradx, that was an article i read a while back and i liked how the author chose his words. In my opinion, i saw it as this: You need to know how to study and memorize in school, but once that's over it kind of all drifts away. If you ever forget an equation or 'code' you could easily obtain it from one of the technological devices that we own today. So i think that teachers should teach how to obtain correct information in a short amount of time, instead of using the old method of repetition. I'm not saying your wrong camofo, i just see it differently.
Unless you're pursuing it in your career. An iPod should be restricted when the student should be listening or participating.