The chief technology officer of eBay sends his children to a nine-classroom school here. So do employees of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Apple, Yahoo and Hewlett-Packard.
But the school’s chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. No screens at all. They are not allowed in the classroom, and the school even frowns on their use at home."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp>
As a teacher I find this idea refreshing and spot on. I've spent time in classes where every student had a computer, and guess what, they were paying more attention to the computer than actual learning. And far too many teachers are trying to figure out ways to incorporate computers into their lesson plans how to actually teach kids. Computers are a big distraction in the K-8 classroom as far as I'm concerned.
A suitable compromise on this is to have a computer lab, where the computers are separate and removed the classroom. That way if a teacher feels a particular need to implement a digital lesson plan, they can, without the distraction of computers in the classroom itself.
Right now I'm teaching in a school that has that sort of arrangement, a computer lab but no computers in the actual classroom, and it works out wonderfully well.