High-Tech Heretic: Why Computers Don't Belong in the Classroom and Other Reflections by a Computer Contrarion

This book is great for people who think computers are the only answer to improving current classrooms. Clifford Stoll who is a computer guru, does favor the use of technology, what he covers in his book is if schools are taking the right approach to incorporating technology into classrooms the most efficient and beneficial way. Even though the whole book mainly contains Stoll's own views along with many other people's view's he is not claiming he has all the answers or that it is all truthful. He does however end the book in a very interesting way. The last chapter is a flashback to a point in Stoll's life where he walks the reader through a point in his life that has actually happened. This is the only part of the book that he claims is the truth.

I've never been a big fan of installing technology in schools for the sake of installing them, but I couldn't articulate my argument against the kind of wholesale "spend money on computers and the Internet" campaigns now going on. My thought was that unless you provide training, resources, and real software, computers are no better than word processors or video games. There's no learning involved except if you're learning to do tech support.Stoll's anecdotes and statistics lend credence to the notion that a lot of good education (and teachers and programs) are cut to support an idea that's a sop to the real ideas of education. He carefully explores and refutes most of the claims of the pro-technology crowd, while giving good voice to the reasonable and correct uses of computers in the classroom. The point is not that kids shouldn't use computers, but that computers should always be tools to assist in learning. That learning can be hard, challenging and rewarding - and that most computer software is sold as simply "a fun way to learn," as if other ways are somehow bad. No matter what your take on the issue, read this book. It should form the authoritative basis for the ongoing discussion.

I absolutely loved this book. I read half the book the first day I got it. Stoll is so sensible about computers and humorous at the same time. He has written in this book exactly what I have felt about computers and their use in schools. I have used computers, and the net, in school projects for a long time and, even though I love the technology, I can also see how frustrating and time consuming it really is. Stoll brings this out so well in this book. We need a middle ground in this computer-crazy world. We need to rethink the importance of computers in the classroom, rather than just doing what is politically correct.

Maybe this is not the right forum to discuss a book that debunks the internet, but I presume that you have enough sense to read between the lines here as with Stoll's book.More than his writing style, I enjoyed his perspicacious understanding of how computers and everything related to high tech has radically changed our society and individual lives. For some odd reason, we never challenge new gadgetry, we just assimilate it. But for everything we gain, we lose something. I particularly enjoyed the first half of his book, in which he challenges using computers in our public schools. It is a high cost, low benefit formula. (Read Jane Healy's books, Failure To Connect and Endangered Minds, if you want to follow-up on this topic.)In the second half of his book, he rattles technology in general, and although his tone sounds at times like the whiny Andy Rooney, his message needs to be heard, particularly his chapter on Library management.If the title appeals to you, you will like the book; he's a radical from the inside. This book should be a companion to Bill McKibbon's The Age of Misinformation and Jerry Mander's In The Absence Of The Sacred.This is a quick, scatalogical read, friends, and worth it.

As a high school counselor, I talk to kids every day who are obsessed with computers yet are unable to relate to their peers in normal conversation. Dr. Stoll has hit the nail on the head with his ideas. This book is a godsend! I hope it comes out in paperback soon so I can afford to give copies of it to my colleagues who seem to think computers are the "end-all and be-all." The book is easy to read yet has very profound points to make by someone who is on the inside of the computer world. An important book that should be read by anyone involved in education, including and especially parents!