All of us want children to experience warmth, human interaction, the thrill of discovery, and solid grounding in essentials: reading, getting along with others, training in civic values. Only a teacher, live in the classroom, can bring about this inspiration. This can’t happen over a speaker, a television or a computer screen. Yet everywhere I hear parents and principals clamoring for interactive computer instruction. What is wrong with this picture? … In the past, schools tried instructional filmstrips, movies and television; some are still in use, but think of your own experience: Name three multimedia programs that actually inspired you. Now name three teachers that made a difference in your life.
Predictor: Stoll, Clifford
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “Silicon Snake Oil,” writer Clifford Stoll shares his take on the Internet’s future implications for education:”All of us want children to experience warmth, human interaction, the thrill of discovery, and solid grounding in essentials: reading, getting along with others, training in civic values. Only a teacher, live in the classroom, can bring about this inspiration. This can’t happen over a speaker, a television or a computer screen. Yet everywhere I hear parents and principals clamoring for interactive computer instruction. What is wrong with this picture? … At the same time that school librarians, art instructors, and music teachers are being fired, we’re spending thousands on computers. What’s wrong with this picture? … ‘I believe that the motion picture is destined to revolutionize our educational system and that in a few years it will supplant largely, if not entirely, the use of textbooks.’ – Thomas Edison, 1922. In the past, schools tried instructional filmstrips, movies and television; some are still in use, but think of your own experience: Name three multimedia programs that actually inspired you. Now name three teachers that made a difference in your life.”
Biography:Clifford Stoll was an astrophysicist who also wrote the influential books “Silicon Snake Oil” (1995) and “The Cuckoo’s Egg.” A long-time network user, Stoll made “Silicon Snake Oil” his platform for finding fault with the Internet hype of the early 1990s. He pointed out the pitfalls of a completely networked society and offered arguments in opposition to the hype. (Author/Editor/Journalist.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: E-learning
Name of publication: Silicon Snake Oil
Title, headline, chapter name: On Classrooms, With and Without Computers; Some Basic Astrophysics for the Intrepid
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 135
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney